An Article appeared in Scientific American yesterday that’s been picked up here and here titled, What If Vitamin D Deficiency Is a Cause of Autism?
Consider that the amount of sunlight does influence the emergence of autism. Instead of Vitamin D, which does not influence maturation rates that I am aware of, light influences the pineal gland which moderates melatonin levels influencing testosterone levels that impact maturation rates.
Autism is a condition characterized by variation in maturation rate.
In the stories I’ve read so far regarding Vitamin D as a cause of Somali autism, there has been no attention to season of birth effects. Clearly, the births of autistic children should be congregating in certain months if the Vitamin D or pineal/melatonin conjectures are potentially useful.
In addition, the diet of Minnesota and Swedish Somalis may be radically shifting a mother’s hormonal levels with increases of both testosterone and estrogen if she puts on weight. This could influence the rate and timing of the maturation of her children.
Perhaps Somali and Swedish autism is caused by a combination of fluctuations in light and radical changes in diet.
