Top Nutrient Deficiencies Found in Our Children—What You Need to Know

July 14, 2016

More and more, we are seeing children with nutritional deficiencies, a phenomenon that studies show is even more apparent in children with neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and ADHD. Today we will explore what you need to know about the top nutrient deficiencies found in our children, including: what the research has shown to be the most common deficiencies, how the deficiencies contribute to their symptoms, why these deficiencies exist, how you can find out if your child is deficient and what you can do to correct the vitamin, mineral, fatty acid, amino acid and mineral deficiencies in your child. The good news is, nutritional deficiencies that are impacting your child’s ability to thrive can be corrected.

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• Children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and ADHD have multiple functional nutrient deficiencies.
• Common nutrient deficiencies include: vitamins B6, B1, B3, B5, B12, C, folic acid/folate, biotin, taurine, selenium, magnesium, essential fatty acids and fat soluble vitamins A, D, K and E,
• These deficiencies are caused by inadequate intake of nutrients, inability to digest and assimilate nutrients and/or inability to convert the nutrients to the active form at the cellular level.
• Once deficiencies are identified they can be corrected by proper diet, digestion support and/or appropriate therapeutic supplementation.

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Common Nutrient Deficiencies and Their Impact

Studies have shown that our children commonly have multiple nutrient deficiencies that contribute to their symptoms and impede their ability to recover. It would take an entire book to discuss all the possible deficiencies, their interrelationships with other nutrients, and the combined impact at a cellular level, which causes dysfunction in many systems in the body.

Various studies have identified the most common deficiencies found in our children, including B vitamins (B1, B3, B5, B6, B12, biotin, and folate), vitamin C, fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K), minerals such as magnesium, zinc, and selenium, and fatty acids (DHA, LA, and ALA). The following are a few examples of common deficiencies and how they can impact your child.

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine and pyridoxal-5-phosphate/P5P)

Vitamin B6(pyridoxine and pyridoxal-5-phosphate/P5P) plays an active role in over 100 enzyme reactions, mostly concerned with protein metabolism. Pyridoxine is the inactive form of B6 and pyridoxal-5-phosphate (P5P) is the active form.

Why is B6 important?

P5P is required in a wide variety of metabolic functions in the body, especially in amino acid metabolism and in the central nervous system, where it supports the production of the neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid). P5P is also required for the metabolism of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and acetylcholine and is the regulator of histamine, a chemical released during an allergic response. P5P is also required in sulfur metabolism and helps to recycle methyl groups, both critical components of the body’s ability to detoxify pesticides, additives, heavy metals and other toxins ¹.

One study by researchers at Arizona State University found high levels of B6 (the inactive form, pyridoxine) in children with autism along with low levels of the cofactor vitamin C, which inhibits the ability to convert pyridoxine into the active form of B6, P5P, causing a functional deficiency.^2 3

What are the sources of B6?

Although B6 is widely available in foods, it is not found in high levels in most foods and is further reduced upon cooking and processing. The best food sources of B6 are meats (organ meats in particular), fish, poultry, whole grains (unprocessed) and spinach. Click here for a full list.

The alternative to food sources of B6 is supplementation, ideally of the active form, pyridoxal-5-phosphate or P5P. Supplementing with P5P will eliminate the concern that other cofactors are not present to convert pyridoxine to P5P, or the inactive to active form.

Taurine

Taurine is an amino acid that plays an important role in brain metabolism. Taurine has been shown to be the most depleted amino acid when testing the urinary output of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) males.⁴

Why is taurine important