Childhood maltreatment increases the risk of long-term health and psychological issues, but how it alters children’s development at a biological level remains unclear. In a recent study, researchers from Japan investigated both biological aging and social attention in maltreated preschoolers. Using DNA methylation markers and eye-tracking data, researchers found that abuse accelerates cellular aging and disrupts a child’s attention to people’s eyes—two independent pathways linked to emotional and behavioral difficulties.

Background: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) had lower vitamin D3 levels than neurotypical (NT) children, as well as deficits in language, social, and fine motor abilities. Nanotechnology has appeared as a suitable answer to absorption and bioavailability problems related to vitamin D3. The aim was to investigate the influence of vitamin D3-loaded nanoemulsion supplementation on adaptive behavior and language performance in children with ASD compared to the influence of the marketed product of vitamin D3.

Methods: Supplementation of ASD children with an oral vitamin D3-loaded nanoemulsion was performed in Group I while the marketed product of the oral vitamin D3 was used in Group II for 6 months.  Evaluation of their abilities and measuring the plasma levels of two types of vitamin D3 were performed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography before and after supplementation.

Results: Supplementation in Group I (N=40) has led to an elevation of levels of 25 (OH) and 1, 25 (OH)2 forms of vitamin D3 (p< 0.0001), to behavioral improvement in the form of a reduction in ASD severity, and to a rise in the social IQ and total language age of ASD children (p=0.0002, 0.04, 0.0009, respectively).  On the other hand, Group II (N=40) did not show adaptive behavioral improvements.

Conclusion: The vitamin D3-loaded nanoemulsion provided better vitamin D3 bioavailability and a true influence on severity, adaptive behavior, fine motor abilities, and language performance, reflecting the desired benefits of the rise of vitamin D3 levels in the blood.