Vitamins and Brain Development in Children

Vitamins play a critical role in brain development in the neonatal and childhood stages of life. Vitamins consumed during these stages affect life function during later years of life.

Vitamin D

• Scientists at Children’s Hospital and Research Center at Oakland have revealed a critical link between early brain development and vitamin D. The research study done by Joyce C. McCann, Ph.D., assistant staff scientist, and Bruce N. Ames, Ph.D., senior scientist at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHOR), shows that a lack of vitamin D during stages of pregnancy and child development leads to brain disorders such as multiple sclerosis and autism.

Importance and Function of Vitamin D

• The research also points out that Vitamin D contributes to brain function including distribution of receptors through out the brain. A deficiency of the vitamin impairs learning, memory and motor control.

Vitamin B6

• Vitamin D distribution is connected to the concentration of vitamin B6 in the brain. A lack of vitamin D means deficiency of vitamin B6, which causes neural and synapse damage. This impairs absorption of vitamin B12.

Vitamin C

• According to the LIFE faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, lack of Vitamin C impairs brain development at the neonatal stage. This impairment affects childhood neural resistance, function and milestone development.

Learning Disabilities

• "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" states that lack of vitamin C in early childhood causes learning disabilities.