FAB RESEARCH COMMENT:
To find unusually high rates of psychiatric disorder in the children of first-generation immigrants is not a new observation, and always has many potential explanations.
However, increasing evidence now supports the idea that Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy may 'prime' the offspring for neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and ADHD, and potential mechanisms for this have been well documented in animal studies.
In a separate study, these authors found significantly lower Vitamin D status in mothers of Somali versus Swedish origin. See:
For more information on Vitamin D and autism, see also: