Maurice Cauchi’s article on autism (‘Autism: some recent findings’, The Sunday Times of Malta, December 29) suggests a trial of probiotics might be useful – if anything, it would be safe to do so.

In that case, may I suggest a new probiotic liquid preparation which contains not one, but four, active live, good bacterial strains and which has recently received an award in the UK for apparently impressive results in irritable bowel syndrome (see www.symprove.com).

Furthermore, an American doctor, John Cannell, with four years of experience treating autistic children with vitamin D3, claims those who respond better to vitamin D3 are the ones with reported seasonality of autistic symptoms, those who had a period of early normal development (as opposed to those affected even as infants) and those with mild or moderate autism. He claims children under the age of eight respond better than older ones.

There is currently a lot of interest in vitamin D3 because it seems to regulate many genes and might be useful in some poorly understood diseases, including anti-cancer immunotherapy.

Although vitamin D3 has been shown to have a beneficial effect on mechanisms of action underling autism, there are, as yet, no placebo-controlled trials proving its benefits in autism.

Anyone interested in a scanned copy of Dr Cannell’s scientific feature (which includes his contact details) on how to try vitamin D3 in autism, can contact me on acvincenti@gmail.com.