ArrantPariah
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Joined: Mar 31, 2012
Posts: 4807
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 Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 10:04 am Post subject: Less folic acid in pregnancy tied to autism |
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http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/06/us-less-folic-acid-idINBRE85519G20120606
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Less folic acid in pregnancy tied to autism
(Reuters Health) - In a new study of California moms, women whose children had autism recalled getting less folic acid through food and supplements early in their pregnancies than those whose kids didn't develop the disorder.
Meeting recommendations for folic acid -- at least 600 micrograms per day -- in the first month of pregnancy was tied to a 38 percent lower chance of having a kid with autism or Asperger's, researchers reported last week in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Folic acid -- the synthetic form of the B-vitamin folate -- has been added to breakfast cereals and other grains in the United States since 1998 because of evidence showing deficiencies in pregnant women made it more likely their babies would have brain and spine birth defects.
Questions have remained about whether lack of the vitamin, or difficulty processing it, might increase the risk of mental retardation and certain developmental disorders as well.
Folate "becomes very critical in the early stages of life… as well as the first year of life, when basically the brain is establishing connections and functions," said Edward Quadros from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York.
"If there is a folate deficiency, this disrupts a lot of functioning with the brain," Quadros, who has studied autism and folic acid but wasn't involved in the new research, told Reuters Health.
The possible link between folic acid and autism remains controversial, researchers noted.
Some scientists have thought extra folic acid during pregnancy might actually be tied to a higher chance of autism.
"There were a lot of hypotheses on how perhaps the folic acid fortification in the U.S. was responsible for the increased prevalence of autism spectrum disorders, so that was also a concern," said Rebecca Schmidt, the lead author of the new study from the University of California, Davis.
"When we starting looking at this, I thought it could go either way," she said.
Even with the new findings, there's no proof that had some moms in the study gotten more folic acid in their pregnancy diets, their children wouldn't have developed an autism spectrum disorder.
One limitation is women had to remember their month-to-month diets and supplement use from a few years ago by the time they were surveyed, which makes their reports less reliable.
FIRST MONTH MOST IMPORTANT
Schmidt and her colleagues surveyed the mothers of 429 preschoolers with an autism spectrum disorder and 278 with normal development about their diet and supplement use before and during pregnancy. Using that information, they calculated how much daily folic acid women were getting each month.
Throughout their pregnancies, mothers of kids without autism got more folic acid through fortified foods and vitamins than those who ended up having an autistic child.
That difference was greatest in the first month of pregnancy, when mothers of normally-developing babies remembered getting an average 779 micrograms of folic acid daily and 69 percent of them at least met the daily guidelines.
That compared to an average 655 micrograms in moms of autistic kids, 54 percent of whom got the recommended 600 micrograms or more per day.
One serving of fortified breakfast cereal, or three-quarters of a cup, has 400 micrograms of folic acid. Lentils and spinach, two natural sources of folate, both have between 100 and 200 micrograms per half-cup.
The link between folic acid and autism remained in the new study when Schmidt's team took into account mothers' age and race as well as whether they smoked or drank alcohol during their pregnancy.
Not all researchers in the field are on board with implicating low folic acid in autism and Asperger's.
"It is very difficult to convince the scientific community more than anybody else," Quadros said.
"I would be very careful," said Dr. Fernando Scaglia, who has also studied autism and folate deficiency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
"I think that more studies need to be done to see if this can be replicated."
Then, he told Reuters Health, researchers would have to understand exactly what's going on in the brain that would tie less folate during development to autism.
"It seems to be good for neural development overall, but I think we do need to figure out how it's working," Schmidt told Reuters Health.
For now, when it comes to folic acid during pregnancy, she said, "The recommendations that are out there already are pretty good to follow."
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WerewolfPoet
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Joined: Mar 04, 2012
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 10:29 am Post subject: |
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What an interesting study. 
I believe that optimal health, both in pregnancy and beyond, relies on a balance of all of the necessary nutrients. As the study noted, both a surplus of folic acid and a deficit of it leads to complications.
The difficult part is finding out where this "balance" lies for each individual... |
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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
Rasta is about freedom and the living God
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 10:55 am Post subject: |
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It seems like folic acid shortages are linked to...everything.
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bnky
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:25 am Post subject: |
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Obvious question:
Has autism incidence in children reduced in USA in the past 13 years? |
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bnky
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:50 am Post subject: |
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I wouldn't be able to tell you what I had for breakfast yesterday,... 
Let alone YEARS ago  |
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Ganondox
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:41 pm Post subject: |
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Have I ever told you what I thought of medical studies? BS.
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little_black_sheep
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:38 pm Post subject: |
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| ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote: | | It seems like folic acid shortages are linked to...everything. |
However, usually they are said to be linked to bad things. I do hope that my children (if I ever have any) won't turn out to be shallow NTs caring about outside appearances and about their social standing more than about the really important stuff - even if I stick to a healthy diet during the pregnancies... 
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Joe90
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Ganondox wrote: | | Have I ever told you what I thought of medical studies? BS. |
Exactly. They do medical studies on everything, even with Alzheimer's. One minute something is the cause of Alzheimer's, the next minute it's not and something else is, and I think it's just a way to get people to read it. But people do believe everything they read. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.
Autism is caused by bad luck if it's a disadvantage to you
Autism is caused by good luck if it's an advantage to you
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lostmyself
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:44 pm Post subject: |
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| folic acid is impt for development of brain. I can see that way how it plays a part in developing AS |
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Joe90
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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| lostmyself wrote: | | folic acid is impt for development of brain. I can see that way how it plays a part in developing AS |
So if my mum had more folic acid, I would of been born normal?
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TheygoMew
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| Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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| ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote: | | It seems like folic acid shortages are linked to...everything. |
Yes. They try to claim stuff to entice pregnant women to drink more of this, drink less of that, eat more of this and less of that. It's nothing but manipulative junk science. |
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ChatBrat
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MjrMajorMajor
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| Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 3:48 am Post subject: |
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 There always seems to be some study correlating autism to something. Next it will be resting heartbeats or an exposure to horse apples during pregnancy. |
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Schneekugel
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| Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 3:50 am Post subject: |
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| I dont believe in it. The problem is, autism is present in the USA and Europe. While in the USA people without health insurance may have to less fol acid during pregnancy, in my country as example, you are regularly checked for your blood sugar, fol acid, .... during pregnancy and get advices how to change your food and supplements. So normally there should be normal with fol acid troubles around here, still we have autism as every other country. |
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Pileo
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| Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:05 am Post subject: |
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Some of you are blowing this study out of proportion. It's supposed to be insightful and an interesting avenue to explore. The guy said it himself, "I think that more studies need to be done to see if this can be replicated." The researchers are fully aware that this not THE answer and that it's just a hypothesis.
Sometimes I feel the news shouldn't report on scientific studies because a) the news inaccurately portrays the study (link) and b) the public can't handle the information, as proven in this thread. |
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