There are many old and traditional myths that are
today considered as just the debunked mis-beliefs and advised not to practice
them. Probably, because as the time changed, the way of living has been
completely changed. Today, people are less prone to physical activities because
of the constantly evolving digitization globally. It is known since decades,
that pregnant women or the ones expecting to be pregnant should take enough
folic acid to prevent certain type of birth defects in their babies. On the
contrary, I’m going to discuss one such study that suggests high levels of
folic acid consumption in pregnant women seems to be linked with an increased
risk of autism in their children.
Folate is actually a natural B vitamin considered as
the key element to the proper neurological development of babies; the
supplement type of the folate vitamin is folic
acid.
A few studies have connected folic acid deficiencies
in early pregnancy to birth imperfections and a serious danger of autism
spectrum disorder. On the other hand, another research points to an opposite
relation between autism and folic acid, stating that adequate amount of folic
vitamin during the conception may significantly reduce the risk of autism.
Certainly, there are some experts who raised
questions related to the new research. They noticed that the findings were
preliminary and conducted on a few number of families and only at one hospital.
Additionally, the findings were based on the measures of the vitamin in
mother’s blood during the time of delivery, which did not reveal the real
situation about the women’s body at the time of early stages of foetal brain development.
Even the researcher - M. Daniele Fallin of Johns Hopkins University agreed,
that there are no requirements for changing the current health requirements or
that they are not suggesting anyone to stop taking their supplements. Finally,
the decision that more in-depth research is required takes place.
Folate is a vitamin found in foods which are
important in the development of the nervous system and cell growth and it’s
supplement; folic acid is used in fortifying flour and cereals. It was decades
ago, that researchers found certain levels of folic acid may prevent the major
birth deficiencies in the child’s brain and spine. Hence, they recommended to
take 400 mg folic acid daily to the women wishing to get pregnant. And
following this, in late 1990s, the federal regulations started mandating to add
folic acid to the flour, bread and other grain items. These steps created great
public health success stories. According to some officials, 1000 birth defects
are prevented with this every year.
Moving ahead, some researchers followed 1,391
children born at Boston University Medical Center in 1998 through 2013, and
found that about 100 of them were diagnosed of autism spectrum disorder.
Looking back at the levels of folate and vitamin B12 in the blood samples of
the babies’ mothers at the time of child birth, they found that 16 of them had
much high levels of folate and 15 had very high levels of vitamin B12. Although
smaller number of cases, they represented significantly higher in proportions
than were found in moms whose babies didn’t developed autism. If both, folate
and vitamin B12 levels are extremely high, there are more chances(upto 17
times) greater risk that the baby will have autism - researchers said.
Some women have high levels of both the elements in
their blood. It may be related to consuming too many supplements and eating too
many fortified foods or due to a genetic reason or a combination of both. But,
the researchers noted that the children prone to autism were mainly from the
lower-income and minority families.
