Pregnant people commonly take folic to avoid certain birth defects, but researchers haven't settled how the vitamin affects children's odds of developing autism spectrum disorders.
Even if prenatal folic acid intake does indeed reduce the probability of ASDs in some children, it’s hard to know how exactly the vitamin accomplishes that. Among other mechanisms involved in a child’s growth, folate aids the epigenetic process of methylation and may help prepare the fetus for its future environment. Folate also works as an antioxidant, so it could combat some of the numerous sources of oxidative stress that may contribute to autism risk.
“We don’t really know how it’s working … and that’s what’s always been troubling me,” Schmidt says. “If we could figure out how it’s working, then we could make it more targeted and only give it to people who need it or find better ways of delivering whatever that protection is.” To truly understand folic acid’s possible role in mitigating the risk of autism development, both Surén and Schmidt say a randomized trial could account for the slew of confounding factors involved, including maternal education levels and a generally health-conscious lifestyle. But such research could be highly expensive given its complexity, not to mention the moral dilemma involved.
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