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Prenatal vitamin intake may cut autism recurrence by half in high-risk families
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In high-risk families, maternal prenatal vitamin use during the first month of pregnancy may decrease the risk for autism spectrum disorder recurrence by half in the younger siblings of children with autism, study findings indicated.
“Evidence is accumulating that the in utero environment, including gestational nutrition, has a potentially large role in the pathologic development of autism,” Rebecca J. Schmidt, PhD, from the University of California Davis School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote.
Researchers examined the connection between maternal prenatal vitamin intake and ASD recurrence risk in younger siblings of children with autism using data from a sample of youth and their mothers in the Markers of Autism Risk in Babies: Learning Early Signs (MARBLES) study. The investigators determined whether children had autism spectrum disorder, other nontypical development or typical development using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and Mullen Scales of Early Learning subscale scores.
In the MARBLES study, demographic, lifestyle, environmental and medical information (including supplement intake during pregnancy) were collected via telephone-assisted interviews and mailed questionnaires. Infants received standardized neurodevelopmental assessments from age 6 months to age 3 years.
The final sample included 241 younger siblings. In total, 231 mothers (95.9%) reported taking prenatal vitamins throughout pregnancy; however, only 87 (36.1%) met the recommendations to take prenatal vitamins in the 6 months prior to pregnancy.
Overall, 22.8% children had diagnosed ASD, 24.9% had nontypical development and 52.3% had typical development. Analysis revealed that the prevalence of autism was 14.1% in youth whose mothers took prenatal vitamins in the first month of pregnancy vs. 32.7% in youth whose mothers did not take these vitamins in the first month.
After adjusting for maternal education, Schmidt and colleagues observed that children of mothers who took prenatal vitamins in the first month of pregnancy were half as likely to receive an ASD diagnosis (adjusted RR = 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-0.81) and had lower autism symptom severity (adjusted estimated difference = –0.6; 95% CI, –0.97 to –0.23) than children of mothers who did not take such vitamins in the first month.
Children of mothers who took prenatal vitamins in the first month of pregnancy also had higher cognitive scores (adjusted estimated difference = 7.1; 95% CI, 1.2-13.1), according to the results.
The researchers explained that the link between prenatal vitamin use and reduced ASD risk could be attributable to any of the many nutrients contained in prenatal vitamins.
“As suggested in previous studies, iron and especially folic acid are likely contributors given their high content in prenatal vitamins (compared with multivitamins, which were not associated with lower ASD risk), their importance in neurodevelopment, their depletion during pregnancy, and (especially for folic acid) the timing of their effect,” they wrote. “Future work should examine the contributions of specific nutrients from supplements as well as food sources, overall diet quality and biologic measurements of nutrient status, as well as investigate dose thresholds, interactions with genetic variants and potential mechanisms.” – by Savannah Demko
Disclosure: The authors report numerous relevant financial disclosures; please see the full study for a complete list.