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September 01, 2005
Low Folic Acid during Pregnancy Ups Schiz. Risk?
Read more... Schizophrenia Causes, Risk Factors & Prevention
A new research paper out of Harvard University investigated the roll the folic acid deficiencies during pregnancy might play in a child's risk of developing schizophrenia later.
The study suggests that evidence from many different lines of research supports the hypothesis that schizophrenia is a disorder of brain development with causal factors implicated as early as the second trimester of pregnancy.
The researchers suggest that low maternal folate (Folic Acid), acting to increase homocysteine levels, may provide a functional link between many of the identified prenatal schizophrenia risk factors and the hypothesized mechanisms whereby neurodevelopmental errors or malformation develop to increase risk of later schizophrenia.
The findings from this review support the idea that low folate and high homocysteine levels during pregnancy may provide a potential genetic mutation causing mechanism that increases the risk for developing schizophrenia for the child.
The study concludes that given the potential for preventive treatment offered by this hypothesis, they believe further investigation into this mechanism is warranted.
The message here seems to be that if you're going to get pregnant, you should be very careful to take good prenatal vitamins, eat healthy foods, and of course avoid all alcohol, cigarettes and other standard medical advice for expecting mothers.
Do maternal folate and homocysteine levels play a role in neurodevelopmental processes that increase risk for schizophrenia?
Posted by szadmin at September 1, 2005 08:55 AM
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