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Using a series of small public data sets, researchers found a positive association between prenatal exposure to folic acid fortification and subsequent cortical development in the cognitive and mental health of the brain during adolescence. The results suggest that an increase in prenatal exposure to folic acid by food fortification may protect against psychosis by impaired postnatal cortical development.
. set up in the United States in 1998, it was intended to prevent neural tube defects. Eighty-one countries now require folic acid, noted the study, published Tuesday in JAMA .
Previous epidemiological data on mental illness suggested potentially broader effects of prenatal folate exposure on postnatal brain development. The link was unfounded
Adolescence directly precedes the period of greatest risk of psychiatric disorders, some of which are characterized by a reduction in cortical thickness at the beginning of the disease. In addition, some of the most serious psychiatric disorders in children, including autism and early schizophrenia, are related to marked accelerations in the loss of gray matter.
In this study, the researchers examined three distinct groups of independent youth aged 8 to 18 who underwent cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for 3 different periods.
A retrospective observational cohort clinical study was conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) among 292 young born between January 1993 and December 2001 (inclusive of folic acid fortification ± 3.5 years) with normative MRI results
They were divided into three age groups according to the date of birth and the level of fortified exposure of prenatal folic acid (none, partial or complete). MRIs were performed between January 2005 and March 2015.
These groups were compared to 2 independent, observational and community cohorts (Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort [PNC] and National Institutes of Health magnetic resonance imaging study of brain development normal [NIH]
The PNC group consisted of 1078 young born during the deployment of folic acid between 1992 and 2003. The NIH group was born before deployment between 1983 and 1995.
Researchers found increases and temporal cortical thickness in groups of young born just after, compared with before, the deployment of folic acid fortification.
The young born during the deployment and who were therefore partially exposed to dose association
The NIH cohort, composed only of individuals not exposed to enrichment, showed in the same region
The MGH cohort (139 girls and 153 boys; mean age [SD] 13.3 [2.3] years) demonstrated increases in cortical thickness associated with exposure in bilateral frontal and temporal regions (9.9% to 11.6%; correction P <0.001 to P = .03) and the emergence of quadratic (retarded) age-related thinning in the temporal and parietal regions (beta = -11.1 to -13.9, corrected P = 0.002).
The PNC cohort (417 girls and 444 boys, mean age [SD] 13.5 [2.7] years) also exhibited delays related to exposure to cortical thinning (beta = -1 , 59 to -1.73, correction P <0.001 to P = 0.02), located in similar regions and with lag times similar to those of the MGH cohort . Flattening profiles in the frontal, temporal and parietal regions were associated with lower probabilities of psychotic spectrum symptoms in the PNC cohort (odds ratio [OR] 0.37-0.59, correction P <0.05)
. All regions identified had early thinning in the NIH cohort unexposed (118 girls and 99 boys, mean age [SD] 13.3 [2.6] years old)
Collectively, the study suggests an association of l & # 39; 39; prenatal exposure to folic acid fortification with increased cortical thickness in early adolescence, accompanied by a slowing down of cortical and orthotic thinning; a reduced risk of mental illness
The researchers said that their study is the first to link prenatal exposure to folic acid fortification with subsequent cortical development changes, how exactly does this occur n & # 39; Has not yet been determined.
Reference
Eryilmaz H, Dowling KF, Huntington FC, et al. Association of prenatal exposure to fortification of folic acid at the population level with impaired maturation of the cerebral cortex in young people [published online July 3, 2018]. Psychiatry JAMA . doi: 10.1001 / jamapsychiatry.2018.1381.
