Folate doesn’t cause Autism but folic acid might
At this point, the recent study about Folate/folic acid and the correlation to autism, the evidence is extremely premature. However this study brought to light that blood tests done around the time of birth found that about 10 percent of mothers had excessively high levels of “folic acid/folate” and/or vitamin B12 in their blood. Interestingly this number correlates approximately with the number of women affected with homozygous c677t MTHFR (2 copies of the mutation or 10% function of the enzyme). Those people had an increased risk of having a child who would later be diagnosed with ASD. The findings have not been peer-reviewed or published in a journal; and is being presented at a conference this week. At the very least the media is focusing attention on this very important subject. We know the research will now focus on the distinction between folate and folic acid.