Children’s brain and poorer cognitive performance linked with low-folate status in mothers’ early pregnancy
Newly results about the association between prenatal folate status and children’s brain anatomy have been presented in a research published in the British Journal of Nutrition in early 2016 (Ars et al 2016 – Prenatal folate, homocysteine, and vitamin B12 levels and child brain volumes, cognitive development and psychological functioning). The study was carried out at the Erasmus University Medical Center, in the Netherland, and is part of the Generation R Study, which looked at nearly 10,000 pregnant Dutch women in a period between 2002 and 2006.
The research suggests that prenatal maternal folate deficiency in early pregnancy has a long-lasting global effect on brain development in offspring and has been associated with smaller total brain volume, poorer language and visual-spatial performance in children aged between 6 and 8 years.
Maternal folate (active form 5-methyltetrahydrofolate) concentration of mothers enrolled in the Generation R Study was measured in plasma and considered to provide a more objective and reliable index of folate status. Even if adequate folate levels were more likely to use folic acid, supplements it is impressive that 35,5 % of the mother with low folate levels in blood use folic acid supplements.
Quatrefolic® maximizes the benefit of folate supplementation
Quatrefolic®, as a source of the active form of folate, the (6S)-5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF), can be the first choice in the folate supplementation. Quatrefolic® maximizes the benefit of folate supplementation without incurring in the fruitless effect of other sources of folate, protecting mothers in pregnancy and, according to the study above, young children.