Eating Healthy Fats During Pregnancy Linked to Decreased Autism Rates; Omega-3 Fatty Acid Beneficial Until Threshold
Healthy fats, which can be found in fish, seeds, nuts, and vegetable oils, may reduce a woman's risk of having a child with autism.
FAB RESEARCH COMMENT:
This 'case-control' study compared the dietary fat intakes during pregnancy of mothers whose children were subsequently diagnosed with autism with those of a matched group, whose children showed typical behavioural and cognitive development.
Higher intakes during pregnancy of two types of 'essential fats' were associated with lower probabilities of autism in the children - the long-chain omega-3 fats found in fish and seafood (EPA and DHA), and the short-chain omega-6 fats found in nuts and seed oils (linolieic acid, or LA)
As the study was purely observational, these findings cannot address the question of cause-and-effect - but they are consistent with what is already known about the importance of both omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) for healthy brain development and function.
For details of this research, see:
2 July 2013 - Medical Daily
Published in the Journal of American Epidemiology by the Harvard School for Public Health, the study examined maternal intake of certain fatty acids across mothers whose children have autism and those whose do not.
The study found that women who consumed linoleic acid — a type of omega-6 acid found in vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds — were 34 percent less likely to birth a child with autism, while women who consumed low levels of omega-3 fatty acids — those found in fish — were 53 percent more likely.
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