Pregnant Mothers: Folate intake may be beneficial for fetal growth, but can also cause asthmatic complications

Every year, 300 million people are affected with asthma, and the numbers continue to increase. New studies have hypothesized that pregnant mothers taking dietary supplements with folate during the early stages of pregnancy may enhance allergic airways disease in their newborn infants.

Diet supplements rich in folate, are important in protecting the growing fetus from developing facial clefting as well as neural tube and cardiac defects. However, it also contains methyl donors which may affect the expression of transcription factors that control lineage of Th1, Th2 and Treg cells, altering DNA methylation, and affecting genetic expression. This in turn results in the increase risk of a child developing allergic airway disease later on in life.

Scientists have tested out this hypothesis with the use of mice, with both dams and pups exposed to different levels of methyl donor diets. Results have indicated that pups that are fed high-methyl donor diet (HMD) or low-methyl donor diet (LMD) have no significant difference, but dams fed with HMD in utero showed higher signs of their pups developing allergic airway disease. Thus, showing that the period of vulnerability of the fetus is during the gestation period.

With that being said, mothers can be forewarned that taking too much folate supplements during the early stages of pregnancy could put a damper on their child's well being.

Source: Hollingsworth, J, Maruoka, S, Boon,K, Garantziotis, S, Li, Z, Tomfohr, J, Bailey, N, Potts, E, Whitehead, G, Brass, D, and Schwartz, D 2008, 'In utero supplementation with methyl donors enhances allergic airway disease in mice.' Journal of Clinical Investigation. Vol. 118, pp. 3462-3469.

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