Blackmores Institute

Following up children of mothers from the randomised controlled trial in 2006-2007 – Folic Acid Supplementation during the Second and Third Trimesters (FASST) – the cognitive performance of children at seven years of age was evaluated.
 
 “Of 119 participants in the original FASSTT trial, 70 mother-child pairs completed the FASSTT Offspring Trial at 7 years, representing a 59% response rate. Following adjustment for child’s sex, birth weight, breastfeeding, maternal age, and maternal education attainment, analysis showed that children born to mothers who had received folic acid (FA) in pregnancy scored significantly higher in word reasoning compared to children from the placebo group (mean (95% CI) 13.3 (12.4–14.2) vs 11.9 (11.0–12.8), p = 0.027),” the authors reported.
 
 The study found that when the results of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-III) scores were compared with a nationally representative sample of British children at age seven, the WPPS-III score were higher in children from FA treated mothers for verbal IQ, general language and full scale IQ. When the placebo group was compared with British children only small differences in verbal IQ and full scale IQ and no difference in performer IQ or general language scores were observed.
 
 “Maternal biomarker status of folate at the 36th gestational week was found to be a significant predictor of subsequent verbal IQ (but not other WPPSI-III scores) in children at 7 years and in this analysis, apart from maternal folate status at the 36th gestational week, breastfeeding was the only factor significantly related to child cognition as determined by WPPSI-III test scores for verbal IQ, general language, and full scale IQ,” the authors said.
 
 “As a follow-up study of children whose mothers had participated in an RCT during trimesters two and three of pregnancy, the FASSTT Offspring study provides the first randomised trial evidence that continuing FA supplementation throughout pregnancy, well beyond the early period known to be protective against neural tube defects, can influence cognitive development of the child up to seven years of age.
 
 “The wider public health relevance of our findings is suggested by the supporting data from comparison of the cognitive performance of the FASSTT Offspring Trial participants with that of a nationally representative sample of British children of the same age.
 
 “The results show that there are benefits for the child of continuing maternal use of FA throughout pregnancy whereas current recommendations in most countries worldwide advise mothers to take FA supplementation from before conceiving until the end of the 12th gestational week only. If confirmed by further randomised trials in pregnancy with follow up in childhood, these findings could have important impacts in informations future policy and practice in relation to FA recommendations in pregnancy,” the researchers concluded.
 
 Source:
 BMC Med. 2019. DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-019-1432-4">10.1186/s12916-019-1432-4</a>

Research from the United Kingdom has shown that continued folic acid supplementation of mothers throughout their pregnancy can positively influence the cognitive performance of their children up to seven years of age.

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