Five harmless pregnancy details can cause up to a 17-fold increase in the risk of autism in your child!

　　
　　Autism, according to official statistics every 68 people have one with autism, about the cause and pathogenesis of autism, although there is no unified conclusion, heredity and genes account for a large proportion.

　　There are statistics that congenital accounts for about 60% to 90%, yes, there is a large uncertainty in the middle.
　　At the same time, maternal and environmental factors in which occupy an increasingly large proportion of these hidden dangers hidden in the preparation for pregnancy as well as some of the details of pregnancy.
　　01 Improperly Taken Folic Acid
　　The relationship between folic acid and autism is a controversial topic, and previous studies have suggested that there is a close relationship between folic acid and the development of the neural tube in children, and that too little folic acid can affect the development of the neural tube in children.
　　Some studies have shown that folic acid supplementation for mothers during pregnancy can help reduce the risk of autism in newborns. Prenatal folic acid supplementation was associated with a 58 per cent reduction in autism.

　However, on 14 May 2017, a team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine School of Public Health reported at the International Meeting for Autism Research and Science (IMFAR):
　　Newborns with both high levels of folate and vitamin B12 (VB12) in the blood of their mothers had a 17-fold increased risk of developing autism.
　　This finding seems explosive when calculated on the generally accepted probability of developing autism of 1 in 68 children.
　　With both folate and VB12 too high in the mother’s blood during labour, the probability of autism in the newborn is almost 25%, a staggering figure.
　　It has also been suggested that there is a 2.5-fold increased risk of autism with maternal plasma folate (≥60.3 nmol/L) and plasma vitamin B12 (≥536.8 pmol/L).

In summary, the relationship between maternal folic acid levels and the risk of autism in newborns is like the two extremes of the letter ‘U’, with both too high and too low levels increasing the risk of autism in newborns.
　　Therefore, proper folic acid supplementation for pregnant women can be beneficial for their children, but not too much.
　　If you’re not sure if you have the right amount of folic acid in your body, getting your folate and vitamin B12 levels checked when you’re preparing for pregnancy can help reduce the risk of autism, which is even more important for people at high risk for autism.
　　02 Cooking during pregnancy increases autism by 13 per cent
　　Many people know that haze is bad for the foetus, and when the weather is bad pregnant women will try to reduce the outing, but what many people do not know is that the air pollution that has the greatest impact on pregnant women is the kitchen.
　　Some studies have concluded that kitchen fumes contain a large amount of PM2.5, and in Beijing, for example, catering emissions account for 13% of regional PM2.5 sources.
　　Cooking increases the average concentration of particulate matter in kitchens by 20-40 times and in living rooms by 10 times compared to rooms where no cooking has taken place.
　　Therefore, cooking is a significant potential source of indoor air pollution in China.
　　To argue whether exposure to kitchen fumes during pregnancy has an effect on the foetus, our researchers studied maternal pregnancy behaviour of 45,518 children newly enrolled in kindergartens (around the age of three) in Longhua District, Shenzhen, between 2015 and 2017.

　It was found that of these children, 6053 developed behaviours such as autistic hyperactivity.
　　A questionnaire study showed that mothers’ exposure to fumes during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of autistic hyperactivity and other behaviours in their children.
　　Children of pregnant mothers who sometimes, often or always cooked showed a significantly higher risk of autistic hyperactivity compared to pregnant mothers who never cooked.
　　Children of mothers who cook with gas show more autistic hyperactive behaviours compared to mothers who cook with electrical products.
　　Also, poor kitchen ventilation during cooking by pregnant mothers has been found to be a significant risk factor for the development of autistic hyperactive behaviours in the offspring.
　　So, if possible, please be lazy during pregnancy, minimise cooking and if you have to cook, turn on the hood in advance.
　　03 Infections during pregnancy lead to 79 per cent increased risk of autism
　　This is a Swedish study published in JAMA Psychiatry that analysed data from children born in Sweden over four decades, totalling 1.8 million data.

Since Sweden is also a country where, like us, births are documented, and has been since more than forty years ago, this provided a huge database for analysis.
　　It turns out that if a pregnant woman is diagnosed with an infection and receives hospital treatment during pregnancy, the child has a significantly higher risk of receiving hospital treatment for autism and depression later on, and the child has a higher risk of suicide as an adult.
　　Specifically, the data shows that having had an infection during pregnancy increases the child’s risk of developing autism later in life by 79 per cent and depression by 24 per cent.
　　A study on the relationship between infections during pregnancy and autism in children was published in 2017 in Nature, the world’s top medical journal.
　　They found that when a pregnant woman develops an infection, immune cells induced by specific gut microbes in the mother produce large amounts of interleukin-17a (IL-17a), which passes through the placental barrier into the foetus, thereby affecting the development of the foetal central nervous system.
　　In another article in the same issue of Nature, the researchers identified a specific brain change region (S1DZ) associated with the above process.
　　The findings suggest that it is the high levels of IL-17a produced by maternal immune activation during pregnancy that leads to the development of ‘plaques’ in the S1DZ region of the brain, resulting in behavioural abnormalities such as autism in the offspring.
　　Pregnancy is the most vulnerable period of the immune system, must be well protected, timely vaccination against influenza, new crown, measles and other types of vaccines, and actively prevent infection.
　　04 Fetal autism triggered by mothers’ high salt diets
　　Recent data suggest that increased salt intake has a significant impact on the immune system and gut microbiome, often leading to the induction of intestinal dysbiosis and pro-inflammatory pathways.

Maternal age ≥35 years was 1.3 times the risk of autism in the offspring of mothers aged 25-29 years; paternal age ≥40 years was 1.4 times the risk of autism in the offspring of fathers aged 25-29 years.
　　If both parents were of advanced maternal age, offspring were 3 times more likely to have autism than offspring of mothers aged 20-34 years and fathers under 40 years of age
　　Another meta-analysis found that each 10-year increase in the age of the mother and father was associated with an 18 per cent and 21 per cent higher risk of autism.

When the mother’s age is high, the genetic, immune, endocrine and other systemic conditions are altered and the risk of autism in the child is increased.
　　So in conclusion, if people want to have children, please try to have them at the optimal age and at the right age.
　　In addition, a history of exposure to many toxins in life can also affect the neurodevelopment of the foetus, resulting in an increased risk of autism. For example, exposure to lead, mercury, arsenic, toluene, etc. may cause permanent damage to the foetal nervous system, directly triggering foetal autism.
　　DDT, a pesticide, has also been found to be a possible culprit for autism in recent years, but these toxic and harmful substances can generally be actively avoided during pregnancy.
　　Pregnancy is one of the most special and important periods in a foetus’s life, and there are many aspects of life that may have an impact on the child’s life, so we can’t be too careful during this special time.
　　These five details we are talking about today are all sparse during pregnancy, and many of them are even healthy, but they may put the foetus at an increased risk of autism, so we must pay attention to them.