A study out of Simon Fraser University has found folic acid may mitigate the link between lead exposure during pregnancy and autistic behaviours in children.

The study found that folate may actually weaken the link between blood levels in pregnant women.

“Folic acid supplementation during pregnancy has numerous benefits to child health, especially brain development,” PhD candidate Joshua Alampi said in a statement.

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“Our study suggests that adequate folic acid supplementation mitigates the neurotoxic effects of lead.”

Alampi was one of the lead researchers on the project.

According to the university, this is the first study to observe that adequate folic acid supplementation “may reduce the risk between gestational lead exposure and autism. It found that associations between blood lead levels and autistic-like behaviours in toddlers were stronger among pregnant women with less than 0.4 milligrams per day of folic acid supplementation.”

Women who are trying to get pregnant are encouraged to take folic acid and continue taking it when they get pregnant as it plays a key role in brain development and prevents neural tube defects.

“Previous studies have found that the associations between autism and exposure to pesticides, air pollutants and phthalates (chemicals commonly found in soft plastics) during pregnancy tend to be stronger when folic acid supplementation is low,” the study found.

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“However, researchers also found that high folic acid supplementation (} 1.0 milligram per day) did not appear to have any extra benefit for mitigating the neurotoxic effects of lead exposure,” the study reads.

The study’s findings aligns with Health Canada’s recommendation that all people who are pregnant, lactating or could become pregnant should take a daily multivitamin containing 0.4 milligrams of folic acid.

The team used data collected from 2008 to 2011 from 2,000 Canadian women enrolled in the MIREC study (Mother-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals). The MIREC team measured blood-lead levels collected during first and third trimesters and surveyed participants to quantify their folic acid supplementation. Children born in this cohort study were assessed at ages three or four using the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), a common caregiver-reported tool that documents autistic-like behaviours in toddlers.