Maternal Iron Intake Tied To Greater Risk Of Autism In Offspring

The Fox News (9/22) reported that a study published online Sept. 22 in the American Journal of Epidemiology “examined the relationship between maternal iron intake and having a child with autism-spectrum disorder.” Researchers “found a five-fold greater risk of autism…associated with low iron intake – by way of supplements – if the mother was age 35 or older at the time of the child’s birth, or if she suffered from metabolic conditions such as obesity, hypertension or diabetes.”

HealthDay (9/23, Gray) points out that the study, which “included 520 pairs of mothers and children with autism and 346 pairs of mothers and typically developing children,” merely “showed an association between low iron intake and the development of autism spectrum disorder,” but “it didn’t prove cause and effect.”

Related Links:

— “Could Low Iron Intake During Pregnancy Raise Autism Risk?,” Barbara Bronson Gray, HealthDay, September 22, 2014.

Posted in In The News.