Prenatal Folic Acid and Language Development

Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health examined the association between mothers’ use of prenatal folic acid supplements and risk of language delay in their children. They abstracted data on children enrolled prenatally in the prospective Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study, born between 1999 and 2007, with follow-up data at age 3 years. Language development was assessed based on questionnaires completed by the mothers. Children with only one-word or unintelligible utterances were categorized with severe language delay, those with only two- to three-word phrases with moderate language delay, and those with fairly complete sentences with no language delay. Data on maternal folic acid …