Die Einnahme von zwei Nahrungsergänzungsmitteln während der Schwangerschaft kann das Autismusrisiko um 30 % senken – Pränatale Multivitamine waren mit einer Reduzierung des Autismusrisikos um 34 % verbunden, während Folsäure allein mit einer Reduzierung um 30 % verbunden war.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0334852

From the linked article:

**Taking Two Supplements During Pregnancy May Reduce Autism Risk by 30%**

Taking folic acid and multivitamin supplements during pregnancy may significantly lower the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children, according to a study conducted by Australian researchers.

The team carried out a so-called umbrella review—a high-level analysis that evaluates evidence from multiple systematic reviews and meta-analyses—to determine whether prenatal vitamins play a role in autism prevention.
After screening 1,388 scientific reviews and narrowing the pool to eight high-quality analyses, the researchers examined data from 101 primary studies involving more than three million participants.

The findings concluded that women who took folic acid or multivitamin supplements during pregnancy had a 30 percent lower risk of having a child diagnosed with ASD compared with those who did not supplement.

When the supplements were analyzed separately, the results remained strong. **Prenatal multivitamins were linked to a 34 percent reduction in autism risk, while folic acid alone was linked to a 30 percent reduction**.

It’s a meta analysis with some of the studies used only checking for early ASD reports aka if you get diagnosed later in life you are an error.for this study this is not accounted for as far as I could see skimming the paper. Some of the studies where based on self-reporting of what supplement was taken, how much and how often. The study doesn’t see this as a big source for error. All studies about self-reporting paint different conclusions. The proven genetic elements of ASD were not taken into consideration as far as I could tell. It is acknowledged that the studies used only cover a limited demographic and region which limits (not just might as they say) the generalisation of the study. They overstate how repressive their groups are imho.

Also it never is check if yhe supplement is needed. Just that it has been taken.

Honestly not a good paper. At best a base for a long term study but not really anything to really take away besides „could be a factor