Upcoming HHS report will link autism to common pain reliever, folate deficiency in pregnancy, Wall Street Journal reports

CNN An upcoming record from the US Department of Robustness and Human services is likely to link the advance of autism in children to a common over-the-counter pain reliever and it will reference a form of the vitamin folic acid as a way to reduce features of autism in particular people the Wall Street Journal broadcasted Friday The account is noted to highlight the pain reliever Tylenol when taken during pregnancy along with low levels of folate a vitamin that is key for proper maturation of a baby s brain and spine as promising causes of autism according to the Wall Street Journal It will also name folinic acid a form of folate also known as leucovorin as a way to decrease characteristics of autism Folate supplements are already recommended for women during pregnancy to prevent neural tube defects such as spina bifida in infants Tylenol which is the brand name of the generic pain reliever acetaminophen is widely used in the US including during pregnancy Drugmaker Kenvue explained in a comment Friday Nothing is more significant to us than the physical condition and safety of the people who use our products We have continuously evaluated the science and continue to believe there is no causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism Experts generally agree There is no clear evidence that proves a direct relationship between the prudent use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and fetal developmental issues Dr Christopher Zahn chief of clinical practice for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists declared in a declaration Friday Neurodevelopmental disorders in particular are multifactorial and very formidable to associate with a singular cause Pregnant patients should not be frightened away from the countless benefits of acetaminophen which is safe and one of the sparse options pregnant people have for pain relief The incidence of autism in the US is on the rise About in every children was diagnosed with autism by age in up from in in according to a US Centers for Affection Control and Prevention assessment published in April There are two primary reasons for the increase according to Dr Christine Ladd-Acosta vice director of the Wendy Klagg Center for Autism at John Hopkins The first is that the definition of autism was broadened by the psychiatric district in so more people now qualify for an autism identification Secondly there has been a push for better screening of children especially babies for signs of autism That push for increased awareness of the responses has been accompanied by a greater acceptance of the disorder so people are not as afraid to seek help or to be identified as having autism Ladd-Acosta commented on the Johns Hopkins podcast General Vitality on Call An HHS spokesperson mentioned Friday that the agency is using gold-standard science to get to the bottom of America s unprecedented rise in autism rates Until we release the final overview any suggests about its contents are nothing more than speculation Several studies have looked at the association between acetaminophen use in pregnancy and the evolution of autism in children but experts say the science behind this theory is not settled A review published in JAMA looked at more than million children born in Sweden between and about of the whom were born to mothers who used acetaminophen during pregnancy The inquiry compared autism rates between these children with their siblings and with children who were not exposed and it revealed that acetaminophen use during pregnancy was not associated with an increased exposure of autism attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or other neurodevelopmental disorders A meta-analysis published in August in the journal BMC Environmental Strength looked at studies on the use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders in children Six of the studies looked specifically at acetaminophen and autism Overall the analysis concluded that there was strong evidence of an association between taking acetaminophen during pregnancy and the improvement of autism in children but the authors caution that their paper can show only associations not that acetaminophen causes autism We recommend judicious acetaminophen use lowest effective dose shortest duration under clinical guidance tailored to individual pitfall benefit assessments rather than a broad limitation the researchers wrote The US Food and Drug Administration reviewed the risks of certain types of pain relievers during pregnancy in and revealed that all the studies it reviewed had methodological flaws As a end the agency announced it would not change its recommendations for pain medications during pregnancy at that time The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine also reviewed the issue in It concluded that the weight of evidence is inconclusive regarding a realizable causal relationship between acetaminophen use and neurobehavioral disorders in the offspring HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has previously promoted debunked theories linking vaccines to autism and he pledged in April that his agency would have answers this month on the causes of autism Thousands of researchers from top universities and institutions have applied for federal funding for autism research that Kennedy declared in April and the US National Institutes of Wellbeing is expected this month to announce up to awardees for the million effort We re finding certain interventions now that are clearly almost certainly causing autism and we re going to be able to address those in September Kennedy revealed in a Cabinet meeting last month to which President Donald Trump responded There has to be something artificial causing this meaning a drug or something Dr Peter Hotez a pediatrician who co-directs the Center for Vaccine Progress at Texas Children s Hospital stated it would be irresponsible for Kennedy to cast any one or two things as a smoking gun cause of autism That s not how it works commented Hotez who has a daughter with autism and has written a book about the condition We have autism genes and it s really vital to look at specific of the environmental toxins out there that are interacting with autism genes And it may be attainable to compile a list But I think it would be reckless to hone in just on those two at least in terms of the publicly available information he noted Shares of Kenvue fell about midday after the Wall Street Journal overview came out CNN s Ramishah Maruf Sarah Owermohle and Nadia Kounang contributed to this assessment The-CNN-Wire Cable News System Inc a Warner Bros Discovery Company All rights reserved Source