# Longitudinal neuroprotective  effects of periconceptional folic acid supplements in help-seeking youth with psychiatric symptoms  and healthy controls

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2020 · $825,937

## Abstract

The prenatal environment contributes substantially to risk for serious mental illnesses that can emerge
decades after birth. As such, prenatal life may be a propitious time to intervene in ways that reduce risk.
Indeed, replicated, robust evidence from recent public health studies associates early prenatal exposure to
folic acid with an approximately 50% reduction in autism risk. Further, our recent work associated increased
fetal exposure to population-wide folic acid fortification of grain products with specific changes in brain
development, characterized by delayed thinning of the cerebral cortex during adolescence and associated
reduction in risk for psychosis symptoms. These changes were most pronounced in regions subserving
frontoparietal control and limbic networks, which have been broadly implicated across categories of psychiatric
illness, and specifically linked to variation in blood folate levels in healthy adults and patients with
schizophrenia by our group. These findings are unprecedented, and of potentially substantial

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10051748
- **Project number:** 1R01MH120402-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** ALYSA E DOYLE
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $825,937
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-08-01 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10051748

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10051748, Longitudinal neuroprotective  effects of periconceptional folic acid supplements in help-seeking youth with psychiatric symptoms  and healthy controls (1R01MH120402-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10051748. Licensed CC0.

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