Pregnant women must enforce many recommendations and prohibitions to ensure their well-being and that of their offspring. Avoid red meat and raw fish, stay out of the sun, reduce coffee consumption, avoid raw milk products… Here is a quick overview of everything a mother-to-be should avoid during her pregnancy to reduce the risk of toxoplasmosis, listeriosis, miscarriage and other developmental problems. To this sometimes restrictive list is added a new point of vigilance to respect: drinking tap water contaminated with high levels of lithium during pregnancy can increase the risk of having a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
While lithium can have mental health benefits – it was the first mood stabilizer to be used for bipolar disorder – there are also many side effects. According to a Danish study published in JAMA Pediatrics journalthe alkali metal which is used in particular to manufacture the batteries of many electronic devices and electric cars would be associated “with a moderate increase in the risk of ASD in the offspring”, write the researchers.
To prove this, they measured the concentration of lithium in 151 public aqueducts that served more than half of Denmark’s population and mapped where pregnant women lived. They then discovered that the (…)
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