Grant: Project Grant

The B vitamin folate is an important nutrient during development. Many countries, including Canada and the United States, fortify grain products with folic acid (synthetic form of folate), to reduce the incidence of birth defects. As a result, folate deficiency has become rare and the rate of birth defects has declined. However there are now concerns that women maybe taking too much folic acid during pregnancy because of the combined use of supplements and food fortification. Specifically some data suggests that children from women that take folic acid during pregnancy but who are deficient in vitamin B12 have more fat tissue and have trouble regulating their blood sugar placing them at risk for diabetes. The focus of this Project Grant is to understand how a woman's intake of folic acid and vitamin B12 during pregnancy can affect her child's risk for diabetes. Studies will be conducted in a mouse model.