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Background: The available data on the relationship between diet/folic acid and congenital heart disease (CHD) are not consistent. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the intake and supplementation of folic acid and other selected factors in mothers and the risk of congenital heart defects in fetuses., Methods: A case-control study was conducted. The study group included pregnant women with fetuses from singleton pregnancies with prenatally diagnosed heart defects in the fetus ( n = 79) and pregnant women whose course of pregnancy was normal with no heart defects or other developmental anomalies diagnosed in the fetus ( n = 121). The patients were diagnosed at a reference center in Poland. The women completed a lifestyle questionnaire and FFQ and precisely described their use of dietary supplements. A univariate logistic regression model was used to evaluate the association between folic acid and selected risk factors and CHD. The association was significant and included such risk factors such as nutritional status, medications taken, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Additionally, the time of starting folic acid supplementation turned out to be statistically significant. The reference period of supplementation was the period before pregnancy., Results: Lack of supplementation increases the risk of heart defects in children by more than four times compared to supplementation before pregnancy (OR = 4.19; p = 0.0117), whereas supplementation beyond the eighth week of gestation increases the risk almost threefold (OR = 2.90; p = 0.0474). The presence of congenital defects in the family is also an important factor., Conclusions: A history of congenital heart defects or other defects, lack of periconceptional folic acid supplementation, and lack of dietary supplementation before pregnancy were associated with congenital heart defects in the fetus. Place of residence, parents' education, lifestyle habits such as smoking and alcohol consumption, nutritional status before pregnancy, and mother's diseases did not show a significant relationship with congenital heart defects in the children. There is an urgent need to develop preventive strategies and conduct extensive public education.

Schizophrenia is associated with shortening of the lifespan mainly due to cardiovascular events, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Both telomere attrition and decrease of telomerase levels were observed in schizophrenia. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) influence multiple biochemical mechanisms which are postulated to accelerate telomere shortening and limit the longevity of patients with schizophrenia. Intervention studies based on add-on therapy with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) in patients with schizophrenia did not assess the changes in telomerase levels. A randomized placebo-controlled trial named OFFER was designed to compare the efficacy of a 26-week intervention composed of either 2.2g/day of n-3 PUFA or olive oil placebo with regard to symptom severity in first-episode schizophrenia patients. The secondary outcome measure of the study was to describe the association between the clinical effect of n-3 PUFA and changes in telomerase levels. Seventy-one patients aged 16-35 were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned to the study arms. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was used to assess the change in symptom severity. Telomerase levels of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were assessed at three points: at baseline and at weeks 8 and 26 of the intervention. A significantly greater increase in PBMC telomerase levels in the intervention group compared to placebo was observed (p<0.001). Changes in telomerase levels significantly and inversely correlated with improvement in depressive symptoms and severity of the illness. The efficacy of a six-month intervention with n-3 PUFA observed in first-episode schizophrenia may be related to an increase in telomerase levels., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Short-term clinical trials of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) as add-on therapy in patients with schizophrenia revealed mixed results. The majority of these studies used an 8- to 12-week intervention based on ethyl-eicosapentaenoic acid. A randomized placebo-controlled trial was designed to compare the efficacy of 26-week intervention, composed of either 2.2 g/day of n-3 PUFA, or olive oil placebo, with regard to symptom severity in first-episode schizophrenia patients. Seventy-one patients (aged 16-35) were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned to the study arms. The primary outcome measure of the clinical evaluation was schizophrenia symptom severity change measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Mixed models repeated measures analysis revealed significant differences between the study arms regarding total PANSS score change favouring n-3 PUFA (p = 0.016; effect size (ES) = 0.29). A fifty-percent improvement in symptom severity was achieved significantly more frequently in the n-3 PUFA group than in the placebo group (69.4 vs 40.0%; p = 0.017). N-3 PUFA intervention was also associated with an improvement in general psychopathology, measured by means of PANSS (p = 0.009; ES = 0.32), depressive symptoms (p = 0.006; ES = 0.34), the level of functioning (p = 0.01; ES = 0.31) and clinical global impression (p = 0.046; ES = 0.29). The findings suggest that 6-month intervention with n-3 PUFA may be a valuable add-on therapy able to decrease the intensity of symptoms and improve the level of functioning in first-episode schizophrenia patients., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The aim of the study was to assess changes in cortical thickness related to the use of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) as add-on therapy in patients with first episode schizophrenia. A double-blind randomized controlled study was conducted using a 26-week intervention composed of concentrated fish oil containing 2.2g/d of eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) or placebo (olive oil). Participants underwent MRI scanning twice to assess changes in cortical thickness: at the beginning and at the end of intervention. Data of suitable quality was obtained from 29 participants. The T1-weighted images for each participant were analyzed using FreeSurfer methodology for longitudinal pipeline. Significant differences in cortical thickness loss were observed between the groups in the parieto-occipital regions of Brodmann areas 7 and 19 of the left hemisphere, dysfunctions in which may be involved in schizophrenia symptomatology. The results of the study support the previous observations carried out in older individuals and patients with mild cognitive impairment, indicating that n-3 PUFA may have neuroprotective properties, especially at early stages of neurodegenerative diseases, such as schizophrenia. If replicated, the results of the present study may encourage clinicians to consider n-3 PUFA as a promising addition to antipsychotics for long-term treatment of schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]