Welcome to Wellness on Mass. I'm Dr. Nicole Sapphire, and this is your weekly rundown. It has been

such a busy week ever since the press conference heard around the world where President Trump

started talking about potential links between Tylenol use and pregnancy and its association

with babies being born with autism, spectrum disorder, and ADHD.

Taking a deep breath from the turmoil of the week, I think there were two big messages, again, that came out of that press conference that I want to just hone in a little bit today.

One, do not take any medication, whether you need a prescription for it or not lightly. every medication comes with risks and it also comes with potential benefits. You never know which one or how it's going to

affect you. So just because you don't need a prescription doesn't mean you shouldn't talk to your

doctor about it because the reality is all medications have risks, whether it's Tylenol,

motrin, aspirin, benadryl, even vitamins.

They come with risks. So please talk to your doctor, use medications sparingly. At the end of the day,

we all want to try and get to the healthiest place possible, so we are less reliant on taking

medications. That should always be the goal. The other big thing that came out of that

press conference was that they talked about a possible treatment for autism. One is Lucow-Worn,

that's the medication name, but the overarching message here was that pregnant women's diet is

too low in folic acid. Babies being born with autism spectrum disorder

tended to have lower amounts of folate. There were even some were found to have auto-antibodies

against the receptors that uptake folate. So as a physician, I cannot emphasize enough how critical

folate, often known as folic acid when it's in the supplement

form, is for your health. Follate is a B vitamin. It supports DNA repair, red blood cell formation,

and healthy cell growth. It's particularly important for women of childbearing age because

it helps prevent serious birth defects. But the truth is, we all need it daily for optimal

energy and cellular health. Here's the problem. Our diets are just not giving us enough.

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