When Alison Hawe took her 9-year-old son to his doctor several years ago, she followed the physician’s advice by giving the boy folic acid to support his celiac disease diagnosis. Ms. Hawe did not initially realize the B vitamin could be triggering her son’s erratic, hyperactive behavior.
After investigating, she learned that some patients—especially those with certain genetic variations—react negatively to folic acid supplements and fortified foods.
Her son’s face was the first giveaway, with darting eye movements and difficulty focusing. He was also impulsive and unable to sit still.
Ms. Hawe eliminated these potential triggers from her son’s diet and supplements for several weeks, then slowly reintroduced them. She again observed pronounced changes in her son’s behavior.
Only when her son was in his late teenage years that he and his twin were both diagnosed with having an MTHFR gene mutation, Ms. Hawe told The Epoch Times.