Winter-born babies are insane?

It seems that the birth season also affects the risk of mental disorders when children grow up, a large-scale study in Britain recently stated.

Specifically, the birth season can affect all factors, from visual acuity to eating habits, from birth defects to later personalities. Previous studies also imply that the birth season can determine the mental health of children for many reasons.

'For example, infectious diseases during pregnancy - a mother is at greater risk of getting the flu in the winter? Does that increase the risk for children? ' , epidemiologist Sreeram Ramagopalan of Queen Mary University, London (UK) raised the issue. 'Or diet. Depending on the season, some foods such as vegetables and fruits will be richer or poorer. This can completely affect the developing fetus'.

Birth season can affect eyesight, eating habits,
birth defects to the personality of the child later.

Another key factor, according to Ramagopalan expert, is Vitamin D, a vitamin closely related to the sun. During the winter, the mother will tend to lack vitamin D and calcium.

However, these effects seem to be very small and past studies only surveyed about a few thousand subjects. Therefore, affirming that there is a link between the season of birth and mental illness when growing up is 'uncertain'.

In order to clearly verify the existence of this relationship, Ramagopalan and colleagues conducted an analysis of 58,000 mental disorder patients and more than 29 million adults in the UK. Their goal is to investigate whether the risks of depression, multiple personality and schizophrenia are affected by the month of birth.

The results showed that all cases of mental disorders they surveyed had seasonal distribution. In particular, schizophrenia and multiple personality peaked in January and were significantly low in July, August and September. Depression peaked in May and dropped in November. Some notable findings are that children born at the end of the year often appear less mature than friends born at the beginning of the year. Therefore, the expression of children in school and society is not as good.

'We believe that the two key factors are the vitamin D status of the mother's body and the ambient temperature , ' said William Grant, an expert at the San Francisco Center for Sunlight Research, Nutrition and Health.

'If we can understand the cause of all these effects, we will be able to intervene to prevent mental disorders' , Ramagopalan shared on LiveScience.