May 13, 2023
Dear Family and Friends,
We honor David’s legacy on what would have been his 40th birthday with a special grant to the Institute for Children’s Mental Disorders, a nonprofit associated with the University of Colorado. The Institute is conducting long-term research on the possible impact of pre-birth interventions on babies’ brain development. They have found that when moms-to-be take supplements of choline––a natural nutrient found in food––it has positive effects for their kids. The children in the study are now four years old, and those whose moms took choline during pregnancy have higher attention spans. There is reason to believe that, as their lives continue, they will have lower chances of developing multiple mental disorders, including schizophrenia. attention deficit disorder, and autism.
Our family learned about the Institute’s research from Robert Kolker’s “Hidden Valley Road,” a book Joanna read about a family who had several children who suffered from schizophrenia. With our family history, Joanna said if she had known about the Institute’s recommendation to take choline supplements before her pregnancy with Jesse, she would have taken them. That is when we decided as a family to see what we could do to increase awareness of this promising intervention. In February, our granddaughter, Maxine Mulder Baker, was born. This time, with her new knowledge, Joanna took the choline supplements.
We have had a series of calls with Dr. Robert Freedman, a University of Colorado psychiatrist who directs the Institute’s research on choline. He told us that choline supplements might be especially important for Black mothers; research suggests that the heightened stress Black women face during pregnancy means they absorb less choline. This can result in premature delivery and problems throughout childhood as discussed at http://www.instituteforchildrensmentalhealth.com.
These findings have received some local recognition: the University of Illinois hospital recently became the first hospital in the country to provide free choline supplements to pre-natal patients. But choline supplementation is still not a widely known option. Dr. Freedman asked us to help the Institute by spreading the word about this promising intervention. His studies show that it has no adverse effects (no prescription is even necessary). We hope you will join us in spreading the word to your family and friends about the benefits of taking choline supplements during pregnancy. Our grant will also help fund Dr. Freedman’s third and final round of clinical testing on the benefits of choline supplementation.
Best wishes and thank you for your continued support of David’s fund.
Mike, Susan, Joanna, and Peter