How birth season may influence the development of Hashimoto’s

Some people have a genetic predisposition to developing certain health conditions. This can be passed down from ancestors and the combination of DNA from your biological parents.

Your environment plays a role too, starting as soon as you’re in utero.

Seasonal influence on disease development

Research has shown that the season you’re born in can affect the development of some autoimmune diseases — including multiple sclerosis (MS), type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ulcerative colitis, and systemic lupus erythematous (SLE).

One extensive research study showed that most people diagnosed with autoimmune diseases are born in April and the least in October. The study examined 115,000 people born and living in the Northern Hemisphere (1).

How exactly does birth month play a role?

Lack of sun exposure and low vitamin D levels are listed as environmental triggers of autoimmune diseases — this matters in utero as well.

Availability of certain fresh foods changes throughout seasons, which potentially impacts the development of autoimmune diseases too (2).

Fetal origins of adult disease (FOAD) is a hypothesis that the environment during your early development (in utero) has a deep impact on the risk of developing diseases as an adult.

There are specific periods during your development where you’re more sensitive to your environment. The environment might cause permanent changes in some of your organs and how they function.

For example, it’s been shown that low birth weight after a full-term pregnancy predisposes people to adult heart diseases, obesity, and diabetes (3).

There’s growing research showing that being born during a certain season may determine the probability of developing an autoimmune disease later in life (4–6).

A number of studies addressed this question decades ago, but the sample sizes were too small to draw any solid conclusions (7–12).

Does seasonality only apply to autoimmune diseases?

No, researchers at Columbia University found 55 out of 1,688 diseases are correlated with season of birth.

Their study showed that individuals born in March have a higher chance of developing heart-related diseases and a lower chance of developing respiratory and neurological conditions (13).

How we write: our information is based on the results of peer reviewed studies using the National Library of Medicine platform. It is written by scientists and reviewed by external experts. If you believe we might have overseen crucial scientific information, please contact us at hello@boostthyroid.com

Disclaimer: This information is not intended to mitigate, prevent, treat, cure or diagnose any disease or condition. If you want to change your treatment, lifestyle, your diet, include supplements in your diet or have concerns about your health, please consult your doctor before trying new approaches.

References:

1. Disanto T, et al. Month of birth, vitamin D and risk of immune-mediated disease: a case control study, 2012
2. Branca F, et al. Seasonality Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition, 2005
3. Calkins K, et al. Fetal Origins of Adult Disease, 2011
4. Willer CJ, et al. Timing of birth and risk of multiple sclerosis: population based study, 2005
5. Kahn HS, et al. Association of type 1 diabetes with month of birth among U.S. youth: The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, 2009
6. Rothwell P, et al. Seasonality of birth of patients with childhood diabetes in Britain, 1996
7. Ekbom A, et al. Is there clustering of inflammatory bowel disease at birth, 1991
8. Sorensen HT, et al. Does month of birth affect risk of Crohn’s disease in childhood and adolescence, 2011
9. Buchanan WW et al. Month of birth and rheumatoid arthritis, 1987
10. Sonnenberg A. Date of birth in the occurrence of inflammatory bowel disease, 2009
11. Bai A, et al. Seasonality in flares and months of births of patients with ulcerative colitis in a Chinese population, 2009
12. Angelucci E, et al. Monthly and seasonal birth patterns and the occurrence of Crohn’s disease, 2009
13. Boland MR, et al. Birth month affects lifetime disease risk: a phenome-wide method, 2015

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