From BBC website - Folic Acid

[Guest guest]

It's strange that money is still being spent on this - When I was

expecting my first child 35 years ago - it was normal to prescribe

folic acid for pregnant mothers, and the conclusion was that it

almost completely wiped out the occurrence of spina bifida.

 

Jo

 

Neural tube defects decrease with folic acid fortification

22 Apr 2005

 

A new study published online April 21, 2005 in the American Journal

of Medical Genetics Part A examines whether the recent decline in

neural tube defects in Chile was due to the addition of folic acid to

wheat flour in that country or to pre-existing decreasing trends. The

journal is available online via Wiley InterScience at

http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/ajmg.

 

Recent data in Chile have suggested that the incidence of the neural

tube defects spina bifida and anencephaly (a fatal condition that

results in malformation of the brain) have significantly declined

since January 2000, when wheat flour began to be fortified with folic

acid. In that time, Chile has been fortifying its foods at double the

rate of the U.S. In order to determine if the decrease was directly

attributable to the addition of folic acid as opposed to an

independent trend, the study examined historical data from before the

fortification and compared it to data from a two-year period after

fortification began.

 

Led by Eduardo E. Castilla, of the genetics department at the

Instituto Oswaldo Cruz in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, researchers

performed a survey of maternity hospitals in the ECLAMC (Latin

American Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations) network in

Chile between the years 1982 and 2002. The data were divided between

the pre-fortification years 1982-1989 and 1990-2000 to provide a

baseline, and 2001-2002, the period during which flour was fortified.

While the prevalence rates of neural tube defects did not

significantly change between the two pre-fortified periods, the rate

of spina bifida decreased by 51 percent and the rate of anencephaly

decreased by 46 percent in the 2001-2002 period. Because different

hospitals might experience different rates in neural tube defects at

different times, the study examined only those hospitals with data

for two consecutive periods.

 

According to the authors, one of the main strengths of the study is

that because abortion is illegal in Chile, the data contain virtually

all cases of neural tube defects. Furthermore, the study confirms

preliminary results following folic acid fortification that were

observed 20 months after fortification began. In addition, the

inclusion of two pre-fortification periods successfully demonstrated

that the decrease in neural tube defects seen in 2001-2002 was not

due to a historical trend like in other areas of the world, including

the U.S., where decreasing trends are documented.

 

Based on their comparison of two pre-fortification periods, the

authors conclude: " In summary, we demonstrated that neural tube

defect prevalence rates were not decreasing in Chile before the start

of folic acid fortification in the year 2000. " They note that the

results of this study are similar to studies conducted from other

folic acid fortified populations in Canada and the U.S. and state

that more precise estimates will be provided by ECLAMC during the

next few years.

 

Article: " Reduction of Birth Prevalence Rates of Neural Tube Defects

After Folic Acid Fortification in Chile, " Jorge S. López-Camelo, Iêda

M. Orioli, Maria Da Graça Dutra, Julio Nazer-Herrera, Nelson Rivera,

María Elena Ojeda, Aurora Canessa, Elisabeth Wettig, Ana Maria

Fontannez, Cecília Mellado, Eduardo E. Castilla, American Journal of

Medical Genetics Part A; Published Online: April 21, 2005 (DOI:

10.1002/ajmg.a.30651).

 

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

http://www.interscience.wiley.com