In Brief: Folic acid study

Folic acid study: Article by Gary Shaw, PhD, March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, et al. in the Aug. 12 Lancet concludes that women who take multivitamins containing folic acid periconceptionally have a 25-50% decreased risk of having children with orofacial clefts compared to non-vitamin-takers. The data, however, cannot "disentangle whether the reduced risk is attributable to folic acid, to another vitamin or mineral" in the supplements, or to "healthy behavior correlated with folic acid, multivitamin or cereal use," the researchers said. The data were derived from a population-based, case-control study of fetuses and liveborn infants with orofacial abnormalities among a 1987-89 cohort of births in California...