Executive Summary

FOLIC ACID SUPPLEMENTATION, FORTIFICATION INCREASED FOLATE STATUS in a group of women participating in a three-month study, compared to other subjects, who received extra folate through dietary intervention and showed no significant increase, researchers from University of Ulster and Trinity College, Ireland reported in the March 9 issue of The Lancet. Geraldine Cuskolly et al. conducted the study to test the assumption that the three methods of increasing folate intake -- adjusting natural food intake, consuming foods fortified with folic acid or taking supplements -- work equally well.