In Brief: Folic acid fortification
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Folic acid fortification: Delivery of 200 mcg daily is "effective against neural-tube defects and safer for the general population" than 400 mcg daily, Sean Daly, Coombe Women's Hospital, Dublin, et al., say in a study published in the Dec. 6 issue of The Lancet. In the study, 121 women were randomly assigned placebo or 100, 200 or 400 mcg daily folic acid for six months to determine the intake necessary to increase blood folate to a level shown to prevent most neural tube defects. The researchers conclude: "A fortification programme that delivered 400 mcg folic acid daily to women would protect against NTD, but at the expense of unnecessarily high exposure for many people." The National Academy of Sciences' recommended daily allowance is 400 mcg for pregnant women, 180 mcg for other women and 200 mcg for men...