Periconceptional folic acid supplementation reduces the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs). To determine whether periconceptional exposure to folic acid antagonists (FAAs) might therefore increase the risk of NTDs, the authors examined data from an ongoing case-control study of birth defects (1979–1998) in the United States and Canada. They compared data on 1,242 infants with NTDs (spina bifida...

BACKGROUND It is widely accepted that periconceptional supplementation with folic acid can prevent a significant proportion of neural tube defects (NTDs). The present study evaluated how folic acid knowledge and periconceptional use for NTD prevention varies by ethnicity in the United Kingdom (U.K.). METHODS A literature search was conducted to identify studies that included assessment of fol...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES There is considerable evidence that periconceptional maternal folate deficiency and coding variants in maternal genes coding for critical enzymes in the folate pathway are associated with neural tube defects (NTDs) in offspring. In a case-control study we investigated C677T polymorphism in the 5,10- methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene in case and control m...

BACKGROUND Women planning to conceive are often advised to take multivitamins. Whether this affects the survival of the fetus is not known. METHODS We used data from 35 914 women in the Danish National Birth Cohort who at recruitment had reported the number of weeks of supplement use during a 12-week periconceptional period. A telephone interview provided information about maternal characteri...

AIMS To investigate the potentially protective of periconceptional folic acid use on the risk of congenital heart defects (CHDs) relative to other non-folate related malformations. METHODS AND RESULTS We analysed data from a large regional register of birth defects (EUROCAT-Northern Netherlands), over a 10 year period (1996-2005) for a case-control study. The cases were mothers who had delive...

Increasing epidemiological evidence suggests that maternal nutrition and environmental exposure early in development play an important role in susceptibility to disease in later life. In addition, these disease outcomes seem to pass through subsequent generations. Epigenetic modifications provide a potential link between the nutrition status during critical periods in development and changes in...

Periconceptional supplementation with folic acid has been shown to decrease the occurrence of neural tube defects (anencephaly, encephalocele and spina bifida). Earlier studies , conducted worldwide to assess patient’s knowledge regarding periconceptional use of folic acid showed that the overall knowledge about its use among pregnant mothers was low. A cross-sectional study was conducted to as...

A total of 227 mothers enrolled for periconceptional multivitamin supplementation because of previous neural tube defect (NTD) births took vitamins for less than the recommended minimum period (at least 28 days before conception until two menstrual periods have been missed). Of 213 examined infants/fetuses born to these partially supplemented mothers, two had NTD, one of whom followed four prev...