Folic acid works.The fortification of cereal grain products with folic acid, which the U.S. government has required since 1998 as a measure to prevent neural tube defects Neural tube defects A group of birth defects that affect the backbone and sometimes the spinal chord. Mentioned in: Birth Defects , appears to be having some impact. (1) An analysis of data from a population-based surveillance system indicates that in 1999 and 2000, the annual number of pregnancies in which a neural tube defect neural tube defect Congenital defect of the brain or spinal cord from abnormal growth of their precursor, the neural tube (see embryology), usually with spine or skull defects. (a serious malformation malformation /mal·for·ma·tion/ (-for-ma´shun) 1. a type of anomaly. 2. a morphologic defect of an organ or larger region of the body, resulting from an intrinsically abnormal developmental process. of the spine or brain) was diagnosed prenatally was 27% lower than it had been in 1995-1996; similarly, the annual number of infants born with such defects was 26% lower than it had been in the earlier period. Women's adequate consumption of folic acid can prevent more than half of these defects. Thus, while praising "the partial success of the U.S. folic acid fortification program as a public health strategy," the analysts stress that to further reduce the occurrence of neural tube defects, "all women capable of becoming pregnant" should follow the federal recommendation to consume 400 mcg of folic acid daily. (1.) Mersereau Pet al., Spina bifida and anencephaly anencephaly /an·en·ceph·a·ly/ (an?en-sef´ah-le) congenital absence of the cranial vault, with the cerebral hemispheres completely missing or reduced to small masses.anencephal´ic an·en·ceph·a·ly n. before and after folic acid mandate--United States, 1995-1996 and 1999-2000, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) is a weekly epidemiological digest for the United States published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 5 June 1981 issue of the MMWR published the cases of five men in what turned out to be the first report of AIDS. , 2004, 53(17):362365. |
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