This study documented the prevalence (proportion) of mothers taking folic as supplements or as fortified foods and explored the factors that determined whether folic acid was taken. A cross sectional analysis of the baseline data of mothers who participated in the Perth Infant Feeding Study was performed. A total of 587 mothers who delivered at the two hospitals in the study completed baseline ...

The benefit of the introduction of mandatory folic acid fortification of all flour products in the USA in 1998 has been amply demonstrated in a reduction of neural tube defect births. Doubt has been cast on the actual level of fortification and recent calculations have shown that the level of folic acid fortification is likely to have been over twice the amount mandated. The implication of this...

The present study investigated the effect of folic acid supplementation on the Notch signaling pathway and cell proliferation in rat embryonic neural stem cells (NSCs). The NSCs were isolated from E14-16 rat brain and grown as neurospheres in serum-free suspension culture. Individual cultures were assigned to one of 3 treatment groups that differed according to the concentration of folic acid i...

Folic acid was added to the diet as a simple means to increase serum folates in gestating sows. At weaning, 95 multiparous sows were randomly assigned to five treatments. Of these sows, 67 farrowed and were used for this trial. Three supplementation levels of folic acid added to a commercial diet at 3, 9 and 27 mg per kg were studied. A commercial diet without any supplementation of folic acid ...

An overwhelming body of evidence for a protective effect of periconceptional folic acid supplementation against neural tube defects (NTDs) led to mandatory folic acid fortification in the United States. The effectiveness of folic acid fortification in improving folate status has already been shown to be quite striking, with a dramatic increase in blood measurements of folate in the United State...

In 2008, planned folic acid fortification for the prevention of Neural Tube Defects (NTD) was postponed. Concurrently, the economic recession may have affected dietary folic acid intake, placing increased emphasis on supplement use. This study examined folic acid supplement use in 2009. A cross-sectional survey of 300 ante-natal women was undertaken to assess folic acid knowledge and use. Assoc...

BACKGROUND The bioavailability of dietary folate has been estimated to be approximately 50% of that of synthetic folic acid. Folate in the diet is linked to a polyglutamate chain that may restrict folate absorption. OBJECTIVE Our goal was to quantify the bioavailability and bioefficacy of low doses of polyglutamyl folic acid relative to that of monoglutamyl folic acid. DESIGN In total, 180 ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Folic acid modulates several disorders in humans. We investigated the effects of folic acid supplementation at varying doses on ulcer formation in the rat. MATERIALS AND METHODS Male Wistar rats were treated with 1 mg/kg, 2 mg/kg and 3 mg/kg diet of folic acid for 21 days. Gastric ulceration was induced by indomethacin, scored, and assayed to determine the concentration of muc...

Background: In the precent study, firm evidences indicate that folic acid supplementation during the peri-conceptional period reduces the risk of having a baby with neural tube defects. Aim: To ascertain the level of awareness about folic acid, its use during peri-conceptional period and the predictive factors of folic acid awareness among pregnant women in our setting. Subjects and Methods: Co...

BACKGROUND All flour in the USA is fortified with folic acid at a level of 140 microg/100 g which is estimated to supply an extra 100 microg daily to the average diet. Some researchers have advocated that this be increased to double and even four times this amount. Based on previous research these higher levels are likely to lead to the appearance of unmetabolised vitamin in the circulation, wh...