FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 350:101-103 January 8, 2004 Number 2 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text PDF PDA Full Text Purchase this article Letters Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited E-mail When Letters Appear Related Article by Rothenberg, S. P. PubMed Citation

In 1991, a randomized trial funded by the Medical Research Council demonstrated that folic acid supplementation before pregnancy and during its early stages markedly reduced the risk of neural-tube defects in newborns.¹ This finding — which indicated that neural-tube defects may be considered to represent a vitamin-deficiency disorder — led to the recommendation that all women who are planning to become pregnant should take folic acid supplements beginning before pregnancy is recognized and continuing through its early stages. Once a pregnancy has been confirmed, it is probably too late for supplemental folic acid to be protective.

In this issue of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

From the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London, London.

Related Letters:

Folic Acid and the Prevention of Neural-Tube Defects
Mills J. L., Signore C. C., Quinlivan E. P., Gregory J. F. III, Czeizel A. E., Wald N. J.
Extract | Full Text | PDF  
N Engl J Med 2004; 350:2209-2211, May 20, 2004. Correspondence

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Bognar, M., Ponyi, A., Hauser, P., Muller, J., Constantin, T., Jakab, Z., Schuler, D., Garami, M. (2008). Improper Supplementation Habits of Folic Acid Intake by Hungarian Pregnant Women: Improper Recommendations. J. Am. Coll. Nutr. 27: 499-504 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Pitkin, R. M (2007). Folate and neural tube defects. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 85: 285S-288S [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Bentley, T. G.K., Willett, W. C., Weinstein, M. C., Kuntz, K. M. (2006). Population-Level Changes in Folate Intake by Age, Gender, and Race/Ethnicity after Folic Acid Fortification. AJPH 96: 2040-2047 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Mills, J. L., Signore, C. C., Quinlivan, E. P., Gregory, J. F. III, Czeizel, A. E., Wald, N. J. (2004). Folic Acid and the Prevention of Neural-Tube Defects. NEJM 350: 2209-2211 [Full Text]  
• (2004). Are Maternal Autoantibodies to Folate Receptors a Cause of Neural-Tube Defects?. JWatch General 2004: 6-6 [Full Text]