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- Title
Folic Acid - Prevention of birth defects.
- Authors
Gatt, Miriam; Baron, Yves Muscat; Lautier, Elaine Claire; Calleja, Neville
- Abstract
Folate is essential for normal cell division and as intrauterine fetal growth involves a process of rapidly dividing cells, there is a consequent increased requirement for folate at this time. Folate, and the synthetic form folic acid, is thus vital for the early development process of a healthy fetus and there is indisputable evidence that it can significantly reduce the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs). Further ongoing research suggests that folic acid supplementation in pregnancy is also associated with a decreased risk of other birth defects. This review gives an overview of the current literature related to the use of folic acid in the peri-conceptional period and prevention of birth defects, in particular NTDs.
- Subjects
FOLIC acid; HUMAN abnormalities; NEURAL tube
- Publication
Malta Medical Journal, 2016, Vol 28, Issue 4, p49
- ISSN
1813-3339
- Publication type
Article