Folic Acid Supplements Safe During Pregnancy - Brief Article

Healthfacts, Oct, 2001 by Maryann Napoli

For years, young women have been advised to take folic acid supplements before they become pregnant and to continue taking them in the early stage of pregnancy. The practice is known to reduce the odds of having a baby with a neural-tube defect. The persistent concern that folic acid supplements during the pregnancy might increase the risk of miscarriage has been dismissed by a study published last month in New England Journal of Medicine (9/8/01).

A team of researchers from the U.S. and China collaborated on this study of more than 23,000 Chinese women who did and did not take folic acid supplements before and during the first trimester of pregnancy. The miscarriage rate was the same (9%) for both groups.

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Maryann Napoli is the associate director of the Center for Medical Consumers in New York City.