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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has published updated guidelines on folic acid supplementation for women to prevent neural tube defects in their offspring. The recommendations are based on a review of evidence, published since the previous guidelines in 1996, in support of supplementation.
The updated recommendations include the following:
Women “planning or capable of pregnancy” should take a daily vitamin supplement containing between 0.4 and 0.8 mg of folic acid. The previous guidelines recommended this dosage only for women planning to conceive and 0.4 mg daily for those capable of conceiving.
An excess risk for twin births associated with folic acid supplementation was no longer significant after adjustments for assisted reproduct…