Loading...
Maternal folic acid deficiency is known to be associated with neural tube defects in infants, but the possibility of a relation between folic acid intake and cleft lip is less certain. In a population-based case-control study, investigators compared maternal intake of supplemental folic acid, multivitamins, and folate in the diet during early pregnancy among 573 mothers of infants with orofacial clefts and 763 mothers of unaffected infants born in Norway from 1996 to 2001. Norway has one of the highest rates of facial clefts in Europe and does not fortify foods with folic acid.
Compared with no supplementation, folic acid supplementation of 400 μg or more per day reduced the adjusted risk for cleft lip (with or without cleft palate) by about…