Loading...
Supplementing folic acid intake during early pregnancy has been clearly shown to decrease the risk for neural tube defects, but folic acid’s effect on other birth defects is less certain. Researchers examined whether folic acid supplementation reduced the incidence of facial clefts in Norway, a country that has one of the highest rates of this malformation in Europe and that does not fortify foods with folic acid. Mothers of infants born from 1996 to 2001 (573 with orofacial clefts and 763 unaffected controls) reported their supplemental folic acid intake before and during the first 2 months of pregnancy, as well as multivitamin intake, dietary intake, and other behaviors such as smoking, drug use, and alcohol consumption during the first t…