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March of Dimes Statement On Folate Status of Women
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., OCT. 27, 2000 -- The March of Dimes issued the following statement today regarding the article on folate status in American women in the latest issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC's 1999 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found that average blood levels of the B vitamin folic acid in women of childbearing age have increased since 1998, when the federal government began requiring the addition of folic acid to the nation's enriched grain foods.
Donald R. Mattison, M.D., medical director of the March of Dimes, said, "The March of Dimes agrees with CDC that these survey results are an important step toward reducing the risk of serious birth defects of the brain and spine. However, we still have many unanswered questions about the meaning of the NHANES data. These findings may or may not demonstrate the contribution of folic acid food fortification. As the CDC notes note, these data are still preliminary. The sample size is small, and we need to know the age and geographic distribution and ethnicity of the women studied. We also need to know more about the red blood cell folate levels in all of the subgroups -- for example, the women who took supplements vs. the women who did not. The March of Dimes would need to see adequate blood folate levels sustained for at least five years before concluding that there is a true increase in the targeted population of women of childbearing age.
"The same is true for rates of neural tube defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly. We don't really know whether NTD rates have changed, because there has been variation in these rates over the past several years, and the data reported are incomplete. The March of Dimes is pleased that Congress recently passed, and the President signed, legislation to create a new Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at CDC. This new Center will provide leadership for the collection of more complete data to enable better monitoring and analysis of changes in birth defect rates in the future.
"We agree with CDC that there is no need at this time to change the basic recommendation that all women capable of having a baby consume 400 micrograms of folic acid daily beginning before pregnancy. The March of Dimes will continue its national folic acid health education campaign until there is a sufficient evidence that NTD rates in this country have decreased by at least 30 percent," Dr. Mattison concluded.
"Folate Status in Women of Childbearing Age -- United States, 1999" was published in MMWR, volume 49, number 42, October 27, 2000.
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