[ RadSafe ] A likely source for a great many of the contested birth defects. Folic acid reduces cleft lip risk

[ROY HERREN]

    James,   
     Open your mind to the possibility of other, more likely, causes of birth defects in a war torn country that is under embargo.  A country in which the leader, Sadam, does not equally distribute what foods and goods do come into the country.  Assuming, for the sake of argument, that the following article is true, how would one with limited means, such as the researchers you quoted, working under both the embargo and Sadam's regime, sort out the results of human birth defects caused by malnutrition (lack of Folic acid) from the birth defects cased by a potential myriad of environmental pollutants?  The short answer is that they couldn't sort one cause of birth defects from the other, and more likely "if" there really was a statistically significant increase in birth defects it most certainly would have been the result of something that effected the greatest number of people, i.e. malnutrition.
   
  Roy Herren
   
   
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  Folic acid reduces cleft lip riskBy ANTHONY ROTUNNO   WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Women in their first trimester of pregnancy can significantly reduce their baby's risk of developing a cleft lip by taking regular folic acid supplements, according to a study released Friday by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
  Senior NIEHS investigator Dr. Allen J. Wilcox, who designed and wrote the population-based study, said his results showed that taking .4 milligrams of folic acid a day can reduce the risk of isolated cleft lip by 40 percent. 
  "We already know that (taking) folic acid helps prevent neural tube defects," Wilcox said. "Now cleft lip is the second major birth defect that can be prevented."
  Wilcox said that a cleft lip forms prior to a cleft palate, and although the two defects may both emerge, they develop independent of one another. His study did not conclude if folic acid was effective in reducing the risk of a cleft palate in infants. 
  Folic acid -- a B vitamin found in green leafy vegetables, citrus fruits and certain dairy products -- was first recommended by the U.S. Public Health Service in 1992 to effectively reduce the rate of babies born with neural tube defects like spina bifida and anencephaly. According to the NIEHS study, women with a folate-rich diet who also took daily vitamin supplements were also those with the least risk of having a baby with a cleft lip.
  "There is evidence that a good diet is generally beneficial," Wilcox said. "Many young women's diets may not be nutritious. They could benefit the most from taking multivitamins with folic acid in them."
  Janis Biermann, senior vice president of education and health promotion at the March of Dimes -- a not for profit organization that works to prevent birth defects and premature births in infants -- said that many women don't like to hear information on how to have a healthy baby until they are ready to have one themselves.
  In a March of Dimes-Gallup poll conducted in the fall of 2006, only three in 10 women ages 18-34 reported taking a multivitamin on a daily basis. Biermann said that this statistic is discouraging knowing how beneficial folic acid can be during pregnancy.
  "One of the simplest things for a woman to do is take a multivitamin with folic acid every day," she said. "Why not do it?"
  According to a study released earlier this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the folate levels in U.S. women of childbearing age decreased by 16 percent between 1999 and 2004.
  Wilcox said that recent dietary fads and poor eating habits probably contributed to this decline. He said that women who have a chance of getting pregnant need to be especially attentive to what they are eating.
  "What your mother says is actually true," Wilcox said. "You should always eat your vegetables."
  Wilcox conducted his study in Norway, which has one of the highest rates of babies born with lip clefts and does not fortify its food with folic acid. He said that although food fortification can increase a person's source of the B vitamin, it is not a cure-all when it comes to providing the recommended amounts of folic acid.
  "The problem with food fortification is that it doesn't reach everybody," Wilcox said, citing the CDC study to show the decline in folate levels in the United States, which has been fortifying its food with folic acid for almost 10 years.
  Wilcox said that the rate of babies born with lip clefts tends to be higher in European populations, but that it really doesn't vary significantly around the world. According to the March of Dimes, 4,200 American babies are born with a cleft lip each year.
  Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.



 
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