Folate and Prevention of Neural Tube Defects: New Insights from a Bayesian Model

Maternal folate status before and during pregnancy influences a woman's risk of having a pregnancy affected by congenital malformations of the neural tube (neural tube defects, NTD). For NTD prevention, it is recommended that women use periconceptional supplementation of folic acid. However, the recommended dose varies considerably (400 - 800 µg folic acid/day). Insufficient data exists on the relation between folate status and the risk of NTD. A recent study published in the British Medical Journal provides evidence for a generalizable dose-response relation between folate status and risk of NTD. The lowest risk of having a child with NTD was related to red blood cell (RBC) folate concentrations of ≥ 1000 nmol/L.