Taking folic acid reduces premature births by half

A new study indicates that taking folic acid as a nutritional supplement for at least a year before the start of pregnancy reduces the risk of premature birth by half

Researchers at the 28th annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine revealed a few days ago a study linking taking food supplements containing folic acid for at least a year before pregnancy and a sharp decrease of 50 to 70 percent in cases of premature births. The study succeeds in ruling out other factors such as race and age that could have led to the unusual result. Premature babies have a high chance of having complications such as mental retardation, chronic lung diseases and blindness.

About 38,033 women participated in the experiment and reported to the researchers about their folic acid consumption habits in the pre-pregnancy period. The current study only looked at singleton births and ignored pregnancies with medical complications.

"Thanks to the in-depth study, which included an ultrasound at the beginning of pregnancy for each of the participants, we received very accurate evidence of the ages of the premature babies born," says Radek Bukoski, a physician and professor of gynecology at the University of Texas and the senior author of the study. "This evidence allowed us to discover that administering folic acid for at least one year results in a 70 percent reduction in very early premature births (20 to 28 weeks from the beginning of pregnancy) and a 50 percent reduction in premature births occurring between the 28th and 32nd week."

to the original news (of which we only brought a summary here)