Folic Acid Supplementation and Pregnancy

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Scope of the Research Proposal

The purpose of this study is to analyze the preventative effects of folic acid supplementation during preconception and pregnancy in women. Folic acid supplementation is a standard recommendation among a variety of vitamins and minerals during preconception and is said to prevent congenital defects, primarily neural tube defects in children. However, various studies suggest that folic acid supplementation is not directly correlated with the prevention of neural tube defects, but other factors such as socioeconomic status, healthcare, and education come into play (Banhidy, 2011). The use of folic acid to prevent neural tube defects is widely accepted and recommended by health professionals and researchers alike; delving deeper into this practice would be helpful in determining its effectiveness. The use of FA in early pregnancy and its association with 70% reduction risk of NTDs was studied. Faucher (2013) found that high maternal education level and low BMI lowers the risk of NTDs. Many research articles urge the use of folic acid supplementation during preconception in women because it was found that its use prevents the risk of NTDs. Researchers also suggest that folate has had a beneficial role in pregnant women and implies that it prevents the risk of NTDs in expectant mothers (Stamm & Houghton, 2013). FA supplementation and promotion towards mothers from healthcare professionals are also significant factors in NTD risk prevention (Tort, et. al, 2013). However, correlation does not imply causation and that some findings cannot establish causality (Berry, 2013). The goal of this research is to analyze the effects of folic acid and the research that contradicts its assumed preventative effects.
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...0.1002/biof.175

Tort, J., Lelong, N., Prunet, C., Khoshnood, B., & Blondel, B. (2013). Maternal and health care determinants of preconceptional use of folic acid supplementation in france: Results from the 2010 national perinatal survey. Bjog-an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 120(13), 1661-1667. doi:10.1111/1471-0528.12414

Williamson, C., & Wyness, L. (2013). Nutritional requirements in pregnancy and use of dietary supplements. Community Practitioner, 86(8), 44-47. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=2012203053&site=ehost-live

Zhao, M., Chen, Y., Chen, X., Dong, X., Zhou, J., Wang, H., . . . Xu, D. (2014). Folic acid supplementation during pregnancy protects against lipopolysaccharide-induced neural tube defects in mice. Toxicology Letters, 224(2), 201-208. doi:10.1016/j.toxlet.2013.10.021

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