FOOD FACTS

FOLIC ACID AND NEURAL TUBE DEFECTS All women planning pregnancy should increase their intake of folic acid to help prevent the risk of their child being born with spina bifida, says Dr Kenneth Caiman, the Government's Chief Medical Officer. In July 1991, the results of a Medical Research Council trial on the effects of folic acid in preventing recurrence of neural tube defects in subsequent pregnancies were published in The Lancet. The trial showed that the chance of a further child having the defect was much reduced where women had taken 4 milligrams of folic acid daily before conception and through to the 12th week of pregnancy.