Folic acid absorption in women with a history of pregnancy with neural tube defect

• Published in: The American journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 62; no. 4; pp. 782 - 784
• Main Authors: Davis, BA, Bailey, LB, Gregory, JF, Toth, JP, Dean, J, Stevenson, RE
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bethesda, MD Elsevier Inc 01.10.1995; American Society for Clinical Nutrition; American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc
• Subjects: Administration, Oral; Adult; Biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Availability; Case-Control Studies; Diseases of mother, fetus and pregnancy; Female; Folic Acid - blood; Folic Acid - pharmacokinetics; Folic Acid - urine; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Intestinal Absorption; Medical sciences; Neural Tube Defects; Nutrition; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications - metabolism; Pregnancy. Fetus. Placenta; Vitamin B; Women; Womens history; Human; Nervous system diseases; Nutrition; Vitamin; Gut; Supplemented diet; Congenital disease; Folate; Folic acid; Feeding; Blood plasma; Absorption; Neural tube; Mother; Malformation; Female
• ISSN: 0002-9165; 1938-3207
• DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/62.4.782

Folic acid absorption was compared in nonpregnant women with a history of pregnancy with a neural tube defect (cases)(n = 10) with that of control women (n = 10) with a normal pregnancy history. [2H4]folic acid was administered in an oral dose (400 micrograms) to fasting case and control subjects after a 30-d saturation protocol involving daily ingestion of two 1-mg folic acid supplements. Serum and red blood cell folate concentrations were not different for case and control subjects before or during the saturation protocol (P < 0.05). The percentage (x +/- SD) of the oral dose of [2H4]folic acid excreted in 24-h urine collections postdose was not different (P < 0.05) for case compared with control subjects (9.05 +/- 2.25% and 11.10 +/- 3.41%, respectively). These data suggest that the absorption of folic acid routinely consumed in supplements and fortified food products is not impaired in women with a history of a pregnancy with a neural tube defect. Further case-controlled studies are needed to compare the absorption of the predominant dietary form of the vitamin.