U.S. women, especially minorities, short on folate

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A government study shows that despite requirements that grains be fortified with folic acid, many U.S. women -- particularly blacks and Hispanics -- are not getting enough of the B vitamin.

Folic acid is the synthetic form of the B vitamin folate, which is found naturally in green vegetables, like spinach and broccoli, in oranges and orange juice, and dried beans and peas, among other foods.

Since 1998, the U.S. has required that folic acid be added to fortified grain products. The move was based on research showing that adequate folate intake early in pregnancy helps prevent neural tube defects -- birth defects of the brain and spine.

Because neural tube defects develop in the early weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they're pregnant, it's recommended that all women of childbearing age get 400 micrograms of folate or folic acid every day.

However, only a minority of U.S. women are reaching that goal, according to the new study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Among white women in the federal health survey, 40 percent reported getting at least 400 mcg of folate or folic acid each day. The numbers were even smaller among minority women: only 19 percent of black women and 21 percent of Hispanic women were getting enough of the vitamin.

The findings suggest that many women should be taking folic-acid-containing vitamins to bolster their intake from food, say lead investigator Dr. Quan-He Yang and colleagues at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The researchers based their findings on data from a federal health and nutrition survey that included 1,685 women between the ages of 15 and 49 who were not pregnant. They estimated the women's folate/folic acid intake from their responses to a detailed dietary questionnaire.

On average, Yang's team found that the women consumed 128 mcg of folic acid from fortified foods each day. Only 8 percent got 400 mcg or more from those food sources.

In general, women were more likely to get the recommended amount of folic acid from supplements than from food. There was again a racial disparity, however, with Hispanic and African-American women being less likely to get 400 mcg of folic acid from vitamins.

"Our findings show that most women need to consume a supplement to obtain the recommended amount of folic acid every day," Yang's team concludes.

This is especially true of minority women, the researchers add, and public health programs should encourage them to take a vitamin supplement every day.

SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, May 2007.