Hispanic Babies at Higher Risk for Severe Birth Defects.

The National Council on Folic Acid (NCFA) will observe National Folic Acid Awareness Week, January 9-15, 2006, by helping Hispanic women understand the benefits of increasing folic acid consumption as a part of their regular diet.

Hispanic women in the United States have 1.5 to 2 times higher risk of delivering babies with neural tube defects (NTDs), serious birth defects of the brain and the spine, than non-Hispanic whites. Research indicates that consumption of folic acid before and during early pregnancy can lower the rate of NTDs by up to 70 percent.

“Helping Hispanic women and their families to understand the role folic acid can play in reducing neural tube defects is a priority for this initiative,” says Adriane Griffen, chair of the NCFA. “We need to educate all women, especially Latinas, that folic acid can help prevent birth defects such as spina bifida, which is the most common, permanently disabling birth defect. As half of all pregnancies are unplanned, all women who have started their menstrual cycle should take folic acid, whether or not they are planning to become pregnant.”

The U.S. Public Health Service recommends that all women of childbearing age take 400 micrograms of the B vitamin folic acid daily by taking a multivitamin and consuming fortified grains as a part of a healthy diet. Increasing consumption of folic acid among Latina populations may be the easiest way to decrease the number of pregnancies affected by NTDs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hispanic women have the lowest reported folic acid consumption of any racial or ethnic group, and NTDs occur with the most frequency among Latina populations in the United States.

The National Council on Folic Acid is a partnership of national organizations, associations and state folic acid councils reaching over 100 million people a year with the folic acid message.

For more information at http://www.folicacidinfo.org