SPINA BIFIDA AND FOLIC ACID

September 2002
		What are the chances of having a baby with spina bifida? Ask the doctors: What every woman should know about spina bifida and folic acid.

Forum Main What can a prospective parent with Spina Bifida do to avoid passing it to a child? What is spina bifida occulta? What are the risks and odds of having an anencephalic baby? A mother who took folic acid asks why her baby still had spina bifida.     Online Focus: Folic Acid-- Preparing for a Healthy Pregnancy Browse the NewsHour's coverage of health	Researchers believe that if all women of childbearing age took folic acid supplements, as many as 70 percent of neural tube defects would be prevented. For years the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has led efforts to boost folic acid consumption, but even women who know how important it is often don't take a daily multi-vitamin. What is the government doing to reduce the instances of spina bifida? And what should a woman who is thinking about becoming pregnant know? Ask the doctors. Richard P. Leavitt, Director Science Information at the National March of Dimes Foundation. Dr. Godfrey Oakley is a visiting professor of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. He is the former director of the division of Birth Defects and Development of Disabilities at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Victor Klein is an OB/GYN with special training in high-risk pregnancies at North Shore University Hospital in New York.