Citation
(2011), "Keep taking the tablets", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 41 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2011.01741bab.003
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Keep taking the tablets
Article Type: Food facts From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 41, Issue 2
We already know that folic acid, a B vitamin, can prevent up to 75 per cent of spina bifida (also known as neural tube defects) in babies, if taken in the month before pregnancy and during the first months after conception, but for a few women folic acid does not seem to have any effect. Scientific research has shown that another B vitamin called inositol may help to prevent those neural tube defects that cannot be prevented by folic acid. A trial is now taking place to confirm whether inositol and folic acid taken together could prevent almost all cases of spina bifida if taken at the right time – when the brain and spine are forming very early in pregnancy.