Folic acid helps prevent heart defects

Taking folic acid supplements during pregnancy helps prevent fetal heart malformations.

Given the relatively high prevalence of congenital heart defects worldwide, the findings are important for public health. Folic acid supplements are now recommended for all pregnant women, and women planning on becoming pregnant, in order to prevent birth defects involving the neural tube such as spina bifida.

While there's been some evidence that folic acid may help prevent heart-related birth defects too, this has not yet been definitively established. Such defects are quite common occurring in up to 2 out of every 100 newborns worldwide. To investigate further, researchers used a national register of birth defects to identify 611 mothers who had given birth to a child with a heart defect in Netherlands, matching them to 2,401 women who delivered babies with genetic defects or other birth defects unrelated to folate.

It was found that women who took a supplement containing at least 400 micrograms of folic acid were nearly 20 percent less likely to have a child with a heart defect, compared to other non-folate-related malformations, while their risk compared to the general population was 26 percent lower. Their risk of having a child with a heart defect involving the septum - which separates one side of the heart from the other - was nearly 40 percent lower than that of the general population.

The above study couldn't show whether taking more or less than 400 micrograms of folic acid would be more effective in preventing heart defects, although there's increasing evidence that heavier women may need to take more folic acid to get the same protective effects.

The researchers concluded that women who want to become pregnant should take folic acid supplements around the time of conception, not only to prevent neural tube defects but also to reduce the risk of congenital heart defects.