Folic Acid Awareness High, Usage Low.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.: In its fifth year
producing a national folic acid awareness campaign, the March of Dimes reported
that in its most recent survey 70 percent of women of childbearing age fail to
take folic acid--even though many are aware the B vitamin helps prevent birth
defects.
In an annual survey conducted by The Gallup
Organization and funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
only 31 percent of women between 18 and 45 take a daily multivitamin containing
folic acid even though 80 percent of childbearing-aged women report they are
aware of the benefits of folic acid.
Despite this discrepancy, the March of Dimes is
optimistic about its current education efforts. "We know our campaign is getting
results because a study published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association in 2001 showed that neural tube defects in newborns have
decreased 19 percent from 1995 to 1999," said Jennifer Howse, M.D., president of
the March of Dimes. "However, many more of these fatal or disabling birth
defects could be prevented if more women took a folic acid multivitamin every
day."
Interestingly, 53 percent of women who did not
consume folic acid daily admitted they would be very likely to do so if their
physician or health care provider recommended it. Another 37 percent reported
they would be somewhat likely under the same circumstances.
"We call on physicians, nurses, midwives,
pharmacists and other health professionals to use every contact they have with
women of childbearing age to urge them to take a multivitamin with folic acid
daily," Howse said.
The March of Dimes 2002 survey results were based
on telephone interviews conducted earlier this year with approximately 2,000
women age 18 to 45. |
