Notice: Users may be experiencing issues with displaying some pages on stanfordhealthcare.org. We are working closely with our technical teams to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.
 

Learn about the flu shot, COVID-19 vaccine, and our masking policy »

Stanford Health Care

Folate fortification of food: Insufficient for women with epilepsy. Epilepsy & behavior : E&B Sadat-Hossieny, Z. n., Robalino, C. P., Pennell, P. B., Cohen, M. J., Loring, D. W., May, R. C., Block, T. n., Swiatlo, T. n., Meador, K. J. 2021; 117: 107688

Abstract

Folic acid supplementation during the periconceptual period has been shown to improve cognitive outcomes in children of women with epilepsy taking anti-seizure medications (ASMs). The dose of folic acid necessary to provide positive cognitive outcomes is unclear. In many countries including the United States, food is fortified with folic acid, but no data exist on how food fortification may affect cognition in children with fetal-ASM exposure. This study evaluated the effect of dietary folate from natural folates plus folic acid fortification, separate from folic acid vitamin supplements, on age-6?year IQ in children with fetal-ASM exposure.Data from the Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs (NEAD) study were retrospectively analyzed for this investigation. Assessment of nutrient intake was conducted using the Block Food Frequency Questionnaire-98. The primary outcome of the present study was to assess association of maternal prepregnancy nutrient levels to child age-6 IQ.Folate from food alone without supplement was not associated with improvement of age-6 IQ in children with fetal ASM exposure (95% CI: -11.7-2.3, p?=?0.187). Periconceptual folate supplement use was associated with a 10.1-point higher age-6 IQ (95% CI: 5.2-15.0, p?

View details for DOI 10.1016/j.yebeh.2020.107688

View details for PubMedID 33636531