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JAMA Women's Health Information Center
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
February 27, 1998
Vol. 47, No. 7
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

Use of Folic Acid Containing Supplements Among Women of Childbearing Age United States, 1997

Each year in the United States, approximately 4000 pregnancies result in spina bifida or anencephaly. Babies born with spina bifida usually survive, often with serious disability, but anencephaly is invariably fatal.

The B vitamin folic acid can reduce the occurrence of spina bifida and anencephaly by at least 50% when taken daily before conception and during early pregnancy.

[In 1992 the Public Health Service (PHS) recommended all women of child bearing age take 400mg of folic acid daily]

This report summarizes findings from a survey conducted during January and February1997 and indicates that only one third of women of childbearing age consume a supplement containing the recommended amount of folic acid daily. Overall, 64.4% of women of childbearing age reported taking some form of vitamin supplement: 44.3% used a folic acid-containing supplement (32.2% daily and 12.1% less than daily), and 20.1% used a supplement that did not contain folic acid (12.5% daily and 7.6% less than daily).

Among women who had heard of the PHS recommendation about folic acid, [only] 45.2% reported taking a folic acid-containing supplement daily, compared with 28.8% of women who had not heard about the recommendation.

Among those who did not use any vitamins, 55.8% either felt they did not need them or had no particular reason for not taking vitamins, and 14.4% reported that they did not need them because they believed their diets were sufficient.

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