Immigrant moms-to-be not taking folic acid

TORONTO, April 17 (UPI) -- Canadian researchers found immigrant women less likely than others to be taking folic acid before pregnancy to help prevent spina bifida and anencephaly.

Neural tube defects -- birth defects of the spinal cord and brain, known as spina bifida and anencephaly -- can be reduced by nearly 50 percent with folic acid supplements taken just before and soon after conception.

The study found 60 percent of Canadian-born women in the study reported using folic acid supplements in the three-month period before conception. However, the rates were much lower among women born in the Caribbean or Latin America at 41 percent, Sub-Sahara Africa at 44 percent, Northern Africa or the Middle East 31 percent, or South Asia or 46 percent.

Dr. Joel Ray of St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto said 39 percent of foreign-born women living in Canada less than four years reported using supplements compared to 64 percent of foreign-born women living in Canada at least 17 years.

The study, an analysis of 6,349 new mothers ages 18-45, examined the relationship between folic acid supplement use in the three months before conception and the mother's maternal country of birth and years of residence in Canada.