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Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Modifying Levels of Maternal Dietary Folic Acid or Choline to Study the Impact of Deficiencies on Offspring Health Outcomes
03:19

Modifying Levels of Maternal Dietary Folic Acid or Choline to Study the Impact of Deficiencies on Offspring Health Outcomes

Published on: June 28, 2024

[Supplementation with folic acid before and during pregnancy]

Tanja Saussele1

  • 1tsaussele@deutscher-apothekerverlag.de

Medizinische Monatsschrift Fur Pharmazeuten
|January 13, 2009
PubMed

Since 1995, supplementation of folic acid (400 microg/d) for prevention of neural tube defects is recommended for women during or before pregnancy by the German Society of Nutrition. Nevertheless, most women in childbearing age and also other people in the German population have no adequate supply with folic acid. Furthermore, genetic polymorphisms of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene can elevate the risk of congenital defects, particularly in children of mothers with low levels of folic acid. To allow a sufficient supply with folic acid for persons with reduced enzymatic activity of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, a supplementation with a combination of folic acid and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate can be performed.

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