Folic acid
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Only 42.4% of women report taking a multivitamin or folic acid supplement daily, CDC says in March 16 issue of Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report. Overall, 30% of 739 women surveyed had knowledge of folic acid benefits for prevention of birth defects. Women least likely to take supplement or understand importance of folic acid were young, unmarried, obese women who smoke and have low level of education; report suggests public health campaigns should target these subgroups. MMWR findings come from 1998 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in Michigan, which is an ongoing, state-based, random-digit-dialed telephone survey of adults ages 18 and older