Folic Acid Intake, Fetal Brain Growth, and Maternal Smoking in Pregnancy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Folic acid supplementation during pregnancy plays an important role in fetal growth and development. To our knowledge, no experimental study has examined the effect of folic acid on fetal brain growth in women who smoke cigarettes during pregnancy.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of higher-dose compared with standard-dose folic acid supplementation on prenatal fetal brain growth, measured by head circumference, brain weight, and brain-body weight ratio (BBR).

Design

In this randomly assigned, double-blind, controlled clinical trial, we recruited 345 smoking pregnant women attending a community health center in Tampa, FL between 2010 and 2014. Participants were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either 0.8 mg folic a

SUBMITTER: Yusuf KK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6529553 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature