Expert opinion
Low dietary intake of folic acid probably accounts for the European failure to reduce spina bifida-levels in newborns
15 September 2015
Dr Rima Obeid, Junior Fellow at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, of Aarhus University, Denmark, cites low serum folate levels in European women as the reason why there has been no reduction in the incidence in spina bifida and other neural tube defects over the last ten years. She also comments that recent advice from some European Nutritional Societies, reducing the required intake level of folate for young women is only likely to aggravate the problem.