Folic acid and spina bifida

Every year hundreds of pregnant women are told that their babies have a neural tube defect like spina bifida. Some of these babies will die before they are born, others will die shortly after birth. Those that survive face a range of medical challenges.

It is estimated that around 700 - 900 pregnancies a year in the UK are affected by neural tube defects (NTDs). Spina bifida, one of the most common and probably best known NTDs, occurs when the spinal cord and surrounding bones do not develop properly, leaving a gap or a split. Children can suffer from hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and varying degrees of paralysis.

In the 1970s and 80s, Action Medical Research funded Professor Dick Smithells of the University of Leeds to pursue his investigations into the links between vitamins and nutrition and the early development of embryos and fetuses.

Professor Smithells and his team were able to establish a link between taking vitamins, including folic acid, during and before pregnancy and neural tube defects such as spina bifida in babies.

Their work paved the way for wider clinical studies which confirmed that folic acid reduced the risk of spina bifida. Today, women trying to become pregnant are routinely advised by health professionals around the world to take folic acid supplements.