Authors include Peadar Kirke and Helen Burke, both of the Health Research Bureau, Dublin. Pre-pregnancy folic acid intake may help prevent oral clefts 1999 Previous studies have suggested that low maternal folate status during pregnancy may increase the risk of the baby being born with an oral cleft. While the study to date does not prove an association, the data does support the possibility that orofacial clefts, and by extension neural tube defects, may be caused by elevated hcy. It is recommended that all women planning to conceive should supplement their diet with folic acid in order to prevent abnormalities in neural tube development. This report suggests that folic acid supplementation may, in addition, reduce the incidence of orofacial clefting.
Further research is indicated.