The daily consumption of folic acid has clearly been demonstrated to significantly reduce neural tube birth defects, a Sino-American research group announced in Beijing on November 10.

The research project, which encouraged child-bearing women in China to take 400 micrograms of folic acid a day in vitamin pill form, showed that the risk of neural tube birth defects was reduced by as much as 85 percent.

The evaluation was conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States and China's Beijing Medical University, and the report will be published in the November 11 issue of New England Journal of Medicine.

In China, neural tube birth defects affect between 80,000 and 100,000 pregnancies a year. The most common of these defects is spina bifida, the leading cause of childhood paralysis. Another is anencephaly, which affects the brain and results in miscarriage, stillbirth, or babies who live only a few days.

The researchers found that among the women who took their daily recommended amount of folic acid before and in the first trimester of pregnancy, the risk of giving birth to babies with a neural tube birth defect was reduced by 85 percent in north China and 41 percent in the south China.

"A woman can greatly improve the health of her unborn child by reducing the risk of a neural tube birth defect by simply taking folic acid before she becomes pregnant," said the report's leading author, R.J. Berry, who added that the formation of the spine where this birth defect occurs is complete within the first 28 days of pregnancy -- before many women know they are pregnant. After this time passes, it is too late to prevent the damage.

Dr. Li Zhu, who also led the research among more than 240,000 child-bearing Chinese women, said he believes China can avoid 40, 000 to 50,000 birth defects a year thanks to this finding.

"This will be of great significance in improving the overall quality of the population, while reducing infant mortality in China," he said.

The Ministry of Health has approved production of folic acid supplement tablets, which have benefited women in nine provinces and autonomous regions so far. (Xinhua)