Folate inadequacy in the diet of pregnant women

Abstract

Objective To estimate food and dietary folate inadequacies in the diets of adult pregnant women. Methods A prospective study was conducted with 103 healthy pregnant adult users of the Public Health Care System of Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. The present study included the 82 women with complete food intake data during pregnancy, which were collected by three 24-hour dietary recalls. Food folate (folate naturally present in foods) and dietary folate (food folate plus folate from fortified wheat flour and cornmeal) inadequacies were determined, using the Estimated Average Requirement as cutoff. Results The diets of 100% and 94% of the pregnant women were inadequate in food folate and dietary folate, respectively. However, fortified foods increased the medium availability of the nutrient by 87%. Conclusion The large number of pregnant women consuming low-folate diets was alarming. Nationwide population studies are needed to confirm the hypothesized high prevalence of low-folate diets among pregnant women.