Folic acid may reduce risk of childhood obesity

Maintain adequate levels of folate, which is the synthetic form folic acid during pregnancy can reduce the risk of childhood obesity in the future child, especially those born to obese mothers, according to a study by John Hopkins University released Monday.

"Our results suggest that the appropriate level of maternal folate may reduce the effect of maternal obesity on the health of your child," said Xiaobin Wang, principal investigator of the study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH , for its acronym in English) US

The research found that a low level of folate was linked to increased risk of childhood obesity, and specifically that obese mothers in the study tended to have lower folate levels than mothers of normal weight.

However, children of obese mothers with adequate levels of folate had up to 43% lower risk of obesity compared with children of obese mothers that adequate folate lower levels, the report said.

According to the authors, establish the "ideal" concentration rather than "minimum" of folate may be beneficial for women who are planning a pregnancy, especially for obese women.

So far, profitability had been linked consumption of folic acid during pregnancy in preventing defects of the brain and spinal cord during fetal development.

The researchers analyzed data from more than 1,500 mothers and 1,500 children (aged 2 to 9 years old) of a predominantly low-income population and a high number of cases of maternal and childhood obesity.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that women of childbearing age take 400 micrograms of folic acid (a synthetic form of folate) every day to reduce the risk of their children being born with birth defects.

The Food and (FDA) approved in April fortification of maize meal with folic acid, a measure that can help reduce the risk of birth defects among Latinos because it is one of the staples of their diet.

The measure would allow manufacturers to voluntarily add up to 0.7 milligrams of folic acid per pound (454 grams) of corn masa flour, similar to the levels of other fortified cereals.