FOLATE STATUS AND REQUIREMENT IN PREGNANCY

The addition of 100 μg. of folate to a normal diet resulted in elevation of the red cell folate level, which was maintained at the higher level after the 30th week of pregnancy. It is suggested that 100 μg. of pteroylglutamic acid daily is satisfactory as a folate supplement in pregnancy. Megaloblastic haemopoiesis was found in 13% of 105 women given only iron in pregnancy and in 5 % of women given iron and 100 μg. of folate daily. None were anaemic and only three showed minor changes in peripheral blood films. Megaloblastic change was three times as frequent during the late winter months as compared with the latter half of the year. The women whose marrows showed megaloblastic features in late pregnancy were found to have significantly lower red cell folate values at the 15 th week of pregnancy as compared with the patients who remained normoblastic, suggesting nutritional folate deficiency as the underlying causative factor. Women who aborted had the same red cell folate values in early pregnancy as other women in the survey. There was no relation between birth weight and red cell folate levels. © 1968, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.