Cleft lips and folic acid
I read a news story recently in Reuter’s about how folic acid supplements in early pregnancy can reduce the risk of cleft lip in babies by up to 40 percent. Cleft lip and palate problems are more common in Asian people anyway. I also read once that environmental pollutants can also increase the risk, I don’t remember where I read it though, so I could be mistaken.
I wonder how many women in China, especially rural women, have access to folic acid supplements while they are pregnant? Folic acid is also high in green leafy vegetables and some other foods, so maybe many Chinese women get enough anyway. I wonder though if folic acid defiencies are in part responsible for the large number of cleft babies in China. On the other hand, with China’s large population I don’t really know if the percent of cleft babies is really that much higher than other places, especially if the asian tendency for it is taken into account.
The reuter’s article is here - (They don’t keep all pages on their site though, so that link won’t work forever) .