Folic Acid most effective with other vitamins, than alone.

Article by Arnie Gitomer

Multivitamins With Folic Acid May be More Effective than Folic Acid Alone in Preventing Neural Tube Defects.

International Journal of Medical Sciences. 2004;1(1):50-61.

Dr. Andrew E. Czeizel, the scientific director of Foundation for the Community Control of Hereditary Diseases in Budapest, compared pooled data from two Hungarian trials using a multivitamin containing 800 micrograms of folic acid and the data of the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities using high doses of folic acid. Dr. Czeizel found that multivitamins containing 400-800 mcg’s of folic acid was more effective than a high dose of folic acid alone in reducing neural tube defects.

Other findings indicate that both multivitamins and folic acid were effective in preventing cardiovascular malformations, but only the multi-vitamin was found effective in reducing the prevalence of urinary tract defects, limb deficiencies and congenital pyloric stenosis (enlargement of pylorus muscle which causes gastrointestinal obstruction) at birth. Folic acid was found effective in partially reducing the constriction of the rectum/anus, and high dosages of folic acid were found beneficial in reducing the occurrence of clefts.