Below are some educational and quick reference materials to assist in counseling individuals about folic acid and related issues.

Glossary of terms used in this module

Job Aids/Quick Reference

Provider Education

Patient Education  Educational Materials and Fact Sheets Referrals - nutrition, counseling and health care services

Research   Bibliography   List of References Related Sites

Details

Job Aids/Quick Reference

• Send an E-Postcard to Advocate FolicAcid
• Advocacy Tips for Folic Acid in Your Community
• Chemical Barriers Summary
• Folic Acid in Your Grocery Store 
• Folic Acid: Recommended Dietary Allowances 
• NTD Screening
• Preconception Health Screening/Counseling Tool (PDF)
• Sources of Folic Acid

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Provider Education

• March of Dimes Nursing Education Modules

• March of Dimes Preconception Curriculum for Physicians

• Preventing Neural Tube Birth Defects: A Prevention Model and Resource Guide

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Patient Education

Educational Materials and Fact Sheets

• March of Dimes

To order materials from the March of Dimes, call 1-800-367-6630.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

To order the materials below, visit the CDC website.

• Before You Know It brochures are intended for women who are thinking about becoming pregnant now or sometime soon. These brochures are available in English and Spanish.

• The Ready, Not series of brochures are intended for women who are not planning to get pregnant in the near future.

• Folic Acid -> Healthy Babies (Leaflet)

• Fact Sheet for the General Public (Available in English and Spanish)

• Folic Acid Questions and Answers sheet.    

• "What You Should Know About Folic Acid" A five-page booklet for parents who have lost a pregnancy, or had a child with spina bifida, anencephaly or encephalocele. It provides a description of neural tube defects, when they occur, what causes them, and prevention information.  This booklet is also available in Spanish.

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Referrals

... for Pregnant Women and Families

    Access to Nutritious Food

• Women, Infants, Children Program
• Food Stamps

    Recipes High in Folic Acid

• Arkansas Folic Acid Coalition

• Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

• March of Dimes - Wisconsin Chapter

... for Parents of a Child with an NTD

• March of Dimes

• The Spina Bifida Association of America

• "What You Should Know About Folic Acid" A five-page booklet for parents who have lost a pregnancy, or had a child with spina bifida, anencephaly or encephalocele. It provides a description of neural tube defects, when they occur, what causes them, and prevention information.  This booklet is also available in Spanish. (Available from the CDC website)

• See additional listings in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Preventing Neural Tube Birth Defects: A prevention model and resource guide,” Appendix B and Appendix C.

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Research

Articles on Folic Acid and Related Issues

• Bernstein PS, Sanghavi T and Merkatz IR. Improving preconception care.  Journal of Reproductive Medicine. July 2000; 45(7):546-552.

• Botto LD, Moore CA, Khoury MJ, Erickson JD. Medical progress: Neural-tube defects. New England Journal of Medicine. 1999; 341(20):1512.

• Campbell, NRC.  How safe are folic acid supplements?  Archives of Internal Medicine.  1996;156:1638-1644.

  • Author comments: "In contrast to the adverse effects of folic acid, the benefit of folic acid in preventing neural tube defects is well defined.  Most of the potential adverse effects of folic acid are dose-dependent, so if folate consumption is increased, the lowest dose of folic acid that would ensure benefit should be used...  It does not seem reasonable to determine the supplementation level based on potential toxic effects but on proven effectiveness.  Using folic acid to prevent atherosclerosis and malignant neoplasm is unproven but also unlikely to cause adverse effects at daily doses lower than 5 mg/d."

• Czeizel AE, Dudas I. Prevention of the first occurrence of neural-tube defects by periconceptional vitamin supplementation. New England Journal of Medicine 1992 Dec 24; 327(26):1832-5.

• Czeizel AE. Prevention of congenital abnormalities by periconceptional multivitamin supplementation.  British Medical Journal.  1993; 306:1645-1648.

• Hernandez-Diaz S, Werler M, Walker A, Mitchell AA. Folic acid antagonists during pregnancy and the risk of birth defects. New England Journal of Medicine. 2000; 343(22):1608-1614.

Websites

• CDC Folic Acid Website

• CDC Reproductive Health Information

• March of Dimes National Folic Acid Campaign

• MatWeb

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