FOLIC ACID AND IRON SUPPLEMENTATION HELPS REDUCE CHILDHOOD MORTALITY
Parul Christian, DrPH, MSc, and colleagues from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health report that children born to mothers who received folic acid and iron supplements during their pregnancies were less likely to die during childhood than children of mothers who did not supplement with these nutrients. This investigation was a follow-up to a randomised, double-blind trial of micronutrient supplementation during pregnancy among women living in Sarlahi, Nepal. The status of the 4,130 children who were born during the trial was ascertained when the children were approximately 7 years of age. Dr Christian stated that, "In a setting where maternal iron deficiency and anemia are common, we found a 31 percent reduction in childhood mortality due to maternal antenatal and postnatal supplementation with iron-folic acid compared to a control. A reduction in mortality resulting from an intervention, such as iron-folic acid supplementation during pregnancy, provides a new and previously unreported evidence of benefit to offspring during childhood." The findings were published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.