Abstract

ORDONEZ, Adriana  and  SUAREZ, Fernando. Ascertaining a Colombian female university student population's knowledge about folic acid and its benefits for their reproductive health. Rev Colomb Obstet Ginecol [online]. 2006, vol.57, n.4, pp.271-278. ISSN 0034-7434.

Objective: ascertaining the knowledge held by a group of female university students regarding folic acid relating to preventing neural tube defects (NTD) and some consumption patterns related to folate ingestion. Methodology: a descriptive study, using a self survey to ascertain a group of female university students' knowledge regarding folic acid, its benefits for preventing NTD, their daily folic acid consumption and daily vitamin supplement and folate-rich food consumption patterns. Results: 189 females from a total of 390 (49%: 43.02-52.98 95% CI) had heard about or read some information concerning folic acid. A total of 258 females (66.8%: 61.27-70.73 95% CI) had not heard about or knew about the benefits of folic acid in relation to preventing NTD. None of the females surveyed consumed folic acid and 96 females (24.9%: 19.74-28.26 95% CI) consumed some type of vitamin supplement. There was lower folate-rich food consumption frequency in those females who did not know about folic acid and/or prevention of NTD. Conclusions: most university females in the population being studied did not have any information concerning folic acid and its relationship with preventing NTD.

Keywords : folic acid; maternal nutrition; maternal and children's health; neural tube defect.

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