Folic acid supplementation in low birth weight infants

Abstract

Low birth weight infants (246) entered a trial to folic acid supplementation from 3 weeks to 12 months of age. The folic acid group had significantly higher mean hemoglobin levels at 6 and 9 months of age but the differences were only about 0.5 gm/dl, there was no significant difference in hematocrit, and in both groups of infants the mean hemoglobin levels were higher than those of normal birth weight infants. The differences in hemoglobin, although statistically significant, are of uncertain clinical significance. Median red cell folate levels remained within the normal adult range in both groups of infants. A minority of infants in the untreated group had low red cell folate levels but this was usually temporary, corrected by dietary folate, and not associated with low hemoglobin. Weight gain was not affected by folic acid supplementation. The infants in this trial were fed with a milk preparation containing 3.5 microgram/100 ml of folic acid which is a similar concentration to that of human milk and we recommend that the folate content of milks fed to low birth weight infants should not fall below this level. We do not have sufficient grounds to recommend routine folic acid supplements for all low birth weight infants throughout the first year of life but there is a possibility that their folate intake may sometimes be suboptimal.