Estimating of folate in the diet of pregnant women: the role of flour fortification and dietary supplement.

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of inadequacy intake of food folate as well as analyze this prevalence considering the folic acid from flour fortification in pregnant woman. Methods: Observational study, with secondary analysis of data from a prospective study conducted among 103 pregnant women users of the Basic Health Units (BHU) of Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. Were included in this study all women who had complete data on the dietary intake during pregnancy, on total 82 women. Dietary data were obtained using three 24-hour dietary recalls (IR24H) during pregnancy. The distribution of the usual dietary intake of food folate and dietary folate, which corresponds to food folate added to the folic acid from the flour fortification, has been adjusted by the method of the National Research Council (1986). To estimate the prevalence of nutrient inadequacy employed the method of the estimated average requirement - Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) as the cutoff point. Results: It was found that 100% of pregnant women reported inadequate dietary intakes of food folate. Considering the intake of dietary folate, the prevalence of inadequacy observed was 94%. Conclusion: The prevalence of inadequacy intake of food folate, as well as the dietary folate were high, identifying the fortification of flour with folic acid did had little impact in improving the availability of this vitamin. (AU)