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D'Antoine H, Bower C. Folate Status and Neural Tube Defects in Aboriginal Australians: the Success of Mandatory Fortification in Reducing a Health Disparity. Curr Dev Nutr. 2019;3(8):nzz071doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzz071.
D'Antoine, H., & Bower, C. (2019). Folate Status and Neural Tube Defects in Aboriginal Australians: the Success of Mandatory Fortification in Reducing a Health Disparity. Current developments in nutrition, 3(8), nzz071. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzz071
D'Antoine, Heather, and Bower, Carol. "Folate Status and Neural Tube Defects in Aboriginal Australians: the Success of Mandatory Fortification in Reducing a Health Disparity." Current developments in nutrition vol. 3,8 (2019): nzz071. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzz071
D'Antoine H, Bower C. Folate Status and Neural Tube Defects in Aboriginal Australians: the Success of Mandatory Fortification in Reducing a Health Disparity. Curr Dev Nutr. 2019 Jun 18;3(8):nzz071. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzz071. eCollection 2019 Aug. PMID: 31346585; PMCID: PMC6642066.
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Curr Dev Nutr. 2019 Jun 18;3(8):nzz071. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzz071. eCollection 2019 Aug.

Folate Status and Neural Tube Defects in Aboriginal Australians: the Success of Mandatory Fortification in Reducing a Health Disparity.

Current developments in nutrition

Heather D'Antoine, Carol Bower

Affiliations

  1. Aboriginal Programs; Division Leader, Education and Research Support, Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Casuarina, Northern Territory, Australia.
  2. Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

PMID: 31346585 PMCID: PMC6642066 DOI: 10.1093/cdn/nzz071

Abstract

Historically, neural tube defects (NTD) in Australia affected around 1 in every 1000 births; 42% higher for Aboriginal births. Following firm evidence of the protective effect of periconceptional folate, health promotion activities encouraged increased folate intake through diet and supplements and limited voluntary food fortification. A 30% reduction in NTD was observed in non-Aboriginal but not Aboriginal infants, widening the disparity between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal rates. Mandatory flour fortification with folic acid in 2009, led to further reductions in overall NTD, and greater reduction among Aboriginal infants, such that rates in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal infants were similar by 2010-2014. Elimination of this disparity will make a small but important contribution to the Australian government's Closing the Gap initiative to reduce disadvantage among Aboriginal people. Long-term, complete, high-quality surveillance data on NTD have been of great value in monitoring trends in and evaluation of public health interventions for NTD in Australia.

Keywords: Aboriginal; closing the gap; folic acid; fortification; health promotion; neural tube defects; surveillance

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