Folic acid fortification: Should oral contraceptives be next? Pro.

If OCPs contained folic acid they could provide the recommended 0.4 mg of folic acid daily to the approximately 17 million women in the United States who use this form of birth control. Even if these women took their OCP along with a daily multivitamin containing folic acid we would not need to be concerned about overdose of folic acid because even 1 g of folic acid is not considered an overdose (Institute of Medicine 1998). Combining folic acid and OCPs would afford NTD protection to the unplanned pregnancies occurring among OCP users each year. Because women who are taking OCPs do not expect to become pregnant while on them they are likely among the women who are not presently taking folic acid daily the target group we are trying to reach. Continuous use of such a product could increase serum folate levels and afford some level of protection against an NTD-affected pregnancy. Of course when women decide to stop taking OCPs and to become pregnant their healthcare providers would have a responsibility to counsel them about folic acid supplementation. The potential for an added few months of protection for a new contemplator of pregnancy may have an important impact on the prevention of NTDs. (excerpt)