Ascertaining a Colombian female university student population's knowledge about folic acid and its benefits for their reproductive health

Authors

  • Adriana Ordoñez
  • Fernando Suárez

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18597/rcog.464

Keywords:

folic acid, maternal nutrition, maternal and children's health, neural tube defect

Abstract

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.

Author Biographies

Adriana Ordoñez

Instituto de Genética Humana, Grupo de promoción del ácido fólico (GAF), Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Instituto de Genética Humana. Carrera 7 No 40-62 edificio 32. Bogotá, Colombia. Correo electrónico:aordonez@javeriana.edu.co

Fernando Suárez

Instituto de Genética Humana, Grupo de promoción del ácido fólico (GAF), Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Instituto de Genética Humana. Carrera 7 No 40-62 edificio 32. Bogotá, Colombia. 

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How to Cite

1.
Ordoñez A, Suárez F. Ascertaining a Colombian female university student population’s knowledge about folic acid and its benefits for their reproductive health. Rev. colomb. obstet. ginecol. [Internet]. 2006 Dec. 20 [cited 2024 May 17];57(4):271-8. Available from: https://revista.fecolsog.org/index.php/rcog/article/view/464

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2006-12-20

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