Folic acid optimisation for healthy pregnancy

Folic acid supplementation in the first trimester of pregnancy is currently recommended to reduce the risk of birth defects such as spina bifida. However, there is no known benefit of, and potentially some risk associated with, continuing folic acid supplementation into the second and third trimesters.

Professor Tim Green of Flinders University and SAHMRI, and his team, were awarded a 2023 WCH Foundation Bloom Research Program grant for the project titled ‘Optimising prenatal folic acid supplementation to reduce gestational diabetes, a major risk factor for high birthweight and preterm birth’. The aim of the project is to investigate the association between folic acid supplementation after the first trimester of pregnancy and the risk of gestational diabetes in a large-scale, definitive, randomised control trial of almost 3000 pregnant women.

The interdisciplinary team includes expertise in nutrition, pharmacy, neonatology, obstetrics, health economics and biostatistics.

Dr Najma Moumin, Michael Luchich, the Honourable Chris Picton MP and Professor Tim Green at the 2023 Bloom Research Program awards night.

If this association is proven, this research could lead to changes in policy and clinical guidelines, the reformulation of prenatal supplements, and reductions in the incidence of gestational diabetes and its associated complications.

If you would like to know more about this research as it is undertaken, along with the other research projects we fund, join our research mailing list by emailing us.