Читать книгу Double Trouble: Twins and How to Survive Them - Emma Mahony - Страница 20

New research² also suggests that women who take folic acid are nearly twice as likely to give birth to twins as women who do not. A higher rate of twin births in relation to folic acid was first noticed in an earlier Hungarian trial. The recent Swedish research team examined Swedish records since 1994. The scientists found that among 2,569 women who had used folic acid supplements, the rate of twin births was 2.8 per cent – nearly double the normal level of 1.5 per cent. They are unsure why folic acid might be responsible for producing more twins. It is possible that folic acid encourages multiple ovulations or the implantation of more than one egg. It might also prevent the spontaneous abortion of one or more foetuses occurring in women who do not take folic acid.

The official advice is still for women to take 400mcg of supplemented folic acid before conception and for the first three months of pregnancy (see also www.hsis.org – Health Supplements Information Service).

I took 12 times the recommended dosage because my first baby was born with a cleft lip and palate, so I read the study with interest. But, then again, I also fell into all of the other categories that made me more likely to have twins: I was over 35, taller and heavier (charming) than your average British mother, a twin myself who had already had one child.