A comprehensive evaluation of food fortification with folic acid for the primary prevention of neural tube defects

Table 3 Laboratory data (geometric mean and 95% confidence interval) for young women participants (age 19–44 years) in Phase I and Phase II

Characteristic	Phase I	Phase II	p value ^†
Total participants (n)	233	204
Serum folate (nmol/L)	13.5 (12.9 – 14.1)	18.1 (17.3 – 18.9)	<0.001
RBC folate (mol/L)	625 (601 – 649)	818 (784 – 854)	<0.001
Plasma HCY (μmol/L)	10.2 (9.8 – 10.7)	9.2 (8.8 – 9.6)	0.001
Serum vitamin B₁₂ (pmol/L)	177 (169 – 186)	200 (190 – 211)	0.02
Plasma MMA (μmol/L)	0.18 (0.17 – 0.19)	0.21 (0.19 – 0.22)	0.008

† P value for the difference between Phase I and Phase II is based on a non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test.
RBC denotes red blood cell, HCY denotes homocysteine, and MMA refers to methylmalonic acid.

ISSN: 1471-2393