Cleft Palate, Cleft Lip, and Pregnancy

Do you have a cleft palate or cleft lip? A family member with one or both? Know someone who has a child that was born with a Cleft? Are you expecting or trying to conceive? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be interested in the following........

RTI International, University of Iowa, and the University of Sau Paulo have teamed up with the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for an Oral Cleft Prevention Program.

According to ClinicalTrials.gov, the collaborating teams listed above are actively recruiting participants for a Folic Acid Study. As listed on their website, "The purpose of this study is to asses if taking 4 mg of folic acid per day at preconception and during the first three months of pregnancy decreases the risk of having a child with cleft lip and palate compared to 0.4 mg folic acid for women who have an oral cleft or have had previously child with an oral cleft."

Folic Acid deficiency has been proven to cause facial clefts in lab animals. I've found several articles that reference a study conducted in Norway from 1996 to 2001. According to statistics, Norway has the highest occurrence of Facial Clefts in Europe, which also apparently does not allow their foods to be fortified with folic acid.

Also, taking folic acid during preconception and the first trimester, has been proven to reduce the recurrence of neural tube defects. Neural tube defects affect the brain and spinal cord, such as Spina Bifida.

The current Prevention Program began in 2006 and has a scheduled completion date of September 2011. If you or someone you know is interested in more information regarding this study, you can locate it here: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT00397917?term=cleft+palate&recr=Open&rank=2

Not interested in joining the program, but still want to reduce your risks? You can buy a Folic Acid, B Vitamin supplement over the counter. Or increase your intake of leafy vegetables, citrus fruit, beans, and whole grains.

In other words, start your day with a Grapefruit for breakfast, then at lunch have yourself a big, fat Spinach salad with Mandarin Oranges, Clementines, Kumquats, and Tangerines. Try it.....I bet it tastes better than it sounds......especially if topped with Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing.

I think dinner is ready.