The number of babies born with serious birth defects such as spina bifida could be reduced by enhanced folic acid supplements, according to scientists.
Tests on pregnant mice showed that the enhanced version of the supplement reduced the incidence of “neural tube defects” by 85 per cent.
Folic acid tablets, recommended to be taken during pregnancy, reduce the same defects by between 20-80 per cent in babies.
Scientists hope that this number could be reduced further with by supplementing folic acid tablets with compounds called nucleotides, which are the building blocks for DNA production in cells.
Professor Nicholas Greene, a neurobiologist who led the research at University College London, said that if the results in mice were replicated in a patient trial “this nucleotide treatment