CityNews: "1 in 4 women in Canada unaware of folic acid’s benefit in pregnancy: study"
Media
Claire Jones (left) and Vrati Mehra talk to a reporter on CityNews to talk about findings from their paper. The story aired in January 2025.
By
Matthew Tierney
CityNews ran a story featuring Claire Jones, a professor in the ob-gyn department, and Vrati Mehra, a fourth-year medical student at Temerty Medicine, discussing results from a paper they co-authored about folic acid supplementation. The story, "1 in 4 women in Canada unaware of folic acid’s benefit in pregnancy: study," aired in January 2025.
The research team found that the percentage of women in Canada who are unaware of its benefits before and during pregnancy — approximately one in four — has not improved in over a decade.
“Often I find that my patients are taking a whole bunch of different supplements, but not taking the most important one,” said Jones.
The story shows earlier public campaigns to promote folic acid awareness, something that Mehra believes could be renewed, along with other solutions.
“Anyone who’s coming in to the country, they get a package usually from the government,” she said. “Having even a one-liner in there, or at Service Canada locations, having it in multiple languages” would help awareness levels.
