ABSTRACT
Folates are crucial nutrients to the developing fetus, and being nutritionally essential, they must be obtained from the maternal blood through placental transport. The strict importance of folates to fetal and pregnancy health is well demonstrated by the fact that an inverse relationship is known to exist between folate status in pregnancy and the risk of neural tube defects. However, given the present policies of folate supplementation during pregnancy, there is an actual concern on the possible implications of excessive exposure to folates during pregnancy for the future health.
