S. Hercberg

Prevalence of Folic Acid Deficiency in the French Population

The most recent French studies on vitamins and public health have identified folates as one of the primary high-risk vitamins, that is, for which there is the greatest risk of deficiency. While we have only recently become aware of this situation, it is actually not new. As in other industrialized countries, changes in life-style and dietary habits in France have been particularly rapid, and our current diet is very different from traditional models in terms of composition, scheduling, distribution, etc. These dietary changes and the transformation in our life-style have had an influence not only on the composition of meals but perhaps also upon nutritional requirements themselves.