Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the serum folate levels in women of child-bearing age in the latest results of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey; and how these compare to the World Health Organisation thresholds.

Serum total folate concentrations were published in a National Diet and Nutrition Survey Supplementary Report on 20 March 2015, available at the following link and has also been attached.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-diet-and-nutrition-survey-supplementary-report-blood-folate

For women of child bearing age (16 to 49 years) in the United Kingdom, mean serum total folate concentration was 20.0 nmol/L, 16.5% had concentrations below 10 nmol/L, the World Health Organization (WHO) threshold indicating biochemical folate deficiency.