Book Reviews

Folate and Human Development

edited by Edward J. Massaro and John M. Rogers,
359 pp., ill., Totowa, NJ, Humana, 2002, $119

During the decade since the MRC Vitamin Study Research Group definitively reported the effects of folic acid in the prevention of neural tube defects, there has been great interest in determining more about its exact biologic mechanisms. Folate and Human Development is a comprehensive review of this essential B-vitamin and its role in embryology, teratology, and developmental malformations. The editors Massaro and Rogers have assembled detailed synopses by recognized authorities whose diverse expertise ranges from genetics to metabolism to nutrition to teratology to epidemiology. As the title implies, the broad aim of the book is to review the most important research data of folate in human developmental disorders. In general, each contributor meets the book’s objectives by aligning the available data to explain the putative mechanisms for folate’s effects.

The basis of Folate and Human Development revolves around the 1991 MRC neural tube defect prevention study—this remarkable epidemiologic story is probably well known to all potential readers but it appears to still be the driving force behind much of the basic research striving to elucidate the multiple potential functions of folate. The strength of the book lies in its varied perspectives that allow the reader to envision the potential roles of all B vitamins from genes to whole embryos.

The book is divided into 15 parts that cover the most important basic and clinical sciences including the newest research about genomics, the role of folate homeostasis genes, the methylation cycle, folate receptors, embryotoxins, and the interactions of folate with other essential nutrients such as zinc, copper, iron, and choline. Most chapters …