What Is Folic Acid?
A folic acid is a man-made form of a B vitamin called folate. Folate plays an important role in the production of red blood cells and helps your baby's neural tube develop into her brain and spinal cord. The best food sources of folic acid are fortified cereals. Folate is found naturally in dark green vegetables and citrus fruits.
When Should you Start taking Folic Acid?
It's important to have folate in your system during those early stages when your baby's brain and spinal cord are developing. (Within the first 3-4 weeks of pregnancy)
One study showed that women who took folic acid for at least a year before getting pregnant cut their chances of delivering early by 50% or more.
The CDC recommends that you start taking folic acid every day for at least a month before you become pregnant, and every day while you are pregnant.
When planning to become pregnant, women who have already had a pregnancy affected by a neural tube defect should consult with their healthcare provider.
Every woman of reproductive age needs to get folic acid every day, whether she is planning to get pregnant or not, to help make new cells.
How Much Folic Acid Should you Take?
The recommended dose for all women of childbearing age is 400 mcg of folate each day. If you take a multivitamin every day, check to see if it has the recommended amount.
While you're trying to conceive: 400 mcg
For the first three months of pregnancy: 400 mcg
For months four to nine of pregnancy: 600 mcg
While breastfeeding: 500 mcg
What Are the Benefits of Folic Acid?
Without enough folic acid in your body, your baby's neural tube may not close correctly and she could develop health problems called neural tube defects. These include:
🔹 Spina bifida: incomplete development of the spinal cord or the vertebrae
🔹 Anencephaly: incomplete development of major parts of the brain
Getting enough folic acid may protect your baby from neural tube defects by at least 50%.
If you've already had a baby with a neural tube defect, getting enough folic acid may reduce your risk of having another child with a neural tube defect by as much as 70%.
When taken before and during pregnancy, folic acid may also protect your baby against:
Cleft lip and palate
Premature birth
Low birth weight
Miscarriage
Poor growth in the womb
Folic acid has also been suggested to reduce your risk of:
Pregnancy complications.
Heart disease
Stroke
Some types of cancers
Alzheimer’s disease
Good Food Sources of Folic Acid
Foods that can help you get more folic acid in your diet include:
Breakfast cereals fortified with 100% of the DV
Beef liver
Lentils, mature seeds
Spinach
Egg
Breakfast cereals
Great Northern beans
Some rice, pasta, bread, and breakfast cereals are fortified with folic acid. These foods are labelled “enriched.” Folic acid is a specific type of folate that does not generally occur naturally.
In addition to eating foods with folate from a varied diet, women can get folic acid from
Taking a vitamin that has folic acid in it; Eating fortified foods;
Getting a combination of the two: taking a vitamin that has folic acid in it and eating fortified foods.
It’s recommended that women of reproductive age who could become pregnant consume at least 400 micrograms (mcg) of folate every day. However, it’s difficult to get 400 mcg of folate through diet alone.
When taking folic acid, a higher dose than 400 mcg of folic acid each day is not necessarily better to prevent neural tube defects, unless a health provider recommends taking more due to other health conditions.
These information is given for the educational purposes only. Please contact relevant health care profession for more details.
Hansini Poornima
References
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/folicacid/about.html
https://www.webmd.com/baby/folic-acid-and-pregnancy
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