Prevent Birth Defects with Folic Acid

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Folic acid (Vitamin B9 or folate, as known in their naturally occurring state), prevents birth defects in the baby. You need around 400 micrograms per day and you need to start getting it at least a month before you plan to get pregnant.

Need for folic acid

There are a number of reasons why folic acid id needed:

• It helps in prevention of neural tube defects (NTD’s) – serious birth defects in the brain and spinal cord. Since the baby’s neural tubes start to develop at around three weeks, you need to start it well in advance if you’re planning a pregnancy or else you need to take folic acid as soon as you know you’re pregnant.
• Folic acid helps in preventing some types of heart defects, cleft lip and palate defects.
• It helps prevent anemia.
• A combination of multivitamin and folic acid helps prevent and combat preeclampsia.
• Folate is a requirement for the production, functioning and repair of the DNA.
• Folic acid is required for the rapid cell growth in placenta and the growing baby.

Signs of deficiency

Following are the signs of deficiency of folic acid:

• Diarrhea
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Weakness
• Sore tongue
• Headaches
• Irritability
• Heart palpitations

You must immediately contact your doctor if you observe any of these signs. Not paying attention can prove to be a very costly mistake.

Best food sources

There are a number of sources of folic acid. The first source is your breakfast cereal. Always buy a pack that says “100% daily value of folic acid”. Packs saying the same things are also available under rice, pasta and bread.

Naturally occurring folate can be easily found in dried beans and peas, dark green vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, turnip greens, asparagus, okra, citrus fruits such as orange and juice. These things should be included in a healthy diet since they provide most the required nutrients.

But you need to take supplements also because the body doesn’t absorb all the natural folate.  And there is a danger that folic acid in the food might be lost during cooking. The body absorbs the synthetic version better. Before taking it, contact your doctor.

If you do not take the recommended amount of folic acid, you won’t be getting the optimal amount of your baby’s embryonic development. And it would be entirely your fault if it is born with birth defects.

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