Folic Acid, We Owe it to Our Kids

Folic acid is more important to us than we realise. It is essential to the
building blocks of life.


Folic acid, We Owe it to Our Kids


If you are a woman of childbearing years you should be taking folic acid.
Neural tube defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly are the most
common and preventable birth defects in America affecting about 4,000
U.S. newborns every year. A mother taking 400 mcg of folic acid a day
lowers an unborn child’s chance of incurring one of these defects by 50
to 70%.

So if you’re planning to have a baby or you find out you’re pregnant you
should start taking folic acid supplements, right?



Right. And wrong.



If you haven’t been taking them but find yourself pregnant, start taking
them. However, the spine and the brain have already been formed by the
time most women find out they’re pregnant and fully 50% of all births in
the United States are unplanned. You should be getting the daily value
every day for a month before pregnancy occurs for a child to be as
protected as possible. If you are a woman and able to give birth you
should be getting 400 mcg of folic acid every day.

Folic acid is a B vitamin. B vitamins are water-soluble rather than
fat-soluble so they go straight to your blood stream. What your body
doesn’t use comes out in the urine so be sure to get your B vitamins
every day.

Good ways to make sure you get your full helping? It will be hard to get
100% of your folic acid from food since you would need about five cups
of broccoli every day so you might try a fortified cereal or supplement.