Are you planning to get pregnant? You can begin taking folic acid supplement or a prenatal vitamin that contains folic acid. The right nutrients and vitamins are extremely important for a healthy baby without any defects. Your diet has an important role to play when it comes to pregnancy. You need a healthy diet and lifestyle to have a smooth pregnancy.
Folic acid has a crucial role to play in your pregnancy. It is highly recommended that you take folic acid even if you are not pregnant yet but you are trying to conceive. Did you know you can prevent 70 percent of all birth defects of spine and brain if you take folic acid every day? Taking a daily dose of prenatal vitamins containing 400 mcg of folic acid is considered extremely beneficial.
What exactly is folic acid?
Folic acid is also known as folate and is a member of B vitamin family. Folates occur naturally in foods like beans, green leafy vegetable, fruits, lentils and orange juice. It is also found in vitamin pills. The ones found in vitamin pills, enriched grain products, breakfast cereal are synthetic form of folic acid which is more easily absorbed by the body compared to the natural form.
How much folic acid is needed?
If you have intentions of conceiving, it is recommended that you maintain a daily intake of 400 mcg folic acid supplement. If you successfully become pregnant, have 400mcg of folic acid daily for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. It is in the first trimester that most birth defects take place which is why taking folates even before your conceive is helpful. Take 600mcg of folic acid in the second and third trimester of pregnancy.
In case women are taking treatment for diabetes, epilepsy or other medical condition, a higher dose is recommended. Women who have a family history of neural tube defects are also given a higher dose. Most of the time, 5 milligram supplement is prescribed. Consult your doctor about the dose before taking folic acid.
Benefits of Folic Acid
- Keeps anemia at bay
The cells multiply at a faster rate during pregnancy which is why the mother requires more folic acid. The folic acid reserve of the mother can decrease considerably because of the fetal growth. This can result in maternal anemia which can in turn result in childbirth problems.
- Produces red blood cells
Folates facilitate the production of red blood cells in the body which is very important because women are more prone to becoming anaemic during pregnancy. Folic acid make sure your Red Blood Cell count is at its optimum while your take iron supplements to keep up the level of iron in blood.
- Prevents birth defects
Deficiency of folic acid can result in spine and brain defects in babies like anencephaly, Cleft Lip & Palate, neural tube defect, spina bifida and others. It can also lead to heart defects. When the brain develops while still in womb, it makes an opening in the spinal cord that makes up a neural tube. It is in the third week of the pregnancy that this neural tube should close but if it doesn’t, neural tube defects can happen.
- Assimilation of other vitamins
If the body happens to be deficient in folic acid, the count of white blood cells decreases. Lack of folic acid can also result in lack of vitamin B12 and iron in the body. This may lead to different bowel and stomach ailments.
- Prevents premature births and miscarriage
If you consume good amount of folic acid, you can shove away all your fears of a premature delivery. Consuming healthy amount of folic acid also helps to prevent poor baby growth, miscarriage and solves low birth weight issues to quiet an extent.
- Promotes healthy fetal development
The neural development of your baby is very crucial while he is still in the mother’s womb. Folic acid will help you do just that. Folic acid protects the neural tube of the fetus which later develops into spinal cord and brain of the baby. This prevents any kind of prenatal defects at the initial stages of the development of central nervous system.
- Helps to prevent depression
Depression with crazy mood swings is common during pregnancy and even after birth. a research was conducted on adults and young patients who suffered from moderate to severe depression. One third of these patients were found to have low levels of folic acid. Optimum level of folic acid helped to cure this depression.
- Keeps you away from pregnancy complications
Expectant mothers are really fearful of complications that can occur during pregnancy. Taking the right amount of folic acid every day can protect pregnant women from complications like heart disease, preeclampsia, cancers, stroke and Alzheimer’s.
