As we enter Folic Acid Awareness Week (January 8-14), The National Council on Folic Acid and other organizations want to remind pregnant women exactly how their diet affects their unborn child. While alcohol and cigarettes are well-known no-nos, the importance of taking the recommended daily dose of 400mcg of folic acid may not be so obvious.
But it should be. Folic acid is a B vitamin that helps the body make new cells, according to WomensHealth.gov, and pregnant women can lower their chances of neural birth defects such as spina bifida by as much as 70% if they take the recommended amount of folic acid during their pregnancy, according to the Spina Bifida Association. Spina bifida results when the bones in the spine don’t form completely, and is the most common permanently disabling birth defect in the United States.
Spina bifida and other neural birth defects often occur within the first three weeks of pregnancy, often before the mother even knows she’s pregnant, according to Lindsey Toth, RD. Since half of pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, folic acid isn’t only for the pregnant or consciously soon-to-be pregnant, it’s for any woman who can conceive of the possibility of becoming pregnant.
Folic acid is the manmade form of folate, and is usually taken in pill form. Alison Massey, a registered dietician at the Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, MD says that natural folate is found in foods such as “dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, some fruits like oranges and strawberries, protein sources like beans, sunflower seeds, and some meats, as well as fortified breads, pastas, rice and cereal products.” Massey cites the 1998 FDA mandate that all bread, pastas, rice and cereal products be fortified with folic acid, which she says has helped more individuals meet their daily folic acid requirement. But eating a lot of pasta and bread won’t necessarily give you the folic acid you need, according to the March of the Dimes website. Folate is finicky, and foods can lose their folate while in storage or in the preparation process, so many pregnant women opt to take folic acid. “It is a good idea for most women of childbearing age to consume a dietary supplement with at least 400ug of folic acid, in addition to consuming food sources of folate/folic acid,” Massey advises.
If you’re pregnant, do you take folic acid or rely on natural folate? If you’re not pregnant, how important is taking folic acid to you? Let us know on our Facebook page.
