Vitamin Vitality: The Benefits Of Folic Acid For Baby Bearing Women

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By Mia Bolaris-Forget

A headline I recently “stumbled” across read to the effect of “you are what you eat”, especially as it pertains to health. And, a healthy diet is especially important to ladies of childbearing age say experts.

But, with so many conflicting reports about what’s “safe” and what’s “out’, expectant moms and those trying to conceive my find themselves, conceivably confused.

And, while fish and coffee keep getting “mixed reviews”, one item seems to keep attracting increasing accolades.

We’re talking about folic acid. According to experts, it helps lower the odds of spina bifida and other related birth defects, as well as significantly decreasing the odds of giving birth to a premature baby.

These observations are based on women taking folic acid supplements rather than those who consume it through food; with experts suggesting that women who took a folic acid supplement by itself or as part of a multivitamin for at least one year prior to conceiving experienced a 70% lower risk of delivering a preterm baby.

They add that since many pregnancies remain unplanned, all women of childbearing age should take 400 micrograms of a folic acid supplement daily, noting that folic acid helps reduce neural tube birth defects by up to 70%. But experts note that only 40% of women in their childbearing years take the recommended amount of folic acid.

Last but not least they note that ladies in early pregnancy that regularly took a multivitamin containing folic acid were also less likely to deliver a preterm baby. Still, they say that more research needs to be done to establish whether the benefits are directly associated with taking folic acid, multivitamins, or with some common characteristic of the ladies who take them.

Long Island Family Life & Parenting Articles > Vitamin Vitality: The Benefits Of Folic Acid For Baby Bearing Women