What is the Importance of Prenatal Folic Acid?

Folic acid is helpful for the body at any time, but it is especially important during pregnancy, which is why it is found in nearly every prenatal vitamin on the market. The main benefit of prenatal folic acid is that can prevent neural tube defects like spina bifida in unborn babies. It is best not to wait until becoming pregnant to start taking this vitamin since neural tube defects usually form within the first few weeks of pregnancy. For this reason, it is a good idea to start taking folic acid even when not pregnant, especially when trying to conceive. This nutrient can be ingested through folate-rich foods, but since most women do not eat enough of these, a supplement in pill form is often needed.

This vitamin is also known as folate, and is a type of B vitamin. It is known for being involved in both cell production and division, and thus can help to ensure proper brain development in unborn babies. Pregnant women who do not take prenatal folic acid are not only hindering their child's brain development, but they may also be putting them at risk for neural tube defects, or NTDs. This type of defect occurs when the spinal cord, which starts out flat in an embryo, does not roll into a tube about a month after conception.

The result of a lack of prenatal folic acid can be spina bifida, which has symptoms ranging from learning disorders like decreased hand-eye coordination and ADHD, to more serious issues like paralysis. Another type of NTD that may come as a result of insufficient prenatal folic acid is anencephaly, which occurs when a child is born missing some of the brain and skull. This condition usually results in death in utero, and babies that make it to birth typically die within days at most. These two conditions are just the most serious results of a lack of prenatal folic acid in the diet. Other problems include a higher chance of miscarriage, low birth weight, cleft lip, and various other pregnancy complications.

Folate is present in leafy green vegetables, cantaloupe, asparagus, lentils, eggs, papaya, and both chicken and beef liver. Most cereals are now also fortified with folic acid, so choosing the types labeled as such is a good way to get some of this vitamin in the diet. There are supplements available with folic acid in them, and most reputable prenatal vitamins have plenty of it. The recommended dosage of folic acid is 400 mcg each day, but during pregnancy this should be increased to about 800 to 1000 mcg per day. Women with a family history of NTDs should increase this dosage to about 4,000 mcg, or 4 mg, daily.