January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month, and the week of Jan. 4-10 is Folic Acid Awareness Week. As you may know, there is a relationship between folic acid and birth defects.
Many birth defects of the brain and spine, called neural tube defects, occur in the first few weeks of pregnancy, often before a woman knows she is pregnant. The good news is that 70 percent of neural tube defects are preventable by taking folic acid, a B vitamin, every day before a woman becomes pregnant.
Even if you are not planning to get pregnant in the near future, we know that at least 50 percent of pregnancies are not planned. For teens and women in their early 20s, the rate increases to about 80 percent. That is why it is so crucial that all women of childbearing age get 400 micrograms of folic acid daily.
Most multiple vitamins contain the recommended amount of folic acid, as well as many other vitamins that protect women’s and infants’ health such as vitamins A, C, and E and minerals such as calcium. Read more…
