Information about this vitamin and why pregnant women should take it.

Folic Acid


* Folic acid is a vitamin which is essential to the body. It's prime function is involved in the production of the red blood cells by the bone marrow.

* Folic acid is found in fresh leafy vegetables such as cabbage, sprouts, spinach and cauliflower, and even green beans and frozen peas. Oranges, melons and bananas also provide folic acid as do yeast extract spreads such as Marmite and Bovril. Today most corn flakes and bran flakes are fortified with folic acid, and both brown bread and white bread are good sources.

* Deficiency usually occurs in those elderly people who become under nourished as a result of a poor diet. The classical scenario is a old lady, living alone, who can't be bothered to do much shopping, and gets by on jam sandwhiches and cups of tea, or anything that doesn't involve any cooking. This type of lady rarely gets enough fresh vegetables or fruit into her diet, and develops a folic acid deficiency anaemia.

* Folic acid also has a very important part to play in the early stages of pregnancy, where it is actively involved in the growth of the nervous system of the fetus. Even in a normal diet the needs of the mother and the growing fetus for folic acid may exceed the mother's natural intake from food. Such a deficiency in folic acid intake during early pregnancy, can produce defects in the fetus, known as neural tube defects. The one neural tube defect that we've all heard about is `Spina Bifida'.

* Therefore, to prevent spina bifida, the Dept of Health now recommends that women who have already had a spina bifida child, should take a folic acid 5mgm tablet daily to prevent a re occurrence. Women who've never had a spina bifida baby are advised to eat more folic acid rich foods, and take a folic acid 5mgm tablet even before conception has occurred and then for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
IMPORTANT NOTICE : This content is from the Dr Chris Steele personal archive and is provided for convenience only. Information contained here may no longer agree with the most up to date medical advice. Please check with a medical professional before taking any action.

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