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Good News for all Women: Folic Acid protects babies against Neural Tube Defects

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Good News for all Women: Folic Acid protects
Babies against Neural Tube Defects

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), about 1 in 33 babies are born with birth defects in United States each year. A birth defect is a structural, functional or developmental abnormality present at birth that results in physical or mental disability, or death. Several birth defects have been identified, one of which is called neural tube defects (or NTDs).

In United States, 2,500 to 3,000 babies are born with NTDs each year, and an estimated 1,500 pregnancies are terminated because of these defects. NTDs occur in two forms namely spina bifida and anencephaly. Spina bifida occurs when an infant’s spinal cord is partially exposed due to incomplete closing of the spinal column. Anencephaly, on the other hand, is caused by incomplete closing of the skull which leaves part of the brain exposed.

All infants with anencephaly die before or shortly after birth, whereas most babies born with spina bifida grow to adulthood with varying degrees of paralysis and disability. The annual medical and surgical costs for persons with spina bifida in the United States exceed $200 million. Even worse, caring for these individuals for the rest of their lives often places families under sustained financial and emotional stress.

The good news though is that NTDs are preventable. Recently, folic acid has been shown to play a critical role in preventing these defects. As a result, the U. S. Public Health Service (USPHS) published a recommendation in 1992 requiring all women of childbearing age to consume 0.4 mg (or 400 micrograms) of folic acid EVERYDAY. They are to meet this requirement even if they are not planning to get pregnant.

Why should women maintain this intake level even when they are not planning to get pregnant? The reason is simple: NTDs occur as early in a pregnancy as 3 – 4 weeks after conception, a period when most women do not know that they are pregnant. Moreover, about half of all pregnancies in U.S. are unplanned. So, if a woman waits until she is pregnant before increasing her folic acid intake, it may be too late for her baby.

The next important question becomes this: How can a woman know that she is getting enough folic acid each day? It is possible for a woman to get all the folic acid she needs each day by maintaining a balanced diet. However, it may be hard for her to know when she has met the recommended minimum level and when she has not. For this reason, the CDC has recommended that women should take supplements that provide 400 micrograms of folic acid per serving per day, in addition to the amount they get from food. This guarantees that women will get the minimum amount of folic acid they need each day.

Examples of supplements that meet this requirement include standard multivitamins and folic acid supplements. To ensure that your supplement provides adequate folic acid, read the “supplement facts” label on the supplement bottle. First, locate folic acid on the label and then read across. If it is the right one, you will see 400 mcg under “amount per serving” and 100% under “%DV”.

NTDs can be fatal. A baby born with the nonfatal form will grow up with serious disabilities. The costs of caring for such individual can be astronomical. Fortunately, these defects can be prevented. All it takes is for a woman to take one or two pills of a supplement containing 400 micrograms of folic acid each day. This is something every woman can do quite easily.