Understanding Folic Acid
Does the word acid frighten you? Just think about the term "ascorbic acid," the generic word for that well known supplement, Vitamin C that just about everyone has taken to combat the common cold, and which has been an additive in fruit juices for several years. Folic acid, like ascorbic acid is nothing more than an another vitamin from the B complex. Folic acid is essential to the development of the central nervous system that includes the spinal cord.
Folic acid is found in its natural form in foods: in fruit, vegetables, grains, meat and meat substitutes. It is very difficult, even impossible to eat sufficient quantities of foods containing folic acid to meet the amounts required to protect unborn children from neural tube defects. Women planning to become pregnant should in fact consume a multivitamin supplement containing 0.4 to 0.8 mg of folic acid.
Recent scientific
studies confirm that taking adequate amounts of folic acid reduces by half the
risk of spina bifida in the newborn. Thus
all women planning a pregnancy should take the supplement as a preventive measure.
Preventing spina bifida with folic acid…
Spina
bifida
and other neural tube defects develop during the 3rd and 4th weeks of pregnancy,
before most women are even aware they are pregnant. Since many pregnancies are
not necessarily planned in advance, it makes a lot of sense to take folic acid
during the childbearing years. Folic acid is a simple vitamin that can make
all the difference.
Future Moms at Risk…
Some women are at increased risk of bearing a child with a neural tube defect such as spina bifida. Because of this predisposition, it is advisable that they use preventive measures at least three months before conception and up to three months into their pregnancies. Women at risk are those who have already had a child with spina bifida, have a family history of neural tube defects, or have diabetes and must take insulin, or epileptic women who must be treated with valproic acid or carbamazine, or any other kind of medication that counteracts the effects of folic acid.
|
|
|
| Parents with no family history of spina-bifida |
0.1%
|
| Parents of a child with spina-bifida |
5%
|
| Parents of two children with spina-bifida |
9%
|
| Parent with spina-bifida |
5%
|
| Parent with spina-bifida whose child has spina-bifida |
10%
à 15%
|
| Parent with a brother or sister with spina-bifida |
2%
|
| Parent with a nephew, niece or cousin with spina-bifida |
0.1%
|
| Both parents with spina-bifida |
12%
|
Warning
Any woman who takes medication should consult her physician before taking folic acid as a supplement, in order to make sure that there are no adverse effects. Folic acid is known to mask symptoms of pernicious anaemia, and certain women are in fact allergic to folic acid. On the other hand, medications such as chloramphenicol, phenobarbital, phenytoine, primidone and sulfasalazine interact adversely with folic acid.
Always consult a health expert to find out what amount of folic acid is the recommended dose for you.
For more information about folic acid you can visit the Canadian Paediatric Society's web site. http://www.cps.ca/english/statements/DT/dt95-01.htm and http://www.caringforkids.cps.ca/babies/FolicAcid.htm
AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS WORTH SEVERAL POUNDS OF CURE. THINK
ABOUT YOUR BABY'S HEALTH!
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