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Who Needs Folic Acid?
You Do!
By Shelly Hemig
"She was so tiny – only 4 inches long," Karen says, remembering. "Everything was there: toes, legs, arms, eyes, lips, just no brain, which you could see because there was just membrane above her eyes. We held her for two hours and had her baptized. But it was hard to be in labor and leave the hospital with nothing."
After waiting three months, Karen and her husband started trying to conceive. She is currently 16 weeks pregnant and just received word that her AFP test results were normal.
"My chances of having this happen are more than the general population, but I have been taking a lot of the folic acid (5 mg), which was prescribed to me to help prevent the defect, which is why I am so for taking it!" says Karen.
In fact, if women were regularly taking at least 0.4 milligrams of folic acid before becoming pregnant and during the first trimester of pregnancy, the occurrence of neural tube defects could be reduced by as much as 75 percent.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined the studies showing the benefits of folic acid were so conclusive that in January of 1998, it ordered the addition of folic acid to enriched breads, pastas, rice and cereals. A few of these cereals have 100 percent of the recommended daily allowance.
Griffen says by connecting taking a folic acid supplement to something you already do every day, it will make it easier to remember. Take your folic acid supplement when you:
- Brush your teeth
- Eat lunch
- Read the newspaper
- Feed the dog
- Do any other daily activity
Soon taking folic acid will be a daily activity, too.
Remember, pregnancy is not always planned. Prevention is the key. Women can make folic acid part of their diet now and continue taking it through their childbearing years to increase the odds of having a healthy baby.
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