It’s no secret that a regular regimen of pre pregnancy vitamins can help both mom and baby get the nutrients they need throughout a healthy pregnancy. During pregnancy, you should always remember that you are carrying one more life with you. It also needs to be fed. If you are healthy, it is healthy. Hence you should ensure balanced nutritional intake including folic acid and pregnancy will be an enjoyable life time experience. Do not replace well balanced diet with vitamin supplements. But taking complete planned natural nutrition supplement in addition to diet will greatly benefit the baby with an added boost of vitamins and minerals.
During pregnancy, the neural tube is responsible for the development of the unborn baby’s spinal cord and brain. In order to do this properly it needs adequate amounts of red blood cells, but that supply is insufficient when the mother’s body is deficient in folate. The result of this deficiency is a variety of neural tube defects including spina bifida and anencephaly. Other problems that can occur as a result of a deficiency in this B9 vitamin include: cleft palate, premature birth or miscarriage, and low birth weight.
Risk for other types of neural tube defect, such as anencephaly, which is a serious underdevelopment of the brain, and encephalocele, which is abnormal protrusion of the brain tissue through an opening in the skin, can also be substantially reduced through adequate folate intake.
Folic acid can also be called folate or folacin. It is the essential substance for the new cells to be formed. This is important for everyone, young or old. It is even more important for pregnant women. They need the acid for healthy fetal forming during pregnancy. You will need adequate amount of folic acid during your early pregnancy so that you can prevent neurological and spinal birth defects in your child.
To help women protect their babies, 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, even when they are not planning to become pregnant. Additionally, in 1998, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) implemented the Fortification Program, which requires all enriched grain products to be fortified with folic acid. The purpose of these measures is to prevent folic acid deficiency, and maximize the benefits of folic acid for all women.
One is from the mother’s egg and one is from the father’s sperm. In the cases of Down’s Syndrome, there is an extra chromosome number 21. Why this one is affected is unclear. However, that will leave 47 chromosomes instead of the normal number of 46. The result is that unborn developing Down’s Syndrome.
It is proven that a lack of folic acid during early pregnancy can cause birth defects like spina bifida and Down’s syndrome. There has a been a lot of noise generated about telling women to take this as a supplement so they can lower the chances of giving birth to a child with birth defects. This approach has worked very effectively, as less children are being born with these serious birth defects, but there are some that think this excessive intake of folic acid might be the root cause of autism for some children.