Folic acid is one of those important nutrients that can be found in prenatal vitamins. Folic acid is also known as folate or vitamin B9. Folic acid works in the body to help produce red blood cells, as well as important parts of the nervous system. Folic acid is also an important part of your baby’s development and growth while you are pregnant.

Many women, whether they are pregnant, trying to conceive, or neither, don’t get enough folic acid in their daily diet. It is recommended that every woman who is of child bearing age should get 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid every day. During pregnancy, it is recommended that women get even more folic acid, more in the range of 600 to 800 mcg each day. The reason for this is that folic acid has been proven in many studies to reduce the risk of certain kinds of birth defects in children. Specially, folic acid is thought to reduce the risk of neural tube defects, the most common of which is spina bifida. Studies suggest that getting enough folic acid may reduce the risk of neural tube defects by as much as fifty percent. If a woman has a family history of neural tube defects, the recommended dose of folic acid is going to be more like 4,000 mcg (or 400 milligrams) each day.

The best time to increase your folic acid intake is when you are trying to conceive. The fact of the matter is that you probably won’t know for certain that you are pregnant until as much as two weeks or more after your baby has started to develop. Getting enough folic acid during this time can give your baby that extra boost that he or she may need in order to avoid neural tube birth defects. It is difficult to get “too much” folic acid, as folic acid is a water-soluble vitamin. This means that your body will flush whatever you don’t need out of your body. The exception to this is that, if you have a deficiency in B-12, it could be masked if you get too much folic acid.

In addition to taking folic acid as a stand-alone supplement or as part of a prenatal vitamin, there are many natural sources of folic acid. They include things like beef or chicken livers, wheat germ, papaya, asparagus, cantaloupe, broccoli, canned salmon, and eggs. Leafy green vegetables such as spinach are probably the most folic acid rich sources in terms of foods.

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