Your body has different needs during pregnancy than it does when you are not pregnant. When we think about the extra things that your body needs during pregnancy, we typically think about the extra food and the old catchphrase, “eating for two.” It is true that you need more food during pregnancy than you need when you are not pregnant. However, the important thing about needing this extra food during pregnancy isn’t so much that you need a larger volume of food or more calories. In fact, you only need about 300 extra calories a day during pregnancy. Instead, it is the important extra nutrients that you get from that extra food during pregnancy. Your body needs extra minerals like Iron and vitamins such as Vitamin A to help your baby grow and develop in as healthy a manner as possible. One of the most important things that you need during pregnancy is extra folic acid.

Folic acid is also known as vitamin B9, or as folate. You need to take folic acid during pregnancy because it has been proven in many different clinical studies that folic acid reduces the risk of certain types of birth defects. Specifically, folic acid is known to reduce the risks of birth defects that are related to the neural tube. One of the most common of these types of birth defects is spina bifida, a condition with which you may be familiar. There are other birth defects that are related to the neural tube, including anecephaly and encephalocele. Research suggests that taking folic acid during pregnancy may be able to reduce the risk that your baby will be born with a neural tube birth defect by as much as 70%.

Folic acid occurs naturally in foods like leafy green vegetables, such as spinach and kale. Folic acid also can be found in orange juice and in enriched grains. Most experts suggest that you need to take in around 400 micrograms of folic acid each day during pregnancy. Because it is not likely that you will get that much folic acid from foods, you should make certain taht your prenatal vitamin contains 400 micrograms of folic acid. Some health care providers even recommend that women who are trying to conceive take the same dosage of folic acid, as it will possibly help their baby in those early days of pregnancy, often before a woman knows that she is pregnant.

Related Posts: