Folic acid is important during pregnancy for a number of good reasons. Folic acid naturally occurs in enriched grains as well as orange juice. Folic acid is also naturally found in leafy green vegetables, such as kale or spinach. Even dried beans are known to contain a good amount of folic acid. Folic acid is also known as vitamin B9, or folate.

Research has demonstrated that folic acid is indeed important during pregnancy because of the fact that folic acid helps to lessen the risk of certain birth defects. This is particularly true in regard to neural tube defects. The most common sort of neural tube birth defect is called spina bifida. Other birth defects, such as encephalocele and anecephaly, are also neural tube defects. You can reduce the risk that your baby will be born with a neural tube defect by taking the appropriate amount of folic acid during pregnancy. Some studies suggest that getting enough folic acid may reduce the rates of neural tube and other birth defects by as much as 70%.

Folic acid helps with the development of DNA, the formation of tissues, and the growth and development of cells. For this reason, most experts and health care providers recommend that a woman who is pregnant should consume right around 400 micrograms of folic acid every day. Some health care providers even recommend that any woman who is of child bearing age and may become pregnant should take a daily dose of 400 micrograms of folic acid, as well. This helps to reduce the risk of those birth defects that can occur in the early weeks of pregnancy, and that often occur even before a woman is even aware that she is pregnant.

To know for certain how much folic acid you should take during pregnancy, you should speak with your health care provider. Most, if not all, prenatal vitamins will contain around 400 micrograms of the folic acid that you need to help prevent those birth defects.

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