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We already know there are benefits to taking folid acid before and during early pregnancy -- it can help prevent birth defects of the brain and spinal cord.
Here's one more reason to start popping the pills early: A long course of pre-pregnancy folic acid can significantly lower the risk of premature birth.
Although less than half of women of childbearing age take multivitamin supplements, the benefits are big.
New research shows that women who take a folate long before conception -- for a year before -- are half as likely to deliver before 32 weeks and 70% less likely to deliver before 28 weeks.
Preterm births -- before 37 full weeks of gestation -- account for about 13% of deliveries in the United States. The earlier the delivery, the higher the risk of complications at birth or as the child grows older.
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If you're not pregnant, do you routinely pop a multivitamin or folic acid supplement?
Comments (7)
i take me prenatals other then that i do not take any thing else.
I'm not trying to get preggers again and am on bc but I always take a prenatal vitamin every day and have been doing that for atleast a year or two.
I have epilepsy I was told by a genatist that women who r childbearing age with epilespy should take 1 folic acid a day.
This an interesting article. At the Spina Bifida Association, we are always trying to find ways to let women of childbearing age the importance of taking folic acid. Here's one more reason why.
It also lowers the risk of heart defects and low birth weight in babies. My oldest child was born with a cleft lip and palate (considered a neural tube defect, so in the same category as spina bifida) as well as a heart defect and low birth weight. I did a lot of research about folic acid. I took 2-4 MG (it is recommended that no or low risk pregnant women take 800-1000 MCG) a day with my other boys and they were all cleft and heart defect free and good sized. We later found out our oldest has a chromosome deletion, so I don't know if more folic acid would have helped him or not, but I think it is better to be safe than sorry!
I think that we need to be careful about how much folic acid we recommend. In the US all commercially-made breads and cereals are fortified with folic acid. In addition, if we take a multivitamin or a prenatal multivitamin, we get the RDA of folic acid for non-pregnancy or pregnancy. In contrast, in England they do not fortify all of their breads and cereals with folic acid because some studies have shown that too much folic acid might cause colon cancer. So I think that this is one case where it is NOT true that "if a little is good, then more must be better". I think that we need to be careful to get enough folic acid, but not too much.
Joy
I'm glad this was posted i wish i would have known these facts before i have birth to my angel baby kayden who was born with a rare birth defect and spina bifida! More women should listen to this!! Folic Acid is so important even if your not trying to get pregnant! Women who are having sex should take folic acid!!!!