Folic Acid Is A Super Vitamin For Pregnancy. Here's Why

Once a woman finds out she's pregnant, the questions begin."What should I eat?" "What should I remove from my diet?"—the list of answers can be long. So how do you cut through the noise to decide what's best for your baby and for you?

All of the science and research points to following a healthy balanced diet that provides an abundance of vitamins and minerals from whole and minimally processed sources to best support the baby's growth and development. Increasingly, there's more of focus on what you "can't have" as a pregnant woman. But as a registered dietitian, I tell my clients that what is consumed is as important as what is not consumed.

In the first weeks of pregnancy, embryonic development is fast and furious. Nerves are configured, organs begin to grow, and the neural tube forms, laying the pathway for later development of the brain and spinal cord.

In an effort to mitigate the adverse effects of having insufficient amounts of folic acid, the U.S. government began to require the supplementation of folic acid in grain-based foods in 1998. This was a public health measure to increase the population-wide consumption of folic acid as a widespread tool for decreasing the risk of NTDs. When someone consumes folate in food, the body uses energy for absorption in the gut, and it passively diffuses across the cell membrane. So when it comes to women who are of childbearing age, recommendations focus on supplementation along with dietary intake.

So women of childbearing age are recommended to supplement with 400 mcg of folic acid at least one month before conception and during the first four weeks of pregnancy, which can prevent up to 70 percent of NTDs2. The risk for NTDs is highest during the first few weeks of the pregnancy. Once the neural tube is closed, the protective effects of folic acid supplementation3 wear off. Because the neural tubes close so early in pregnancy there are worldwide public health recommendations4 that strongly encourage all women in their childbearing years to supplement with 400 mcg folic acid daily to reduce the risk of NTDs. When it comes to folic acid, timing of supplementation is key to reaping its protective effects.

Any woman who is thinking about getting pregnant should know the CDC's recommendations4 and begin taking a prenatal vitamin with 400 mcg of folic acid at least three months before trying to get pregnant. This preconception time is a wonderful moment to re-examine and to take a good look at what is being consumed on a regular basis while continuing to incorporate well-balanced whole and minimally processed foods that provide an array of vitamins and minerals. It's a great way of showing your body and growing baby some love.

When thinking about obtaining folate from food sources, fresh is best. Because folate is a water-soluble vitamin5, it can be subject to easy degradation. This means that supplemental folate may be easily broken down and/or become unstable as a result of extended storage and being exposed to heat such as in cooking, so keep that in mind when preparing your folate-rich foods. For the veggies, I would recommend shorter cooking times and methods that do not leach nutrients from the food. The most bioavailable plant-based food sources of folate are spinach, black-eyed peas, and fortified breakfast cereals. Liver provides more than 50 percent6 of your daily value for folate in one serving.