You Can Prevent Your Baby From Having Horrible Birth Deffects

Extra folic acid taken prior to and during the early weeks of pregnancy has been proven to decrease the chances of a baby developing an open spine (spina bifida) or having no brain (anencephalic) at birth by 70%. Just adding 100 micrograms to breakfast cereals and bread has decreased the risk by 30%.

Your body needs vitamins to function. Some vitamins your body can make. Others you must get from foods or take as a supplement. Over 70% of babies being born without a brain with open spines can be prevented by women taking extra folic acid prior to and during the first few weeks of pregnancy. Extra folic acid taken prior to and during the early weeks of pregnancy has been proven to decrease the chances of a baby developing an open spine (spina bifida) or having no brain (anencephalic) at birth by 70%. Just adding 100 micrograms to breakfast cereals and bread has decreased the risk by 30%.

Your body needs vitamins to function. Some vitamins your body can make. Others you must get from foods are taken as a supplement. Moms taking extra folic acid prior to and during the first few weeks of pregnancy can prevent 70% of babies from being born with open spines or no brains. Open spines result in lifetime paralysis from the neck or waist down. A babys spine and brain start forming 18-30 days after conception. This is just a few days after you have missed your period. Fifty percent of US pregnancies are unplanned. This means by the time you figure out that you are pregnant and get an appointment to see your obstetrician it is already too late to prevent neural tube defects (open spine or no brain). Since we have started adding extra folic acid to the breakfast cereals and bread we have decreased the risk of these catastrophic birth defects by 30%. However we are still not adding enough to the food supply to prevent the majority of these birth defects. All women should start on 1 milligram (1,000 micrograms) of folic acid at least one month before trying to get pregnant. This can prevent over 70% of the babies born without a brain or paralyzed from the neck or waist down.

Folic acid is a synthetic form of folate not found in nature. It is a water-soluble B-vitamin. This means you cannot get too much or toxic levels because your kidneys throwaway any excess your body doesn't need in the urine. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin. Toxic levels can develop if you take too much because your body cannot eliminate the excess. Folate is from the Latin word for leaf, folium.

Unintended pregnancies account for over 50% of all pregnancies. By the time these women figure out that they are pregnant and get an appointment to see their obstetrician it is almost always too late to start folic acid to prevent these serious birth defects. Because of this fact, since January 1988 the FDA has require cereal makers and grain producers to add the equivalent of 100 micrograms (1/10 of a milligram) of folic acid to these foods. Unfortunately it takes 400 micrograms to prevent 70% of neural tube defects. One hundred micrograms prevents only 30% of the neural tube defects. The FDA was afraid higher doses would cover up other diseases. That assumption, unfortunately for babies, was false.

To get 400 micrograms of folic acid you would have to eat almost an entire loaf of bread each day. Over 50 breakfast cereals now have 400 micrograms per serving. Read the label. If it says 400 micrograms of folic acid per serving or 100% of the recommended daily allowance then that is adequate. Most women of childbearing age should be taking 400 micrograms of folic acid or a multivitamin with at least 400 micrograms of folic acid every day. Most obstetricians now use prenatal and preconceptions vitamins containing 1000 micrograms (1 milligram) of folic acid.

In women with previous pregnancies that had babies with neural tube defects we now recommend starting at 10 times the normal dose (4 mg per day) at least one month before stopping birth control pills or trying to get pregnant. This is been shown to reduce the chance of having another child with an open neural tube defect over 70%.

In addition to not getting adequate amounts of folic acid, approximately 5% of women with recurrent neural tube defects have an inherited defect that prevents conversion of folic acid to one of the active forms necessary for the body called tetrahydrofolate. Much higher doses of folic acid may be necessary to override this defect. A new prenatal vitamin may by-pass this defect by providing the active form. Further research is necessary. If you are sexually active see your doctor. This could help you prevent an unplanned pregnancy or serious birth defects in your baby.

Comments? Questions? Email Here

© HowtoAdvice.com

How to Advice .com