Prenatal folic acid supplements should be taken by mothers before 1 month of pregnancy and throughout pregnancy. This will help you to avoid 50-70% risk of neural tube damage in young children.
Learn about folic acid
Folic acid, more commonly known as vitamin B9, belongs to vitamin B group. It is extremely important in supporting the development, cell division and formation of blood cells of the fetus. This acid is found in foods such as fruits, green leafy vegetables, pears, nuts, fermented foods, beef ...
Why should folic acid supplement during pregnancy?
Folic acid is involved in the structure, function and repair of DNA, genetic mapping of the body. Therefore, taking folic acid supplements before pregnancy not only brings many benefits to the fetus, but also supports the health of the mother throughout pregnancy.
In addition, when taking folic acid before giving birth, women will avoid risks such as premature birth, fetal malnutrition, lack of red blood cells, postnatal psychological disorders ... About the fetus, the child will avoid are diseases related to news, cleft palate, prevent neural tube defects ...
The secret to supplementing folic acid properly
If you intend to have a baby or are pregnant, you should also increase your intake of folic acid and iron. Because this is the stage where the body has a very high demand for these two substances. According to nutrition experts, pregnant mothers should supplement 400-500 mcg / day, start using at least 1 month before pregnancy.
In fact, mothers often cannot calculate exactly 1 or 2 months before they will become pregnant. Therefore, experts encourage women to take 400mcg / day or even a few months to a year when planning to have a baby. If you have a deficiency of folic acid through testing, you may be recommended to take folic acid at a dose of 600mcg / day.
1. Take folic acid supplements correctly
As recommended before giving birth, women should take a folic acid supplement with a concentration of 400 mcg / day. During pregnancy, pregnant mothers should take this drug with a concentration of 600 mcg / day. With a healthy female body, you can only supplement this type of acid between 400-600 mcg / day. The amount of folic acid will be released out by the secretion.
If you use this drug over 1000 mcg / day, you may experience side effects such as diarrhea, nausea, indigestion, epilepsy, excitement, strange taste in your mouth ... Therefore, mothers should approve Doctor's opinion to use medicine every day.
One more note for pregnant mothers is that you should drink between 2 meals for the drug to promote its best use. In addition, vitamin C will help increase iron absorption, so you can take iron - folic acid tablets with juice, avoid tea and coffee because it will reduce the body's ability to absorb iron. To avoid constipation during pregnancy , you should supplement with organic folic acid.
2. Supplement folic acid through food
In addition to supplementing with folic acid with drugs, women can also load this substance for the body through the daily pregnancy menu . Here are some foods that contain abundant amounts of folic acid that pregnant mothers cannot ignore:
Beans such as black beans, peanuts, lentils ...
Asparagus
Green vegetables
Hard-boiled eggs
Orange or orange juice
Black bread
Brown rice
Women planning to have a baby should not ignore folic acid supplements before pregnancy. Because if your body has a deficiency of folic acid, the health of both mother and fetus will be extremely badly affected during pregnancy.
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