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Birth Defect
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In addition to Birth Defects Prevention Month, January marks Folic Acid Awareness week (January 9-15, 2006). Both initiatives share a common goal of increasing awareness for the importance of folic acid consumption as part of a healthy diet.
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An estimated 60 percent of birth defects have unknown causes. Environmental and/or genetic factors bring about the rest. Environmental factors that cause birth defects are known as teratogens . A teratogen is essentially an external agent such as a drug, chemical, or virus that causes defects in the embryo or fetus.
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Some birth defects, such as mental retardation, are non-treatable disabilities. However, many physical defects can be treated with surgery. Repair is possible with many defects including cleft lip or palate, and certain heart defects.
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Medical science has identified the cause of about 30 percent of birth defects. That means about 70 percent remain without a straightforward cause. These difficult-to-classify birth defects have multi-factoral causes, or the causes are simply unknown. Multi-factoral means that the defect is caused by a complicated combination of both genetic and environmental factors.
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Although some birth defects have a single abnormality, others have abnormalities in multiple body systems or organs. Birth defects may cause life-long disability and illness, and with some, survival is not possible.
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You need to know that Folic Acid supplements can prevent birth defects known as neural tube defects (NTD) and other malformations. NTD malformations include spina bifida (open spine); meningomyeloceles, myeloceles; anencephaly (open skull); encephalocele (gap in the skull) and other anomalies.
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