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Folic Acid: Birth Defects
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Folic acid can reduce certain birth defects of the brain and spinal cord by more than 70 percent. These birth defects are called neural tube defects (NTDs). NTDs happen when the spinal cord fails to close properly.
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"Cereal and grain products are fortified with folic acid, but the level of fortification isn't optimal. Folic acid influences so many things. It reduces the risk of stroke, cardiovascular disease, and it prevents birth defects," she said. "It's a simple preventive measure for a variety of severe problems."
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Most women in the United States do not get enough folic acid to help prevent birth defects. The average woman gets less than the amount needed from her diet alone. That’s why all women who can get pregnant are urged to take a vitamin with folic acid or eat a serving of fully fortified breakfast cereal each day.
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Fortification of wheat flour with folic acid has substantially improved folate status in a population of women of reproductive age in Chile, report researchers in this month's Journal of Nutrition. Similar initiatives, designed to reduce the incidence of birth defects, have already shown positive results in the US and Canada.
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Numerous scientific studies emphasize the importance of folic acid and multivitamin supplementation in preventing birth defects and NTDs. Results of the Czeizel Study (1996) - using a periconceptional folic acid-containing multivitamin - indicate a "significant prevention of neural-tube defects, urinary tract and cardiovascular defects, in addition to a decrease in the rate of limb deficiencies and congenital hypertrophic pyloric stenosis". In this study, fertility was ... improved after periconceptional multivitamin supplementation*.
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Taking folic acid helps prevent serious health problems, such as birth defects and heart disease. A supplement may ... be helpful if you drink alcohol often. You may want to use a folic acid supplement if you check off one or more of the following:
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Birth Defects