More  :
All Resources
Fitness Videos
Fitness Models
How to Go Green
Healthy Recipies
Muscle Beach
Environmental Health
Evaluations
Ergonomics
Free Vitamins
Health Shop
Equipment Reviews
Diet Reviews
Sleeping
Supplement Reviews
Walking Programs
Weight Loss or Gain
|
By: Joann Bally CSCS
If you are a woman who is planning to have a baby, or who may
ever have a baby, you should be taking folic acid supplements. Every
year, about 2500 babies in the U.S. are born with neural tube defects.
Estimates are that number could be cut in half if the mothers took
400 mcg daily of folic acid, a B vitamin. True, this is quite a small
percentage of all babies born, but it is still a lot of babies.
Neural tube defects take the form of spina bifida, where the spine
doesn't fully form, and anencephaly, where the brain doesn't fully
form. If you were to have a baby with spina bifida, it would be
disabled its whole life, and you would put out enormous amounts of
money in medical bills. If your baby was anencephalic, it would die.
This is surely serious enough to justify taking the supplement as
insurance. (You have to be taking the vitamin before you get
pregnant, because the damage is done in the very early stages of
pregnancy.)
Where To Get It
Because of the association with birth defects, the government has
required grain products to be fortified with folic acid since January
1998. The vitamin is also found naturally in many foods, including
green leafy vegetables, broccoli, dried beans, citrus fruit and
juices, and peanuts, but you're probably still not getting enough.
The RDA is 400 mcg, and this is the amount in most multiple vitamins,
so if you already take a multi, you don't need any more. Amounts over
800 mcg are discouraged because that can mask vitamin B12 deficiency.
Folic acid (also called folate or folacin) may also help prevent
certain cancers. It is important for protein metabolism and nervous
system function. Folic acid is thought by many experts to help
prevent heart disease, so the insurance is probably worthwhile even
for those of us who aren't going to have babies.
Pretty good insurance for a few cents a day, isn't it? Of
course, it doesn't build muscle or melt fat away while you sleep, but
there are plenty of other products that claim to do that.
...More Health & Fitness Articles
|
