Folic Acid Testing: Importance In Pregnancy

Folic Acid In Pregnancy

Most of us know that folic acid is essential to start taking before you plan on becoming pregnant.
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This article explains how a woman can be tested for folic acid and the different ways the test may be done. Read more:

A folic acid test measures the amount of folic acid in the blood. Folic acid is one of many B vitamins. The body needs folic acid to make red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), platelets, new genetic material (DNA) in cells, and for normal growth. Folic acid also is important for the normal development of a baby (fetus).

Folic acid can be measured in the liquid portion of blood (plasma). This reflects a person's recent intake of folic acid in the diet. Folic acid is found in foods such as liver; citrus fruits; dark green, leafy vegetables (spinach); whole grains; cereals with added B vitamins; beans; milk; kidney; and yeast.

Folic acid may also be measured as the amount in the red blood cells. This test may be a better way than the plasma test to measure the amount of folic acid stored in the body. The amount of folic acid in red blood cells measures the level when the cell was made, as much as 2 months earlier. This level is not usually affected by the amount of folic acid in your diet each day. It is a more accurate way to measure the body's level of folic acid.

Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant need extra folic acid to make more red blood cells and maintain normal growth of their baby. Women who do not get enough folic acid before and during pregnancy are more likely to have a child born with a birth defect, such as a cleft lip or cleft palate or a neural tube defect, such as spina bifida.
from: 
http://www.webmd.com/diet/folic-acid

Folic Acid Before and During Pregnancy Reduces Chance of Autism

Folic Acid And Pregnancy Outcomes

I've always associated folic acid with reducing neural tube defects.
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 However, according to this article, folic acid can also help reduce the chance of autism spectrum disorders. Read more:

From the article:

The finding suggests that, in addition to women who already have conceived, those who are attempting to become pregnant should consider consuming folic acid supplements, the authors said.

The study found that women who each day consumed the recommended amount of folic acid (600 micrograms, or .6 milligrams) during the first month of pregnancy experienced a reduced risk of having a child with autism spectrum disorder, specifically when the mother and/or her child had a specific genetic variant (MTHFR 677 C>T) associated with less efficient folate metabolism. The study will be published in the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"This research is congruent with the findings of earlier studies that suggest that improved neurodevelopmental outcomes are associated with folic acid intake in early pregnancy," said lead study author Rebecca J. Schmidt, assistant professor of public health sciences in the UC Davis School of Medicine and a researcher with the UC Davis MIND Institute. "It further supports recommendations that women with any chance of becoming pregnant should consider consuming folic acid at levels of 600 micrograms or greater per day." 
from: 

medicalnewstoday.com

FOLIC ACID PREVENTS BIRTH DEFECTS

Folic Acid Prevents A Number of Birth Defects

The importance of folic acid in women in their childbearing years has been well publicized for the prevention of neural tube defects.
 However, this article also talks about how folic acid may prevent cleft lip. Read more:

Folic acid is a B vitamin found in leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, beans, and whole grains. It can also be taken as a vitamin supplement, and it is added to flour and other fortified foods. The recommended daily dietary allowance for folate for adults is 400 micrograms or 0.4 mg. The new study was conducted in Norway, which has one of the highest rates of facial clefts in Europe and does not allow foods to be fortified with folic acid. 
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SEE ALSO: FOODS FOR FERTILITY TO GET NUTRIENTS NATURALLY (getpregnantover40.com)
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The researchers examined the association between facial clefts and mothers' intake of folic acid supplements, multivitamins, and folates in diet. The researchers found that folic acid supplementation of 400 micrograms or more per day reduced the risk of isolated cleft lip with or without cleft palate by one-third, but had no apparent effect on the risk of cleft palate alone. "Folic acid deficiency causes facial clefts in laboratory animals, so we had a good reason to focus on folic acid in our clefts study," said Wilcox. "It was one of our main hypotheses."
from
aphroditewomenshealth.com