Folic acid is one of the first dietary supplements every pregnant woman should take. Its benefits are not limited to the healthy development of the fetus.
The main symptoms of folic acid deficiency are most often: lack of appetite; easy fatigue; memory loss and other cognitive problems; severe headaches; numbness of the limbs; bleeding gums; constipation; diarrhea; pale and flabby skin, writes Rador. Folic acid cannot be obtained naturally, but through a proper diet, folate can be produced, which practically has exactly the same function as folic acid.
Green leafy vegetables are rich in folate – spinach, stevia, kale, beetroot leaves.
Raw nuts contain a significant amount of folate. Their benefits are not limited to folate, they also contain vitamins, healthy fats and antioxidants.
Broccoli – 100 g of broccoli contain about 16% of the daily requirement of folic acid, but also other vitamins.
Lentils – an excellent source of folate. Up to 90% of the daily dose of vitamin B9 is contained in one cup of lentils.
Cauliflower – in addition to being an excellent substitute for carbohydrates, cauliflower provides 14% of the daily amount of vitamins.
Folic acid in pregnancy, controversial effect
Recommended before conception and then during the first trimester of pregnancy, folic acid helps prevent neural tube defects and other birth defects. In some cases it is also prescribed to reduce the risk of high blood pressure in pregnancy, a complication called preeclampsia. But a recent study shows that this vitamin from the B complex has no effect in preventing preeclampsia, writes dcmedical.ro.
Folic acid, also known as vitamin B9, is particularly important for the normal development of babies, and taking it even before you get pregnant is even more important than during the first months of pregnancy. There are specialists who say that folic acid is mandatory before pregnancy and in the first trimester. Others, however, draw attention to the doses administered.
To assess the impact of taking high doses of folic acid in the first weeks of pregnancy, Canadian researchers from the University of Ottawa monitored 2,301 pregnant women between weeks 8 and 16 of pregnancy. “Each had at least one risk factor for preeclampsia,” said study leader Prof. Lucy Chappell.
