Folic Acid is a vitamin B complex that is necessary for women at all stages of life. More specifically, it is extremely important that women who are pregnant or wanting to become pregnant make this an essential vitamin in their every day intake. The intake of folic acid is said to help decrease the possibility of neural tube defects that can arise when parts of the neural tube fail to close causing malformation. This can lead to conditions such as cerebral palsy and mental retardation. It is important that a woman who is at a "fertile" age consume enough folic acid because neural tubes defects can occur before the mother even knows she is pregnant.
The article that I found is talking about increasing the supplementation of folic acid in pregnant women to 400 mug because the prevalence of neural tube defects in infants is still rising. By increasing this supplementation recommendation, the US for Disease Control and Prevention believes that it will decrease the number of neural tube defects by about half. The FDA argues that this increase in folic acid can mask the symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency, leading to great problems in the mother and possibly the fetus. The US for Disease Control and Prevention believes that although this is a risk, it is exaggerated and can be treated if these nutritional deficiencies cause concern.
I am drawn to this article because I am extremely interested in prenatal care and the care of pregnant women and feel that increasing the supplementation of folic acid is extremely important. Although they say that many foods such as breakfast cereals and breads are fortified, it leaves gaps for those women that do not obtain that sort of diet.
Do you think that the CDC is correct in believing that increasing supplementation to 400 mug will decrease the prevalence of neural tube defects?
Do you think that the concern for a vitamin B12 deficiency is exaggerated? Or should it be considered?
Let me know what you think!
Here is the link where I found the article!:
Fighting about Folate
Another very interesting article, but I don't see what the FDA is trying to argue against. If adding additional vitamin B9 "masks" the symptoms of B12 deficiency, then why not just supplement with B12 also. If you know you are taking enough B12 then you don't need to worry about a deficiency. Also, B vitamins are water soluble so they are easily washed out of our system making it easy to take high dosages of them. Because of this, I would suggest just taking a B-complex vitamin to fill in any missing gaps in your diet. Especially when the benefits of taking additional B9 are so great.
ReplyDeleteGreat conversation you two.
ReplyDeleteTaylor,
I like that you leave off with questions for the reader. I also like that you directly address the article you are referring to and state why you like it.
From what I understand, Vitamin B12 def. is very common among women- what causes this? what are we lacking in our diet that makes this an issue?