The Importance of Folic Acid to Prepare for Pregnancy

What is Folic Acid?

Folic acid is a type of vitamin B which can dissolve in water. Folic acid is needed for the formation of hemoglobin in red blood cells. Folic acid deficiency can interfere with the maturation of red blood cells.

Folic acid is found in dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale, collards, sweet leaves, beans and broccoli, oranges, nuts, soybeans, asparagus, cauliflower, cabbage, liver and meat.

According to dr. Judi Junaedi Endjun, SpOG, Head of High Risk Perinatal Unit, Gatot Subroto Army Hospital, "Folic acid helps the formation of the baby's brain and is important in helping cell division. Folic acid can prevent anemia, and lowers the risk of defects of the brain or spinal cord (neural tube defects) ".

Complete the Need for Folic Acid 

When a woman is aware of her pregnancy, the pregnancy is four weeks old. In fact, fetal neural tube defects (NTD) may develop during 2-4 weeks of pregnancy. So, ideally the need for adequate folic acid is completed before getting pregnant.

Generally, pregnant women’s need for folic acid is 400-600 micrograms (0.4 to 0.6 mg) per day. This prevents up to 70% risk of NTD. Thus, a woman should complete the need for folic acid before getting pregnant. Even if the pregnant women have been entering the pregnancy period, the adequate amount of folic acid inside the body may subsidize the process of formation of the fetal brain neural tube.

There are several important benefits of folic acid, such as:

Support the formation of normal red blood cells in the expectant mother.

Conduct the production process of DNA in the fetus in order to have optimal growth and support the formation of the brain and nervous system of the baby.

Reduce the risk of preeclampsia, which is high blood pressure that can affect the health of mother and baby.

Consuming sufficient amount of folic acid is very beneficial for expectant mothers. If the mothers are not fond of vegetables, they can consume PRENAGEN esensis for pregnancy preparation