Folic acid

[Madelinelowery]

Hi ladies,

So just a general question, why do we have to take 5mg of folic acid? Is it to do with the sugars in our blood?
I'm just curious

Maddie x

 

[catapillar]

All ladies trying to conceive or in early pregnancy are advised to take folic acid, diabetics are advised to take a higher dose. Folic acid is taken to avoid neural tube defects - birth defects in the brain, spine and spinal cord, things like spina bifida. Diabetic ladies are statisically more likely to have pregnancies that result in babies with these birth defects. Those statistics are most likely due to higher blood sugars at conception / in the first few weeks.

The high dose folic acid is just a prophylaxis, it assists with red blood cell and neural tube formation in the foetus.