Folate for Pregnant Women
Folate, which derives its name from the Latin word folium (which means leaf), is an essential Vitamin B that is water soluble. This nutrient is found in food naturally especially in green leafy vegetables, legumes, yeast, liver, citrus fruits, and wholemeal bread. The synthetic form of folate is called folic acid, which is found in dietary supplements and used in fortified foods and beverages. Folate is an important nutrient that helps the body in producing and maintaining new cells. It is also necessary for making DNA and RNA, which are the building blocks of cells. The nutrient is also useful in preventing any alteration in the DNA that may result in cancer.
One of the main functions of folate is creating normal red blood cells and preventing anemia. Because of its ability to create new cells, the nutrient becomes crucial during phases of rapid cell division like pregnancy and infancy. It is because of these two properties that folate is especially important for pregnant women. Because of the increase in the volume of blood flowing in a pregnant woman’s body, she needs twice the amount of hemoglobin that is required by a woman who is not pregnant. Also, the baby uses the mother’s red blood cells for its growth so the mother’s body has to produce more cells for herself and the baby. Both these issues cause anemia in the pregnant woman leading to a lack of oxygen flow to the fetus. Folate helps in preventing anemia in pregnant women. Even if a woman is not pregnant, she needs her daily dose of folate to prevent birth defects in her baby when she does get pregnant. One of the birth defects that folate deficiency causes is neural tube defect (NTD) a condition in which the brain, the spinal cord and other surrounding organs are not developed well.
The doctor would prescribe multivitamin tablets to a woman to provide the necessary amount of folate to her. There are many natural foods that she can also consume to get the nutrient. Green leafy vegetables like lettuce, spinach, turnip greens, collard greens, mustard greens, broccoli, asparagus, artichokes, corn, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, corn, beetroot, potato are amongst the richest sources of folate. The juices of orange, tomato, pineapple and tomato are rich in folate. Beans, peas, and lentils, soymilk, sunflower seeds, peanuts and peanut butter can also be consumed regularly to get folate. Breakfast cereals, flours, pasta, white rice and breads are also good sources of folate.
