October 27, 2009
Pregnancy and folic acid (1)
While women are pregnant, good nutrition and an increase in caloric intake is needed. In many cases pregnant women lack folic acid. In 2000, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Japan reported that it is desirable for women at childbearing age to take 400µg of folic acid per day through food and supplement ingestion because several studies in various countries have provided evidence that folic acid decreases the risk of neural tube defect (NTD). NTD is a disease that encumbers the baby’s development of the brain and spinal cord. According to previous data, NTD occurs 6 out of 10,000 births. In Western countries, the rate of NTD was originally higher than that of Japan. By promoting people to take folic acid through broadly sold cereals and bread which includes the vitamin has helped. On the other hand, in Japan most people do not understand the necessity of folic acid and 90% of pregnant women lack folic acid in their diet the rate of NTD is still rising.
