When should women start taking folic acid supplements?

Many female friends know that they need to supplement some elements before pregnancy, such as folic acid. But for many female friends, they don’t quite know the time to supplement folic acid. In order for expectant mothers who want to get pregnant to become pregnant, we need to understand the time to supplement folic acid. After knowing these, we can better ensure the health of pregnant women and fetuses.

Three nutrients that women should supplement before pregnancy

One of the nutrients that should be supplemented before pregnancy: folic acid

Folic acid is a type of B vitamin that plays an important role in cell division, growth, and the synthesis of nucleic acids, amino acids, and proteins. It is an indispensable nutrient for fetal growth and development. Before pregnancy and in early pregnancy, 0.4 mg of folic acid must be supplemented every day. This can reduce the risk of cleft lip and cleft palate in the fetus by 25% to 50%, and may also prevent 35.5% of children with congenital heart disease from being born. Therefore, attention should be paid to folic acid supplementation before pregnancy and in early pregnancy.

Especially within the first 4 weeks of pregnancy, if expectant mothers are obviously deficient in folic acid, it may cause neural tube abnormalities in the fetus and ultimately lead to serious consequences. One of the consequences is spina bifida, which leads to serious functional disorders.

Therefore, expectant mothers should often eat more vegetables, such as spinach, lettuce, asparagus, rapeseed, Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, etc.; cereal foods, such as whole wheat bread, malt, etc.; fruits, such as bananas, strawberries, orange juice, tangerines, etc., and animal liver to supplement folic acid.

The second nutrient that should be supplemented before pregnancy: iodine

Iodine is one of the trace elements necessary for the human body at all stages. Iodine supplementation during pregnancy preparation has a more significant promoting effect on the baby's brain development than iodine supplementation during pregnancy. Because iodine is the main component of human thyroid hormone. It can promote the growth and development of the body and promote the development of the brain.

Insufficient iodine intake by the mother during pregnancy can cause thyroid hormone deficiency in the fetus, affecting the baby's brain development. Therefore, women who are planning to become pregnant are advised to test their urine iodine levels in advance to determine whether their body is iodine deficient. For iodine deficiency, they should take nutritional medicine containing potassium iodate under the guidance of a doctor, consume iodized salt and regularly eat iodine-rich foods, such as seaweed, kelp, wakame, sea cucumber, shrimp, clams, razor clams, scallops, jellyfish, etc., to supplement the iodine content and improve the iodine deficiency in the body.

The third nutrient that should be supplemented before pregnancy: zinc

Zinc plays a role in transporting substances and exchanging energy during human life activities. Zinc is a component of more than 100 enzymes or activators in the human body and plays an important role in the development of the fetus, especially the fetal brain. Expectant mothers need to consume enough zinc every day to ensure the normal development of the fetus during pregnancy, which is also of great help to delivery. Therefore, women should consume more zinc-rich foods during the preparation for pregnancy and pregnancy, such as oysters, shellfish, kelp, soybeans, lentils, malt, black sesame, pumpkin seeds, lean meat, etc.

After understanding the above content, we know the time when female patients should supplement folic acid. At the same time, we also hope that women who want to get pregnant can get pregnant smoothly. Many drugs need to be detoxified and excreted through the reproductive organs, and they also have a certain impact on the activity of sperm, the maturation of eggs, and the development and growth of fertilized eggs. For example, "antibiotic teeth" are now more common in children, manifested as tooth deformities and deglaze, mostly because their parents often take tetracycline and other preparations before or during pregnancy.