Do I need to take folic acid when I'm pregnant?

Folic acid is a substance that can improve the quality of eggs and improve women's physical fitness. Generally speaking, whether in the preparation period for pregnancy or during pregnancy, taking folic acid in moderation according to one's physical condition will have certain benefits. Of course, this does not mean that everyone needs to take folic acid. As long as your physical condition is normal, you can conceive and become pregnant normally without taking folic acid. In addition, pregnant women who take folic acid also have many things to pay attention to.

1. Do pregnant women have to take folic acid tablets?

Medical research shows that 0.4 mg of folic acid can help prevent fetal neural tube defects. Folic acid is generally taken from the time of preparing for pregnancy to the breastfeeding period. The amount of folic acid that needs to be supplemented daily during the preparation for pregnancy and the first three months of pregnancy is 0.4 mg to prevent fetal neural tube defects. Many people's pregnancies are unexpected, but there are also planned pregnancies. Therefore, not taking folic acid in the first two months is not a big deal, because there is a certain amount of folic acid in the fruits we eat in our daily life. As long as the nutrition keeps up, there will not be too many problems. When you are three months pregnant, it is recommended to take 0.4 mg of folic acid multivitamin. While supplementing folic acid, you can also supplement multiple vitamins and minerals to meet the nutritional needs of fetal development. Therefore, pregnant women must take folic acid tablets.

2. What are the precautions when supplementing folic acid?

1. Folic acid is afraid of light, so store fruits and vegetables away from light.

Although many foods are rich in folic acid, folic acid is unstable when exposed to light and easily loses its activity. Therefore, fruits and vegetables should be stored away from light. Otherwise, the folic acid will be lost and it will be difficult for pregnant women to get enough folic acid from their diet.

After vegetables are stored for 2-3 days, the folic acid content will be lost by 50%-70%; vegetables soaked in salt water will also lose a lot of folic acid. Therefore, buy fresh fruits and vegetables as much as possible, and it is best to eat them within the same day and not leave them overnight; if storing, try to keep them in a dark place.

2. Folic acid is afraid of heat. Vegetables are best eaten with sauce.

Folic acid is easily lost when exposed to heat. Cooking methods such as making soup will cause the loss of 50%-95% of folic acid in food; high-temperature cooking or microwave cooking can also destroy the effective components of folic acid. Therefore, in order to reduce the destruction of folic acid in vegetables, pregnant women are best to eat vegetables cold or with sauce.

Appropriate folic acid supplementation during pregnancy can effectively prevent fetal malformations and reduce the malformation rate. Therefore, folic acid is a very important substance. However, some mothers with a balanced diet are not deficient in folic acid, so folic acid supplementation is a bit redundant. The specific situation still needs to be decided based on the pregnant mother's own situation and the doctor's examination results.