How much folic acid should be supplemented before pregnancy?

Although medical technology is quite advanced in modern society and many diseases can be effectively treated, there are still some deformities among the fetuses born every day, especially neural tube defects. This means that if women do not supplement folic acid during pregnancy or the period of preparing for pregnancy, the chance of fetal malformation will increase. So the question is, how much folic acid should be supplemented before pregnancy?

How much folic acid should be supplemented before pregnancy?

Generally speaking, normal adults should consume 200 mg of folic acid per day, and pregnant mothers should consume 400 mg. However, clear survey results show that the average daily folic acid intake of women of childbearing age in my country is 266 mg. After cooking, the actual amount consumed may be only 50 to 200 mg. Therefore, women of childbearing age should start taking folic acid supplements three months before pregnancy and ensure that they take 400 mg per day until the end of the early pregnancy. Because folic acid has a limited retention time in the body, its content will decrease within a day, so it must be supplemented every day to ensure the needs of the fetal brain development.

How should folic acid be supplemented

Pregnant mothers need to pay attention to changing some cooking methods to minimize the loss of folic acid. In addition, they should increase the intake of foods containing folic acid. When necessary, they should follow the doctor's advice and take appropriate folic acid tablets or folic acid preparations. But at the same time, you should be careful not to supplement too much folic acid. Excessive folic acid supplementation will cause problems for the zinc metabolism in the pregnant mother's body, and insufficient zinc supplementation will also affect the development of the fetus.

When supplementing folic acid before and during pregnancy, you also need to pay attention to many issues. You must not supplement it randomly. Supplementing too much folic acid will also be bad for the fetus. Many women want to know how much folic acid they should supplement before pregnancy. In fact, it is enough for women to supplement 400 mg per day. Everyone should not supplement excessively.