Make calendar . Folate Ask a question about this topic Folic acid, or folate, is a B vitamin. Folate helps your baby's spinal cord and brain develop. A lack of folate in your baby's first three to six weeks may cause spinal cord defects. It is very important that you begin adding folate to your diet three months before you decide to conceive so that you have the proper amount of folate in your system to protect your baby.
Folate supplement is found in multivitamins and fortified cereals and pastas.
It is recommended that women who plan to become pregnant get plenty of natural folate from their diets and get at least 400 micrograms per day of folate from a prenatal vitamin. Pregnant women should getat least 600 micrograms per day of folate. It is highly recommended that women DO NOT exceed 1,000 micrograms a day. A new report from the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the distribution of concentrations of serum and red blood cell folate and presents the first national estimates of serum vitamin B12 for the U.S. population. These measurements of the amount of vitamins in the blood are important because of the link between inadequate folate in pregnant women and neural tube defects in newborns and a potential association of folate, B12 and other B vitamins with the risk for cardiovascular disease and certain cancers.