Dr. Godfrey Oakley of Emory University delivered strong statements about the importance of folic acid during a seminar at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Taking folic acid may also reduce your chance of death from heart attack, stroke, or colon cancer.
Folic acid is one of the B vitamins.
It is essential for making the DNA the body needs for cells to divide and multiply. If there is not enough folic acid, an unborn baby may develop a birth defect called spina bifida where the backbones do not close properly. When that happens, the result is like the injury that occurs when the spinal cord is damaged during a car wreck. Much surgery is required and many children born with the birth defect must spend their lives in a wheel chair. Anencephaly can also occur.