Folic acid

• Folic acid helps prevent certain birth defects.
• Folic acid works if taken before and during early pregnancy.
• Take a daily multivitamin with 400 micrograms of folic acid.

Folic acid is a B vitamin that helps a baby’s neural tube to grow healthy during pregnancy. The neural tube will become a baby’s brain and spinal cord. But if the neural tube doesn’t close the way it should, it can cause a very serious birth defect called a neural tube defect (NTD).

The good news is that folic acid can help prevent neural tube defects. But it only works if taken before getting pregnant and during the first few weeks of pregnancy, often before you even know you’re pregnant. Since nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, it's important that all women (even if they're not trying to get pregnant) get the right amount of folic acid.

The best way to get enough folic acid is to take a multivitamin with 400 micrograms of folic acid before pregnancy and eat healthy foods. Most multivitamins have this amount, but check the label to be sure. You also can get folate (the natural form of folic acid) in some foods, but it’s hard to get the amount of folate or folic acid you need from food alone. Once you’re pregnant, switch to a prenatal vitamin with at least 600 micrograms of folic acid.

Most healthy women shouldn’t get more than 1,000 micrograms of folic acid per day. However, if you’re at risk of having a baby with a birth defect, your health care provider may want you to take more folic acid.