Each year, about 150,000 babies in the United States and about 185 babies in South Dakota are born with a birth defect. Nearly 2,500 of these babies nationwide are born with serious birth defects of the brain and spine called neural tube defects (NTDs). Folic acid, a B vitamin, can reduce a woman's risk of having a child born with NTDs by up to 50 percent if taken BEFORE she becomes pregnant. Folic acid can be found in most multi-vitamin supplements and in certain foods, such as fortified breakfast cereals. In addition to preventing certain birth defects, folic acid may also decrease a woman's risk of developing heart diseases, stroke, colon cancer and precancerous legions of the cervix. It is imperative that women in their child-bearing years eat foods high in folic acid and take multi-vitamins containing adequate amounts of the vitamin.

The U.S. Public Health Service recommends that all women of childbearing age (15-44 years old) consume 400 micrograms (0.4 milligrams) of folic acid each day. Folic acid is crucial for a woman and her baby at least one month before the woman becomes pregnant and through the first month of her pregnancy, a time period when most women do not know yet that they are pregnant. Since half of the pregnancies in the United States are unplanned, all women of childbearing age should take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily.

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Other Resources on Folic Acid

• CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities