Whether you are pregnant, pre-pregnant, or post-pregnancy, there are a number of vitamins, minerals, and supplements that can not only help ensure the health of your baby, but can also help to ensure your own health before, throughout, and after the process. One of the best supplements for ensuring a healthy baby and healthy pregnancy is folate. This substance can be found in a number of foods naturally, but can also be found in supplemental form, something that is great to consider if you are expecting, or expecting to be expecting. In this article, we are going to outline both the benefits of folate during pregnancy, as well as what folate is, and what it does.
What is Folate?
Before we dive any deeper into the benefits of folate during pregnancy, we need to understand what folate is, and to understand what folate is, we need to understand what folic acid is.
If you attempt an internet deep dive into folate, you will quickly find that it is frequently used interchangeably with folic acid. This may leave you questioning what the difference is between folate vs folic acid. Let’s get to the basics. Folic acid is essentially just vitamin B. While there are a number of forms of vitamin B, folic acid is a very specific one. Folate is a few specific forms of vitamin B9. The primary difference between these two is that folic acid is synthetically produced. It does not occur naturally, and is used in supplements, and some fortified grains.
Folate, or vitamin B9, can occur naturally, and may be used to describe compounds such as Tetrahydrofolate, or Dihydrofolate (and anything else that ends in ‘folate’). There is almost no definitive health benefit of one over the other. Folic acid is easier to bond with foods because it can be used to fortify or enrich foods, while folate is slightly harder to bond.
Forming the Neural Tube
Throughout the early stages of pregnancy, the neural tube of the infant is developing. This development stage affects the health of the infant’s brain, spine, and nervous system. A healthy development of the neural tube can prevent various birth defects, and even spinal cord issues.
Folate plays a vastly important role in this process. The primary use of folate (and other B vitamins) in the body is to produce new cells. This can range from skin cells, to hair, and new tissue, such as in the gut and throughout the nervous system. When forming the infant in the womb, the body needs folate to produce these new cells, not only for the infant, but for you as well.
Double the Effort
As we just said, folate is a crucial element for the body to produce new cells. This is something that is constantly in motion for all of us. Our skin cells regularly recycle, and our bodies are in the constant process of rejuvenation, and regeneration. When you are pregnant, your body is not only regenerating new cells for you, it is also producing new cells for your infant. This means that enough folate for you is no longer enough. You now need enough folate for you and your forming child.
Women who are in the reproductive process need to get 400 mcg of folate or folic acid every day to maintain a healthy intake. This will ensure that their cells regenerate at a consistent rate, and help to make sure that the child does not suffer any birth defects as a result of low folate levels.
Longevity and Health
Intaking high amounts of folate during pregnancy, and while breast feeding can not only help ensure that your child does not suffer from birth defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly, but can help make sure that they experience a healthy growth process. Folate helps to grow brain and spinal tissue, meaning that your infant can have a more effective and fully grown brain and spinal system when they are born. These proper folate levels help to ensure a healthier early life for your child.
Protect Your Baby
Our last great benefit of taking folate before and during pregnancy is that it can prevent your infant from suffering from a number of issues. First and foremost, it can help prevent miscarriages, which is a vastly important thing to protect against in early pregnancy.
Folate can also help to protect against premature birth, unhealthy birth weight, cleft lips, and a number of other defects. Additionally, folate can protect you from pregnancy complications, and heart problems, all of which run the risk of affecting your baby throughout your pregnancy.
If you are looking for a supplement during your pregnancy, folate is an absolute necessity to ensure that both you and your infant remain healthy throughout and after the process.
