Folic Acid Awareness Week

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) urges every woman who could become pregnant to get 400 micrograms (400 mcg) of folic acid every day. Folic acid helps the body make healthy new cells. It is important that women get enough of it before and during a pregnancy to prevent major birth defects involving a baby's brain or spine.

More U.S. women are taking daily supplements of folic acid, a B vitamin crucial to prevent some major birth defects, but the number remains too low according to federal health officials.

Folic acid and folate are forms of the water-soluble Vitamin B₉. These occur naturally in food and can also be taken as supplements.

Read more:
CDC - Folic Acid
Office of Dietary Supplements - National Institutes of Health
The National Council on Folic Acid
Wikipedia