Folic Acid (prenatal and pregnancy)
Folic acid (folate) is a B vitamin that is important for good health.
- Folate is the form of the vitamin found naturally in foods.
- Folic acid is the synthetic form of folate found in multivitamin and mineral supplements and fortified foods like ready-to-eat cereals.
You can get folic acid from a variety of foods like:dark green vegetables like peas, spinach, broccoli, and Brussels sproutscornorangesdried peas, beans and lentilspeanuts and other nuts and seedsfoods with folic acid added such as:flourready-to eat cerealsenriched bread, pasta and cornmeal
Folic acid helps build blood and tissues for you and your baby when you are pregnant. Early in your pregnancy, folic acid helps your baby’s spine, brain and spinal cord develop properly. A neural tube defect is a birth defect that happens when a baby’s brain, spine or spinal cord does not develop properly. You can help prevent your baby from developing neural tube defects like spina bifida by getting enough folic acid.
Folic acid is important for your baby’s development in the first few weeks of pregnancy. This is before a lot of people know they are pregnant. That’s why Health Canada recommends that anyone who could get pregnant take a multivitamin and mineral supplement with 0.4 mg of folic acid every day. At the very least, start taking it three months before you try to get pregnant.
When you are pregnant, it is hard to get enough folic acid from food alone. To get enough folic acid:eat a variety of vegetables and fruits, protein foods and whole grain foods, and,take a multivitamin and mineral supplement that has 0.4 mg of folic acid every day.For more information about nutrition during pregnancy, check out Canada’s Food Guide.Some people may need more than 0.4 mg of folic acid daily, such as people:who had a previous pregnancy affected with a neural tube defectwho have a family history of neural tube defectwith health conditions such as:diabetes (type 1 or 2)celiac diseaseliver diseaseinflammatory bowel diseasewho are on kidney dialysiswho had gastric bypass surgerywith alcohol overusewho are taking antiepileptic medications or other drugs that affect folateTalk to your health-care provider to see if you need a higher amount of folic acid. You should not take more than 1 mg of folic acid per day unless your doctor tells you to.
Yes! Health Canada recommends that anyone who could get pregnant take a multivitamin and mineral supplement with 0.4 mg of folic acid every day. This includes people who are breastfeeding.
Even with birth control, pregnancies can happen. If you are having sex and could become pregnant, take a multivitamin and mineral supplement that has 0.4 mg of folic acid in it every day. This can help prevent birth defects if you have an unplanned pregnancy.
Read the label on your multivitamin and mineral supplement to find out how much you should take. Taking more than the daily dose can be harmful. Talk to a pharmacist if you have questions.