HHS HealthBeat (February 27, 2009)

The 3,000

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From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

About 3,000 U.S. pregnancies every year are affected by neural tube defects, which damage development of a baby’s brain and spine. But women can largely prevent neural tube defects by taking 400 micrograms a day of the vitamin folic acid.

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health education specialist Alina Flores:

[Alina Flores speaks] ``We do know that getting enough folic acid daily before and during the first few stages of pregnancy are critical to helping prevent a woman’s risk of having a pregnancy affected by a neural tube defect.’’

Because about half of U.S. pregnancies are not planned, enough folic acid is important if there’s a possibility of pregnancy.

Women can get folic acid through a vitamin supplement or fortified foods such as breads and cereals.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: March, 03 2009