Search Here

All the women out there planning for a baby, here is a useful piece of information.

Doctors recommend, women should start taking folic acid three months before they conceive the baby to prevent birth defects such as spina bifida.

Majority at the British Medical Association's annual conference insist that the UK governments should legislate to require folic acid to be added in 'flour and flour-based products.'

Most of the women do not start taking folic acid prior to conception since more than half of pregnancies in the UK are unplanned, consultant David Pring told the meeting, according to Mail Online.

Spina bifida causes a baby's backbone to form incorrectly, often leading to lower-body paralysis.

"Fifty per cent of pregnancies are unplanned, that is 300,000 women a year. That is a lot of women, a lot of pregnancies. If we don't believe in the prophylaxis (preventative medicine) we should be campaigning for the removal of vitamin D from margarine," Dr Pring said.

Pring insisted upon adopting a policy that was in line with Food Standards Agency recommendations and the scientific advisory committee on nutrition.

However, Consultant Protap Gupta from Lincolnshire disagreed with Pring and said that "What is beneficial for one target group may not be good for the whole population."

There have been researches before which have pointed out that folic acid, a synthetic form of vitamin B found in leafy vegetables, is not easily breakable by the human body.

A study published by the Institute of Food Research in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2007 found that folic acid not broken down in the stomach like other food we take. It is broken down in the lever and according to scientists, an excess of it in the liver might end up releasing it undigested into the blood.

Increased amount of undigested folic acid in the blood could consequently lead to bowel and breast cancer, and also fasten up brain decline in elderly.

Recommended quantity of folic acid for adults is 0.2mg per day. Pregnant women need to take double that amount from the time they stop contraception up will the 12th week of pregnancy.

So far, no government has acted on medical recommendations to fortify flour, the report said.