Why Take Prenatal Vitamins?
– Many experts recommend taking prenatal vitamins even before you are pregnant. Why would you do this? When you are pregnant, you and your baby need the right level of nutrients, and it can be hard to get this through your regular diet. Folic acid, for instance, helps reduce the risk of neural tube defects by up to 70 percent; folic acid is in wheat breads and pastas, lentils, dried beans, spinach, collard greens, okra, and sunflower seeds, among others. If you are trying to become pregnant, you should be getting 400 micrograms (mcg) a day, and if you are pregnant, that increases to 600 mcg. Making it more difficult to get your daily requirement from food is the fact that real folic acid is harder for the body to absorb. This is one case where synthetics will actually be more effective. Many women also don’t get enough of other essential nutrients, like iron. Pregnancy vitamins are, as BabyCenter.com says, an insurance policy to ensure you’re getting the proper nutrients. Choosing the
