Fruit During Pregnancy: Folic Acid

Aug 12, 2011

Welcoming a new life into the world is quite a challenging task that begins long before birth. Nourishing your growing baby during pregnancy is the perfect opportunity to start exercising healthy eating habits. Fruit is essential for providing the proper vitamins and minerals to women who are either pregnant or nursing. Folic acid is one spotlight vitamin that is overwhelmingly crucial to the development of a healthy and strong baby:

Fruit and belly

Folic acid is fundamental to the development of a healthy baby, aiding in the prevention of serious birth defects originating in the brain and spine.  Researchers have found that the more common birth defects occur during the first 28 days of pregnancy, a period before most women even discover they are pregnant.  Thus, the CDC recommends that women of child-bearing age consume 0.4 milligrams of folic acid every day before even conceiving and continuing for at least 3 months after conception.  Although not quite a household name, folic acid is actually more common than you think!  Fruits such as strawberries, dates, peaches, apricots, and raisins are all rich with folic acid.  For those of us women who boast healthy eating habits abundant with fruits, it seems we can enjoy important prenatal vitamins without even making drastic changes to our diets!

Source: http://www.pregnancytoday.com/articles/pregnancy-nutrition-and-recipes/fabulous-fruit-873/



By Melissa Tamargo
Author - Operations Coordinator