Some patients particularly the women complain to their doctor once they discover that they are also given folic acid for their anemic conditions. They tend to react, ‘Am I pregnant too?’
As silly as this sound, some people regard folic acid as an essential supplement for pregnant women only. Folic acid has been known to protect the fetus against neural tube defects which refers to birth abnormalities including the malformations of the spine (spina bifida), skull, and brain (anencephaly). On the contrary, folic acid is also an anti-anemic agent.
Background
Background
As a vitamin occurring in the leaves and foliage of spinach, the term folic acid was derived from the Latin word folium meaning leaf. It has been previously called vitamin M and vitamin B9. Since then, folic acid has been in whey, mushrooms, liver, yeast, bone marrow, soybeans and fish food. Upon cooking however, folic acid is readily destroyed. Up to 90% of the dietary folates are lost during the cooking process. The best way to acquire folic acid from food sources is to take them raw. Fresh spinach salad and uncooked animal liver are best examples. Then again, there is always the synthetic form of folic acid.
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