Pregnant? Take Your Vitamins!

Filed in archive Pregnancy on February 23, 2007

When you are pregnant and visit your doctor, it's not unusual for him to prescribe vitamins. If he doesn't, then expectant mothers should start taking a good multi-vitamin on their own. They're not only good for Mom, but recent studies reveal that they're also good for baby.

An article from Globe and Mail Health tells us:

Women who take a daily multivitamin before and during pregnancy sharply reduce the likelihood that their children will develop leukemia, brain tumours and other forms of childhood cancer, according to new Canadian research.

The startling finding that a cheap supplement purchased at the drug store can prevent cancer as well as a range of birth defects adds weight to the theory that micronutrients have lifelong health benefits for the developing fetus. It also bolsters the case for having all women of childbearing age take multivitamins, particularly those rich in folic acid.

The Baby Blog has this to say about that all important folic acid:

Folic acid is an important vitamin for any woman who could possibly become pregnant. Folic acid is a B vitamin that helps prevent serious birth defects of a baby's brain or spine (called neural tube defects) and other birth defects like cleft lip and congenital heart disease. Folic acid is needed very early in pregnancy, usually before a woman knows she is pregnant. That is why it's so important that every woman who could possibly become pregnant gets enough folic acid every single day, starting at least one month before pregnancy.