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Be good to your Baby before you know you're pregnant...
Take Folic Acid
 If you are a woman of childbearing age, there are steps that you can take before conception to improve your chances of having a healthy baby. These include: getting a pre-pregnancy health check-up; adopting a healthy lifestyle; and most importantly, taking the B vitamin folic acid everyday.
Many crucial stages in a baby's development occur before you may realize that you are pregnant. Taking these early preventative steps can minimize harm to the baby from certain infections, illnesses, nutritional deficiencies, and environmental hazards [1]. As a mom-to-be, there is no doubt all that you want is a healthy baby. You make environmental changes so as to decrease any chances of causing a birth defect in your developing baby, such as cessation of alcohol consumption, smoking, taking drugs (recreational or over-the-counter), and eating foods that contain harmful pollutants (i.e. shellfish, undercooked meats, unpasturized milk and juices) [1]. Nonetheless, there are genetic factors that cause birth defects to which you have absolutely no control over such as anomalies in chromosome structure or sequences. However, there is a group of birth defects that you do have control over that you can prevent. These are the neural tube defects (NTD's).
The neural tube is the embryonic structure that develops into the brain and spinal cord. If the neural tube does not close properly during the 4th week after conception, birth defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly may result. About 2,5oo babies are born each year in this country with these birth defects with spina bifida being the most common severe birth defect that affects one in every 2,000 live births [1]. Spina bifida and other NTD's occur more frequently among Hispanics and whites of European decent and, less commonly, among Ashkenazi Jews, most Asian ethnic groups and African-Americans.
So, what can you do? Studies show that if all women in the United States took enough of the B vitamin folic acid every day before and during early pregnancy, up to 70% of neural tube defects (including spina bifida) could be prevented [1]. The key is having enough folic acid in your system before pregnancy occurs.
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