Contemplating Pregnancy?

The Surprising Value Of A Daily Multivitamin

Are you one of the 60 million women of childbearing age in the United States? Did you know that 50% of all pregnancies are unplanned? Or that a microscopic amount of a particular B vitamin taken daily can make all the difference between a healthy baby and tragedy? Here’s why you can’t go wrong with a daily multivitamin.

The first four weeks of pregnancy – before most women know they are pregnant – are critical to your unborn child’s development. Two terrible birth defects, spina bifida and anencephaly, can develop during this period. Yet the fact is that a simple multivitamin taken daily decreases by at least 70% the chances of these conditions developing in your baby.

"A U.S. Department of Agriculture study found  that the average American’s diet is nutritionally inadequate, and the diet of most adult females lacks sufficient amounts of at least five essential nutrients."

Folic acid is the key, a B vitamin found in all daily multivitamins found in your pharmacy or grocery store. "Folic acid is easy to add to your diet, either through multivitamin tablets or fortified breakfast cereal. Most important is that women realize that prevention of these terrible birth defects should begin before the baby is conceived," says Dr. Judith Hartner, Director of the Lee County Health Department in Florida.

Neural tube defects, as these conditions are known, affect over 4000 babies yearly, reports the Alabama Department of Health. Spina bifida results in an improperly developed spinal cord and back bones. According to the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, paralysis of an infant’s legs, loss of bowel and bladder control, water on the brain and learning disabilities are among the disabilities associated with the condition. Anencephaly occurs when the brain either never completely develops or is totally absent. These pregnancies often end in miscarriages, and infants born alive die very soon after birth. But again, the vast majority of these occurrences are unnecessary, for want of a simple vitamin, easily obtainable through an across-the-counter vitamin supplement.

"Most important is that women realize that prevention of these terrible birth defects should begin before the baby is conceived."

Why not through diet alone? Sadly, government statistics show that most of us don’t eat well. A 1994 U.S. Department of Agriculture study found that the average American’s diet is nutritionally inadequate, and the diet of most adult females lacks sufficient amounts of at least five essential nutrients. Since the first weeks of life are so critical, the March of Dimes recommends that all women who are or may become pregnant take steps to ensure that they receive enough folic acid. This important B-vitamin can be consumed in any of three ways:

• Most multivitamins contain 400 micrograms (0.4 mg) of folic acid. Vitamin supplements can be purchased at grocery, pharmacy and discount stores.
• Breakfast cereals fortified with 100% of the daily value of folic acid per serving, such as Total, Product 19, Cheerios Plus and Smart Start, among others.
• Foods fortified with folic acid (all enriched cereal products such as enriched pasta, rice, bread and cereal), in addition to a healthy diet. Foods rich in folate include green leafy vegetables, orange juice from concentrate, fortified cereals, liver and other foods.

Folic acid is safe, with no known toxic level. And since two-thirds of American women don’t consume adequate amounts of this valuable nutrient, add a multivitamin to your regimen today – for yourself and your baby.