We aren’t the only organization who believes in the importance of folic acid.
March of Dimes, a national non-profit focused on the fight to prevent premature birth, has invested in research into the vital role that the B vitamin plays in a healthy pregnancy.
We support the mission of the March of Dimes. For 80 years, the organization has led the fight for the health of mothers and their babies and helped millions of babies survive and thrive.
Along with investing in folic acid research, the March of Dimes has been one of the leading organizations pushing to have the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fortify corn masa flour with folic acid. That’s because Hispanic women continue to be about 20 percent more likely to have a child with an NTD than non-Hispanic white women. One cause may be that wheat flour is fortified with folic acid, but corn masa flour, which is more popular among Hispanic women, is not. Since the USDA began fortifying grain foods in 1998, the number of cases of babies born with an NTD has declined by 35 percent, according to the CDC.
For those who don’t know; Neural tube defects (NTDs) affect about 3,000 pregnancies each year in the U.S. If all women take 400 micrograms (also called mcg) of folic acid every day before getting pregnant and during the early stages of pregnancy, it’s believed that as many as 70% of NTDs in the U.S. could be prevented.
Learn more about folic acid here on our site, or by visiting the March of Dimes website.
You can help support the March of Dimes’ mission this month right here in Arkansas. The March of Dimes’ Central Arkansas March for Moms & Babies will be on Saturday, April 14th at the First Security Amphitheater in Little Rock. Join or donate to this great event by visiting the event’s website.
