Folic Acid Awareness Week: how to get enough folic acid

It's Folic Acid Awareness Week January 7-13 so today we're looking at some information about this important vitamin. According to the CDC the most simple way to get enough folic acid is for a woman to "take a vitamin that has folic acid in it every day." In the U.S almost all multivitamins, vitamins formulated for women, and plain old folic acid pills contain 100% of the daily value (DV) of folic acid. Ways to get your folic acid:

• Take the multivitamin or folic acid supplement daily.
• Eat a bowl of cereal every morning (or night) that has been enriched with 100% of the daily value of folic acid. Not all cereals have this much though. You really need to check the box label. Look to the side at this label. If it says "Folic Acid 400 mcg" you're good to go.
• You can also eat a healthy diet overall. BUT even a very healthy diet won't have enough folic acid. That's why you need the cereal and or multivitamin too.

If you think you can't afford folic acid, think again. Store-brand multivitamins are perfectly good, contain 400 mcg of folic acid, and cost very little per pill. The cost of having a baby born with birth defects will outweigh what vitamins cost.