Thank you for your comment…

This is not necessarily true with all supplements, but it is true for folic acid. We absorb only about 50% of folate from foods, whereas the bioavailability for the synthetic form, folic acid is much higher. Because most prenatals and multivitamins contain folic acid as well and fortified breads and cereals, you should practice caution in actually getting too much in your diet. Studies are showing that because folate is involved in cell division and DNA synthesis, it may increase growth of unhealthy cells as well such as tumor cells or simply alter genetic expression if things such as hair color. It is likely prudent to avoid consuming over 1000ug/day. If you take a supplement, you may want to regulate the amount of foods you eat that are fortified with folic acid.

Recommendations for pregnant women are to take a supplement with 400ug folic acid and obtain the remaining 200ug from your diet. Supplements are great safeguards, especially for vegetarians like yourself, but I firmly believe that foods, especially organic foods, are nature’s best package for vitamins and minerals. We have yet to discover the wide array of phytonutrients that whole foods offer, and by singling out certain nutrients that we do know about into supplements, we may be missing out on others.

Thank you again and feel free to let me know if you have any further questions or comments!

Christina Schmidt, M.S., N.E.
President, Baby Bistro Brands
http://www.babybistrobrands.com

I mean, I’m a big fan of supplements (going so far as buying them at times for gift baskets for friends), but I didn’t realize how important they are, and that supplements were the best method. There was a good article I also saw that makes a good case for how much we as women need these types of supplements.

As a vegetarian myself, I guess this is doubly important!