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Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant may want to avoid diets that reduce or eliminate carbohydrates, as they could increase the risk of having babies with neural tube birth defects, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Women with low carbohydrate intake are 30 percent more likely to have babies with neural tube defects, such as spina bifida-malformations of the spine and spinal cord and anencephaly-absence of major portions of the brain and skull, that can lead to lifelong disability and infant death, when compared with women who do not restrict their carbohydrate intake.
Folic acid is an essential nutrient that minimizes the risk of neural tube defects. Dietary intake of folic acid among women with restricted carbohydrate intake was less than half of other women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all women who may become pregnant take a daily multivitamin with at least 400 micrograms of folic acid every day before and during pregnancy.
However, because some pregnancies are not planned, many women do not initiate folic acid supplementation until later in pregnancy, after a neural tube defect may have occurred. This makes fortified foods an important source of folic acid for women who may become pregnant.
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