Is it good to take folic acid for a long time?

Folic acid is a trace element. If there is too little folic acid in the body, the fetus will not develop normally during pregnancy. Therefore, folic acid is often used as a medicine by pregnant women. In fact, the body's need for folic acid is very small, and a normal diet can provide enough folic acid. However, during pregnancy, the normal diet cannot satisfy you. So is it good to take folic acid long term? Let’s talk about it below.

Folic acid is an essential vitamin for the human body. It participates in the synthesis of purine and pyrimidine, the metabolism of nucleic acids, amino acids, proteins and phospholipids, and the entire process of human metabolism. It is an essential vitamin for synthesizing human DNA and is closely related to cell differentiation, multiplication and its function, and has a significant impact on human life. Although folic acid is widely present in almost all foods, it is unstable when exposed to light and heat and easily loses its activity. Therefore, most of the folic acid is destroyed during food processing, and the human intestine's absorption rate of folic acid is only 25% to 50%. During pregnancy, the mother's need for folic acid increases, the blood is diluted, and the plasma clearance rate increases. Therefore, it is easy to cause abnormalities in the production, conversion and metabolism of folic acid, often leading to severe folic acid deficiency in pregnant women. Coupled with morning sickness and loss of appetite in early pregnancy, folic acid deficiency is further aggravated. Therefore, the need for folic acid increases greatly throughout pregnancy.

A case-control study found that maternal free folate levels during pregnancy were negatively correlated with fetal neural tube defects. In addition, folic acid is also involved in the hematopoietic process and increases immunity. Folic acid deficiency can cause anemia and limit the rapid development of the fetus and placenta in early pregnancy, leading to miscarriage, fetal growth retardation or fetal malformations. Embryonic arrest in early miscarriage can be divided into two categories: (1) abnormal development of the entire embryo. (2) Special developmental defects: common ones are neural tube defects and limb development defects. Therefore, in order to reduce the occurrence of early embryonic arrest, married women of childbearing age are recommended to take regular folic acid supplements to increase the success rate of pregnancy and achieve the goal of healthy reproduction.

Folic acid tablets do not need to be taken for a long time, they only need to be taken after pregnancy. In fact, the vegetable leaves you eat with your meals every day contain a lot of folic acid, much more than the amount of folic acid tablets you take every day. There are few adverse reactions and allergic reactions are rare. Long-term use of the medication may cause gastrointestinal symptoms such as anorexia, nausea, and abdominal distension. When taking large amounts of folic acid, the urine may turn yellow.

Trace elements only need to be taken long-term when the body is lacking in a large amount. Otherwise, generally after taking it for a period of time, it can have a good supplement effect. Therefore, there is no need to take supplements for a long time. In addition to supplementing folic acid during pregnancy, pregnant women should also pay attention to supplementing other trace elements.