Prenatal Development

Prenatal Development
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Folate, also referred to as Vitamin B9 is an important nutrient that essentially contributes to DNA replication. It also serves as a substrate for a variety of enzymatic activities which are involved in vitamin metabolism and amino acids synthesis. (Rasmussen & Clemmensen, 2010). The demands for folate in the body system tend to increase during the pregnancy period. It is vital in the growth and development of the fetus. The shortage or lack of folate in pregnant mothers is associated with abnormalities in both the fetus (genetic defects) and mothers (peripheral Neurotherapy and anemia) (Scholl & Johnson, 2000).
The term folate is basically used as a generic term for the group of chemically related elements that are constructed on the structure of folic acid. Vitamin B9 is among the thirteen most essential elements. It cannot be synthesized anew by the body system and therefore it can only be obtained either from supplementation or from a diet (Greenberg et. al, 2011). Folic acid is an artificial dietetic supplement present in pharmaceutical vitamins and synthetically enriched foods (Wilson et. al, 2007). Neither folic acid nor folate is metabolically active and thus they must be converted to their reduced forms to contribute to cellular metabolism.
Nutritional supplementation using folate during the period of conception has for long been identified to play a significant role in reducing the risk of NTDS in the fetus.

This article analyses the metabolism of folic acid, the proper use of folic acid supplementations during pregnancy. It details in depth the potential benefits of folic acid such as the supplementation of L-methlyfolate which contributes significantly in preventing complications that are related to pregnancy apart from defects of the neural tube. Folic acid supplementation has other beneficial impacts such as preventing congenital heart disease and oral clefts as well as preterm delivery (Hernandez-Diaz et. Al, 2005).References
Greenberg, J. A., Bell, S. J., Guan, Y., & Yu, Y. H. (2011). Folic acid supplementation and pregnancy: more than just neural tube defect prevention. Reviews in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 4(2), 52.
Hernandez-Diaz, S., Werler, M. M., Louik, C., & Mitchell, A. A. (2005). Trends and predictors of folic acid awareness and periconceptional use in pregnant women. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology, 192(1), 121-128.
Rasmussen, M. M., & Clemmensen, D. (2010). Folic acid supplementation in pregnant women. Danish medical bulletin, 57(1), A4134-A4134.
Scholl, T. O., & Johnson, W. G. (2000). Folic acid: influence on the outcome of pregnancy–. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 71(5), 1295S-1303S.
Wilson, R. D., Désilets, V., Wyatt, P., Langlois, S., Gagnon, A., Allen, V., … & Koren, G. (2007). Pre-conceptional vitamin/folic acid supplementation 2007: the use of folic acid in combination with a multivitamin supplement for the prevention of neural tube defects and other congenital anomalies. Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology Canada, 29(12), 1003-1013.