Important Reasons You Need to Supplement Your Diet With Folic Acid Vitamins

The typical American diet often falls far short in providing the required amount of folic acid that our bodies need. It is especially important during pregnancy to prevent birth defects. It is wise that all women of child bearing age get enough of this B vitamin because approximately half of all pregnancies are unplanned.
We get this substance in our diet from leafy vegetables, nuts and oranges or orange juice. But when we cook vegetables it reduces the folate content, in some cases the cooking water contains more of the vitamin than the cooked vegetable.
Your body stores from three to six month's worth of folate. A deficiency of this vitamin may cause anemia. Drinking alcohol and taking oral contraceptives can cause lower levels of this vitamin in your body. Some liver diseases can cause a folate deficiency by increasing the folic acid in the urine. A vitamin B12 deficiency also causes a folate deficiency.
Folic acid has been widely advocated as a therapy which may reduce cardiovascular risk,. Folic acid, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6 deficiencies and reduced enzyme activities inhibit the breakdown of homocysteine (high levels of homocysteine play an important role in heart disease). Therefore supplementing with these B vitamins may reduce ones chance of having a heart attack.
Be careful not to take megadoses (5 to 15mg) it could cause kidney toxicity leading to kidney failure. Folate excess can inflame the central nervous system resulting in muscle spasms, depression, irritability and insomnia.
The easiest way to make sure you are getting enough folate and B vitamins in your diet is to supplement with a good multi vitamin. Make sure the vitamin you supplement with uses natural not synthetic nutrients. The synthetic versions of vitamins are "similar" to those found in nature, but they are not "identical" and they do not provide the same health benefits.