Prevention and Treatment
When cooking, use of steaming or of a food steamer can help keep more folate content in the cooked foods, thus helping to prevent folate deficiency (see USDA reference in the steaming article).
Folate deficiency during human pregnancy has been associated with an increased risk of infant neural tube defects. Such deficiency during the first four weeks of gestation can result in structural and developmental problems. NIH guidelines recommend oral B vitamin supplements to decrease these risks near the time of conception and during the first month of pregnancy.
Read more about this topic: Folate Deficiency
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