FOLIC ACID DEFICIENCY ANEMIA
Folic acid deficiency anemia is the most common type of megaloblastic anemia (in which red blood cells are bigger than normal).
It is caused by a deficiency of folic acid, a vitamin that the body needs to produce normal cells.
Folic acid anemia is especially common in infants and teenagers. Although this condition usually results from a dietary deficiency, it is sometimes due to inability to absorb enough folic acid from such foods as:
- cheese
- eggs
- fish
- green vegetables
- meat
- milk
- mushrooms
- yeastFolic asid food sources
Folic acid isn’t found in that many animal foods. The only good animal sources are chicken liver and beef liver; there’s hardly any in milk and other dairy foods.
Beans of all kinds are a great way to get your folic acid. Other good plant sources are spinach and asparagus.
On the whole, most fruits don’t contain much folic acid. The best choices are bananas, oranges, and cantaloupe. very good natural food sources of folic acid is cereals and bread.
Folic acid works closely with the other B vitamins, especially pyridoxine, cobalamin, and choline. If you’re low on any of the B’s, you’re probably low on folic acid as well—and vice versa. You may need to take a complete B supplement.
Smoking raises the risk of developing this condition by interfering with the absorption of Vitamin C, which the body needs to absorb folic acid. Folic acid anemia can be a complication of pregnancy, when a woman’s body needs eight times more folic acid than it does otherwise.
******
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=44b9d60d-118f-4024-a2b7-56020a3d41e0)
