Folic acid is a water-soluble B vitamin that is essential for normal life activities and plays an important role in human anabolism. Deficiency of folic acid can have various adverse effects on pregnant women and their fetuses. Folic acid is so important, but the human body cannot synthesize folic acid itself, so it must rely on food or medication. So how to take folic acid during pregnancy? It is now generally recommended that the intake of folic acid during the first 3 months of pregnancy and throughout pregnancy should reach 600ug of dietary folate equivalent (DFE) per day. In addition to eating folic acid-rich foods regularly, 400ug/day of folic acid should be supplemented to meet its needs. It is now known that synthetic folic acid in preparations, unlike reduced folic acid from natural food sources, is oxidized folic acid, which has the advantage of stability and high absorption, and the absorption rate of synthetic folic acid is 1.7 times higher than that of natural folic acid, so when calculating the folic acid equivalent (DFE) We adults should consume 400ug of folic acid per day, and if we choose to take vitamin tablets, only 235ug (235*1.7=400) of folic acid should be sufficient. It is also important to note that more folic acid supplementation is not the better. The Recommended Dietary Allowance for Chinese Residents states that the maximum tolerable amount of folic acid is 1000ug/day. The dangers of folic acid overdose have been studied. Excessive folic acid intake may lead to an increased risk of certain tumors; high doses of folic acid supplementation may mask symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency in the blood and affect the diagnosis and treatment of anemia; high doses of folic acid can interfere with the metabolism of zinc and cause zinc deficiency. In addition, there may be a deeper reason for individual differences in folic acid supplementation from person to person. Different genotypes of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTFHR) can cause great differences in folate metabolism. People with MTFHR genotype CC have a normal ability to activate folate in the body, while those with CT or TT have varying degrees of deficiency, and the latter two often need more folate intake to meet the needs of the body. In order to figure out this problem in life, it is sometimes necessary to take the help of a professional doctor to do an all-round assessment of nutritional intake and, if necessary, MTFHR testing to determine the typing and to formulate a reasonable dietary recommendation based on this. May you all have a healthy and lovely baby!