Is there enough folic acid in porridge?

[CrazyJaney]

Just wondering if there is enough folic acid in a daily bowl of porridge to meet the recommended amount. I read you are supposed to take folic acid for 3 months and I have been taking it for 1 month. Would the bowl of porrige I take every morning supplement the 2 other months?

I'm sure 1 month is OK. I've never read anything to suggest that folic acid is stored in the body - most vitamins aren't (apart from vit a which is why you have to be careful with it) If it isn't stored then it shouldn't matter whether you start taking it a week before or 3m before as it won't hang around if you have too much, you'll just pee it out! I've also never seen any "proper" referenced medical advice about the 3m thing.

I have just found that "The Department of Health recommends that women planning to conceive should take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily as a medicinal food supplement from when they begin trying to become pregnant until the twelfth week of pregnancy. "

Bread (esp white bread) is also a good source of folates. You'll be fine.

You can't "catch up" the other 2 months. Your body doesn't store extra folic acid. It's a water soluble B vitamin so if you take in more than you need it comes out in your wee.

The only reason you are supposed to take it while TTC is that obviously you conceive a few weeks before you know you are pregnant and those very early days are an important time for the neural tube development. So if you get pregnant and you have only been taking it for one month, it doesn't matter at all. You weren't pregnant in those two other months so you didn't need any extra.

Obviously the benefits of taking folic acid in early pregnancy have been proven. But at the end of the day it isn't something to panic over, it is just a vitamin pill and you do get vitamins from food. If you are already taking the folic acid when you get your bfp then you are doing better than a lot of people!

Porridge, unlike other breakfast cereal, is not fortified. Fortified cereal have many added vitamins including folic acid just so that most women have a reasonable amount swishing round.
Now my bedtime mug of ovaltine is fortified and will give you 20% of all your vitamins. Drink that at night and eat a bowl of cereal and you've had loads of vitamins.

Thank you for the replies ladies. Some websites are misleading then when they say take it for 3 months.

I thought the liver stores around a years supply of B12? which is why deficency (sp) doesnt show up for a while if the diet is lacking in it.

Am I wrong? (wouldnt be the first time).

Folic acid is B9. You are right that your body can store b12 in the liver though. Well, according to google anyway.