Folate is a vitamin important in growth and development. Everyone needs folate, but it is especially important for women to get enough of it during the early stages of pregnancy to help reduce the risk of foetal brain and spinal cord abnormalities such as spina bifida. In this podcast, I look at the key roles of folate in the body, explain how it helps prevent birth defects and the key dietary and supplement sources of it.Links referred to in the podcast<ul><li>Impact of folic acid fortification on NTD incidence in Australia <a href='https://researchimpact.uwa.edu.au/research-impact-stories/folate-fortification-reduces-neural-tube-defects'>https://researchimpact.uwa.edu.au/research-impact-stories/folate-fortification-reduces-neural-tube-defects</a></li><li>Pre- and post-folic acid fortification and colorectal cancer incidence <a href='https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3173023/'>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3173023</a></li></ul>Episode transcript To access the full episode transcript, go to the following link and select the individual podcast episode and then click on the ‘Transcript’ tab <a href='https://thinkingnutrition.buzzsprout.com'>https://thinkingnutrition.buzzsprout.com</a>Connect with me Instagram: <a href='https://www.instagram.com/doctimcrowe/'>doctimcrowe</a> Facebook: <a href='https://www.facebook.com/thinkingnutrition'>Thinking Nutrition</a> Twitter: <a href='https://twitter.com/CroweTim'>CroweTim</a>

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Thinking Nutrition is all about presenting the latest nutrition research in plain language and then translating this into what it means for your health. Dr Tim Crowe is a career nutrition research scientist and an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian. Tim has over 30 years of research and teaching experience in the university and public health sectors, covering areas of basic laboratory research, clinical nutrition trials and public health nutrition. He now works chiefly as a freelance health and medical writer and science communicator.