Closing out January 2020

January 2020

January 5-11, 2020 Folic Acid Awareness Week

The CDC (Center of Disease Control) recommends 400 mcg (micrograms) of folic acid daily.

Pregnant women should get 600 mcg daily. Folic Acid helps prevent two types of neural tube defects.

“Neural tube defects are birth defects of the brain, spine, or spinal cord. They happen in the first month of pregnancy, often before a woman even knows that she is pregnant. The two most common neural tube defects are spina bifida and anencephaly. In spina bifida, the fetal spinal column doesn't close completely.” Per MedLineplus.gov

https://medlineplus.gov/neuraltubedefects.html

You can find folic acid in legumes, whole grains, fruit (citrus is good), veggies such as asparagus, brussel sprouts and ark leafly greens).

Blood Donor Month

January is also Blood Donor Month.

Do you know your blood type?

There are 8 blood types:

O positive

A positive

B positive

AB positive

O negative

A negative

B negative

AB negative

Whether you have positive or negative blood type refers to whether or not you have an inherited protein (Rhesus factor ---Rh factor) on the surface of the red blood cells. If your red blood cells have the protein you are Rh positive. If no protein, the Rh negative.

The Amercian Red Cross has a great bulletin to read at:

https://www.redcrossblood.org/content/dam/redcrossblood/rcb/hosting-a-blood-drive/sponsor-bulletins/january_2020_sponsor_bulletin.pdf

Thanks for reading

Karen