Health Promotion

So, awhile ago I was noticing how nearly all of my blogging friends use blogger to upload their masterpieces. I kinda thought blogging was cool, so I wanted to have one, but I was struck with a dilemma: Why would anyone want to read my blog? I posted anyway, and people read (likely due to boredom), but I was still left with an underlying feeling that my blog was pretty pointless.

Over the summer, during my Public Health Nursing class, I realized this blog might be a good avenue to offer miniature pearls of wisdom and snippets of information that I come across in order to help people live healthier and dispel many of the health rumors that become ingrained in our society through the media. My plan is to post small, interesting, health-related information that I come across, and I can also answer questions or look into researching that topic.

DISCLAIMER: It is also important to mention that I'm not a physician, so I cannot diagnose or answer people's quirky questions. If anything ever seems different or not right, it is essential that you make an appointment with your doctor or go to the hospital. There are a lot of legal issues involved in distributing health information electronically, so I want to stay out of that by limiting my posts to more general health concepts rather than try to solve individual's specific questions.

Ok, so my first post is going to be mostly for the ladies, but all the guys that read my blog should know it too so you can tell girls about it. Folic Acid (or folate) is an essential vitamin in the diet to produce red blood cells. Generally, people don't have a deficiency of folic acid in the diet in the U.S., but the important consideration is for sexually-active females. In the early development of the fetus, folic acid is essential to build the neural tube (which eventually becomes the spinal cord and brain), and not having enough folic acid may cause the fetus to have defects such as spina bifida or anencephaly (latin: without head). 400 mcg (micrograms) is the recommendation set for all women of child-bearing age, which happens to be around the usual amount in a multivitamin; otherwise you might find folic acid in leafy vegetables, orange juice, peanuts, and whole grain bread and cereals.

So, that's about what you can expect for the future. There are many important considerations and minerals, like iron, during pregnancy, so always be sure to schedule the prenatal visits with your doctor. I'm thinking my next post is going to address smoking.