What one should know before becoming pregnant.

http://wrightnewsletter.com/2011/03/02/prenatal-folate/

''As Dr. Wright wrote in the June 2010 issue of Nutrition & Healing, there are three key nutrients for keeping cell division normal — folate, vitamin B12, and zinc. If there’s a shortage of any of these, the risk of birth defects is greater. There’s a test called the “neutrophilic hypersegmentation index” (NHI) that tells if you have enough folate. Dr. Wright shared one of the saddest test reports he’s ever had to give — a low NHI result to a woman who was already pregnant. Her baby was, in fact, born with a birth defect.
He recommends that any woman who has any chance of becoming pregnant should have the test done — and if she wants to start a family and the results are abnormal, she should take a series of folinic acid injections. The most common birth defect — neural tube defect — occurs less than 30 days after conception, before many women are even sure they’re pregnant.''