Folic Acid helps the body to make new healthy cells, it is a B vitamin. Women benefit highly from folic acid especially before and during pregnancy. Some foods that contain folic acid are:

• Broccoli
• Asparagus
• Roman lettuce
• Enriched breads and pastas
• Bananas
• Oranges
• Peas
• Nuts
• Spaghetti
• Bread
• Cereal
• Flour

Realize however that by cooking foods such as vegetables it will destroy most of the folic acid or folate. Whenever possible eat raw fruits and vegetables, without cooking the nutrients your body needs out of them.

When looking at food labels you will notice they don’t usually say folic acid on them instead they say folate. On a daily basis you should take 400 mcg or .4 mg of folic acid everyday, if you are pregnant you should increase the daily amount to 600 mcg a day and if you are breastfeeding 500 mcg a day.

Folic acid needs vitamins B12 and B6 to carry out its proper functions. It is best to try and find a supplement that contains all three.

400 mcg of folic acid a day will help to protect against disease and promote long-term health. It can be found in most standard multivitamins as well as proper diets. Some people prefer taking a supplement or vitamin since today’s proper diets are so hard to obtain and maintain.

You can take a vitamin supplement of folic acid daily, eat fortified breakfast cereal daily which contains 100% of the recommended daily amount, or increase your consumption of foods fortified with folic acid to get your daily amount of folic acid. No matter what your age or sex folic acid is good for you. Remember a supplement needs to contain vitamins B12 and B6 for folic acid to work properly.

Find a good source of B Vitamins here.

Sources:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/vitamins-supplements-8/supplement-guide-folic-acid
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/nutrition-advice-you-can-take-to-heart