Adequate intake of folic acid during pregnancy is likely to protect children from a future risk of obesity especially those born to mothers who were obese finds a new study. Folic acid or folate -- an essential B vitamin -- reduces the foetus' risk for neural tube defects which are malformations affecting the brain spine and spinal cord. Maternal nutrition during pregnancy can have long-lasting effects on child health as well as the health of a mother after pregnancy said lead researcher Xiaobin Wang from Johns Hopkins University in the US. The study published online in JAMA Pediatrics suggested that
