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Student promotes folic acid awareness to high schoolers |
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Thursday, 30 November 2006 |
by ASHLEY BENNERS
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
While some students were relaxing on their Fall Break, one Appalachian State University senior was promoting health awareness.
Chantel E. Thomas, a senior foods and nutrition major, spent her Fall
Break promoting folic acid awareness to Mitchell County high school
students.
In Western North Carolina, there is a high occurrence of neural tube
birth defects caused by a lack of folic acid in the mother’s diet,
Thomas said.
The North Carolina Folic Acid Council was formed in response to help
inform people of the many benefits of taking multi-vitamins as part of
a daily routine, Thomas said. Doing so can reduce chances of birth
defects, like spina bifida, by 70 percent.
She said the recommended dosage of folic acid per day is 400
micrograms, and any woman of childbearing age should incorporate that
into her diet. To get that amount of folic acid, one would have to
consume an entire loaf of bread, ten glasses of orange juice or eight
cups of broccoli per day.
“So basically, you want to go with some kind of multi-vitamin,” Thomas said.
Thomas became an ambassador for the Folic Acid Council as a fundraiser
for the Appalachian Student Dietetic Association. In high school, she
took health occupations classes and was eager to begin studying food
and health.
“I loved cooking, at first I wanted to go to culinary school, but I
also enjoyed chemistry and thought I might be a pharmacist,” she said.
“A major in foods and nutrition was perfect for me because it combined
my two passions.”
Thomas ran into one of her high school teachers in a grocery store and
was asked to speak to health occupations students at her high school
about folic acid awareness and health careers for an event sponsored by
the Health Occupations Students of America Club.
“It was amazing how little the students knew about vitamins,” Thomas
said. “The time that [birth] defects occur is before women even know
they are pregnant; so because 50 percent of pregnancies are unplanned,
it is important for women to begin taking multi-vitamins, regardless of
if they are planning a pregnancy or not.”
Thomas said she was most affected by a story of a mother who began
taking vitamins after she found out she was pregnant, but her son was
born with spina bifida.
After her presentation, Thomas was presented with a book titled “You
Inspire Us” by the students in the classes she spoke to. The colorful
pages were filled with little notes thanking her for coming to the
school and many of the students reported that they had started taking
their vitamins.
“Different kinds of doctors and people in medical professions spoke at
the event too,” Thomas said. “It was great to be a student and get the
same recognition...I think the students related to me better because
just a few years ago, I was in their shoes.”
For more information about folic acid and the benefits of multi vitamins, visit www.getfolic.com.
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