The choices a pregnant woman makes regarding her diet have far-reaching consequences, touching upon aspects such as fetal growth, organ development, and overall well-being.  Expecting mothers, even women who are considering starting a family, should not underestimate the role nutrition plays in reducing chances of complications during pregnancy and birth as well as reducing chances of their baby's having neural tube defects, developmental delays, congenital hypothyroidism, low birth weight, and more. It is never too late to...

Here are some sobering statistics about birth defects from the CDC. Every 4 ½ minutes, a child is born with a birth defect. Every 1 in 33 babies is born with a birth defect in the United States Approximately 120,000 babies are born with birth defects each year. Some birth defects are easy to identify (cleft lip). Others, like hearing loss, heart problems, and even some kinds of spina bifida are not easy to identify and can take years...