New figures have highlighted the importance of having folic acid included in your diet as a mum-to-be.
Research from the University of Texas suggests that thousands of early births could be prevented if more pregnant women took folic acid.
Scientists found that women who received folic acid supplementation for a year in the run up to becoming pregnant were 70 per cent less likely to give birth prematurely.
Those who took folic acid for a year before pregnancy were also 50 per cent less likely to have a child at between 28 and 32 weeks, it was revealed.
For those mums to be who took folic acid for less than a year before conception, there was a far less significant drop in the number of premature births.
Meanwhile, experts in Canada have said that fortifying bread with folic acid would help to reduce the risk of babies being born with a heart problem.
The number of newborns with congenital heart defects in Quebec dropped dramatically after the move to fortify flour and pasta began in 1998.
