Hispanic women who are thinking about starting a family may want to increase the amount of folic acid in their body to ensure the health of their child at birth.

Folic acid may help prevent neural tube defects (NTD) in Hispanic babies, who have been found to be at a higher risk of developing the condition, the NorthDenverNews.com reports.

Approximately only 21 percent of Hispanic women take a healthy amount of folic acid, possibly because many believe it’s something only pregnant women take or that the supplement will cause a woman to gain weight, according to the article.

Alina Flores, Health Education Specialist at the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, told the news provider none of those myths are true.

"It is crucial for every woman, but especially for Hispanics, to take folic acid every day even before getting pregnant, so that we can continue to decrease the number of children born with neural tube defects," said Flores.

A woman’s body uses folic acid to produce healthy new cells for her baby and it is suggested a woman take 400 micrograms daily in by vitamins or through foods that have been enriched, according to Flores.