Begin typing your search above and press return to search.
proflie-avatar
Login
exit_to_app
Democracy that banks on the electorate
access_time 28 March 2024 5:34 AM GMT
Lessons to learn from Moscow terror attack
access_time 27 March 2024 6:10 AM GMT
Gaza
access_time 26 March 2024 4:34 AM GMT
The poison is not in words, but inside
access_time 25 March 2024 5:42 AM GMT
A witchhunt, plain and simple
access_time 23 March 2024 9:35 AM GMT
DEEP READ
Schools breeding hatred
access_time 14 Sep 2023 10:37 AM GMT
Ukraine
access_time 16 Aug 2023 5:46 AM GMT
Ramadan: Its essence and lessons
access_time 13 March 2024 9:24 AM GMT
When ‘Jai Sree Ram’ becomes a death call
access_time 15 Feb 2024 9:54 AM GMT
exit_to_app
Homechevron_rightBusinesschevron_rightGoogle honours Lucy...

Google honours Lucy Wills who gave birth to folic acid

text_fields
bookmark_border
cancel
camera_alt""

New Delhi: Google on Friday honoured English haematologist Lucy Wills whose research on anaemia in pregnant women in Mumbai in 1928 led to the discovery of folic acid that helps prevent birth defects in babies.

She conducted seminal work in India in the late 1920s and early 1930s on macrocytic anaemia during pregnancy.

Her observations during the research on pregnant textile workers in Mumbai led to the discovery of a nutritional factor in yeast which both prevents and cures this disorder.

The extract, later identified as folic acid, improved the health of the monkeys during the research which was named the "Wills Factor".

Macrocytic anaemia is characterised by enlarged red blood cells and is a life-threatening condition.

Wills' discovery changed the preventive prenatal care for women globally.

Folic acid is a form of folate -- a B-vitamin found naturally in dark green vegetables and citrus fruits.

Born near Birmingham, England, in 1888, "Wills attended three schools that benefited from a more progressive approach to education, the first being Cheltenham College for Young Ladies, a British boarding school training female students in science and mathematics", reports CNET.

In 1915, she enrolled at the London School of Medicine for Women and became a legally qualified medical practitioner in 1920, earning bachelor degrees in medicine and science.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends that all women of child-bearing age take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily.

For many years it was the "Wills Factor" until folic acid was named in 1941 when it was isolated from spinach.

Honoured by Google with a Doodle on her 131st birth anniversary, Wills died in April 1964.

Show Full Article
News Summary - Google honours Lucy Wills who gave birth to folic acid
Next Story