Researchers from the Queensland University of Technology are poised to investigate the connection between sun exposure and the reduction of the vitamin folate in a pregnant mother.

Folate is a B vitamin that is essential for cell growth and reproduction and is especially important for pregnant women to prevent spina bifida in unborn children. Spina bifida is a birth defect that involves the incomplete development of the spinal cord.

David Borradale, a postgraduate student in the Faculty of Health from the Queensland University of Technology, says exposure to the ultraviolet radiation from the sun reduces folate levels, based from recent research and laboratory studies.

"We want to determine if everyday sun exposure causes significant reductions in blood folate levels," he said on ninemsn.

Borradale said it is important for women planning to get pregnant to understand the amount and limit of sun exposure they should receive, as sunlight exposure often already has an impact to the unborn child even during the first month of pregnancy.

Borradale will spearhead the study that will involve 60 non-pregnant women. It is a three-week study that will start Oct. 17. The women will be divided into two groups, one exposed to the sun and the other not. They will receive a daily folic acid supplement during the study's first two weeks.