Folic acid is a type of B Vitamin which helps your body produce and maintain new cells, and also helps prevent changes to DNA that may lead to cancer As a medication, folic acid is used to treat folic acid deficiency and certain types of anemia (lack of red blood cells) caused by folic acid deficiency Folic acid is sometimes used in combination with other medications to treat pernicious anemia but it will not treat Vitamin B12 deficiency and will not prevent possible damage to the spinal cord