Folic acid does a fetus good!

What Are the Benefits of Folic Acid?

Folic acid (folate) deficiency is the most common vitamin deficiency in the world.

Why is folic acid important?

• essential for the proper development of developing embryos
• reduces homocysteine levels

Folic Acid and Premature Birth

In a large study that included almost 40,000 women, a team of U.S. and Irish researchers found that women who took folic acid supplements for a year or longer before conception had a 70 percent decreased risk of premature birth. A premature birth is one that occurs before 37 weeks' gestation. The researchers found that women who took a folic acid supplement for at least a year prior to becoming pregnant reduced their risk of premature birth. It appears that folic acid is regulating certain genes that malfunction to cause early labor.

As a result experts believe that both male and female should take a daily folic acid supplement in addition to a multivitamin containing folic acid. Folic acid influences many things. It reduces the risk of stroke, cardiovascular disease, and it prevents birth defects. Folic acid supplementation a simple preventive measure for a variety of severe problems.

The March of Dimes recommends that women take 400 micrograms daily of folic acid before becoming pregnant, and continuing to take folic acid throughout the pregnancy

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Folic Acid and Depression

Anyone suffering from chronic depression should be evaluated for possible folic acid deficiency by a doctor. Those with abnormally low levels of folic acid are sometimes given short-term, high amounts of folic acid (10 mg per day). According to doctors from the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, depressive symptoms are the most common neuropsychiatric signs of folic acid deficiency. In one study, patients with major depression with low folic acid levels were treated with methylfolate (15 mg/day) or a placebo. At both three and six months, patients showed substantial improvements in depression scores compared to the placebo controls. Overall, folic acid supplementation significantly enhanced recovery from psychiatric illness.

Brain function, memory and the speed with which information is processed decline as people age, but researchers in the Netherlands and Switzerland have found that taking folic acid can help.

"We have shown that three-year folic acid supplementation improves performance on tests that measure information processing speed and memory, domains that are known to decline with age," said Dr Jane Durga of the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne.

Can Folic Acid Help Poor Mental Performance?

"The functions that decrease most commonly with age are those that we see a beneficial effect through folic acid supplementation," Durga said in an interview.

"It seems a bit intuitive, although it is not proven, that if you can slow down age-related cognitive decline, perhaps you can also affect the risk of dementia. But this is still a question that needs to be researched," she added.

Durga and scientists at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, who reported their findings in The Lancet medical journal, compared the impact of folic acid supplements to a placebo in a study involving 818 men and women 50-70 years old.

Half of the volunteers were given 800 micrograms of folic acid each day for three years while the remainder received a dummy pill.

When the scientists tested the cognitive and memory functions at the end of the study, they found the three-year change was significantly better in the folic acid group.

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Stopping Homocysteine before it kills you!

One of the most provocative medical books of the past decade is Kilmer and Martha Culley's "The Heart Revolution". In it, Kilmer proposes that it is not cholesterol from eggs and animal fat that causes arteriosclerosis, it’s homocysteine, an enzyme that, if too abundant in the bloodstream , can destroy the elasticity of artery walls and thicken them, causing heart disease and strokes. These findings have been backed up by other research as well.

So what is a major culprit of such deadly homocysteine overabundance? Processed white flour. Processing may allow flour to last longer but robs it of up to 90 percent of its nutrients, including folic acid and B6, which keeps homocysteine levels in check. In other words, to help your heart health, ditch the white stuff!" Source: Texas Monthly Feb07.

Editor's Note:The problem with Folic acid, a critical part of the B vitamin complex, is it isn't easily absorbed. So what our scientists did was develop a unique folic acid coating over the surface of its B-Complex that makes folic acid much more accessible and bioavailable. You won't find this process anywhere else, as it is an exclusive patented technology.

We also doesn't make just a folic acid supplement by itself, because folic acid is part of the eight essential B Vitamins and they work best when they work together. Our B-Complex gives you the right balance of all the B-vitamins including folic acid. In addition to this promising new study on folic acid supplementation improving memory and brain function, our B-Complex also promotes a healthy cardiovascular system, helps metabolize energy from carbohydrates, fat and protein and aids in the synthesis of DNA and new cells. Plus, it's also called the Happy Vitamin as it can help with stress. We've seen more than one person take several B-Complex vitamins when getting up to do something nerve-racking like public speaking!

B-Complex with a patented folic acid delivery system - with all eight Bs!

Does Folic Acid Help Prevent Strokes?

In a meta-analysis of eight randomized trials to evaluate the efficacy of folic acid supplementation in preventing strokes, researchers found folic acid supplementation significantly reduced the risk of stroke by 18%. An even greater risk reduction of 29% was seen when the treatment lasted more than 3 years. When homocysteine levels decreased more than 20% there was a 23% lower risk of stroke. If a patient had no previous history of stroke, there was a 25% lower risk of stroke. Folic acid supplementation decreased the risk of stroke by 25% in countries where grain was not already fortified. The authors concluded that folic acid supplementation can significantly reduce the risk of stroke in primary prevention.¹

Groups considered at higher risk for stroke include those with sickle cell disease, and middle-aged male patients with a history of stroke on their mother's side of the family. Patients with increased blood thickness are also considered at higher risk for stroke. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 45 seconds, and every 3 minutes, someone dies from a stroke. Symptoms of an occurring stroke are numbness or weakness in the face, arms, or legs (usually only on one side of the body), confusion, severe headache, decreased vision, and dizziness.

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1. Wang X, et al. Efficacy of folic acid supplementation in stroke prevention: a meta-analysis. Lancet. Jun 2007;369(9576):1876-82.

The following classes of drugs are capable of depleting of folic acid:

• antacids
• anticonvulsants
• biguanides
• corticosteroids
• aspirin and salicylates
• nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents
• bile acid sequestrants
• oral contraceptives
• H-2 receptor antagonists

All women and men

• at risk for heart disease, stroke or peripheral vascular disease*
• taking any of the above listed medications
• anyone at risk for Alzheimer's disease*
• with elevated cholesterol levels*
• at risk for osteoporosis*
• experiencing depression*
• Depressed alcoholics report feeling better with large amounts of a modified form of folic acid.

Women

• who may become pregnant*
• taking oral contraceptives
• who have been diagnosed with cervical dysplasia*

Related Sites:

Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet

Discover a B-Complex with a patented folic acid delivery system - with all eight Bs!

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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.