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Folate is a B vitamin and a necessary nutrient to prevent neural tube defects, such as spina bifida. Folic acid, a synthetic form of folate, has been added products to ensure pregnant women get adequate amounts. However, research suggests there may be such a thing as too much folic acid. Researchers showed imbalances in folic acid and vitamin B12 can alter brain development in mice. Green said: "The safe upper limit for folate is 1,000 micrograms per day. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data showed that a substantial percentage of women's diets were above that limit." The team...

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the US. Experts recommend many strategies and treatments to decrease the risk of suicide. Few would put folic acid supplements on that list. The study found patients who filled prescriptions for folic acid, also known as vitamin B9, experienced a 44% reduction in suicidal events (suicide attempts and intentional self-harm). Robert Gibbons, Ph.D. became interested in folic acid in the context of suicide because of a previous study between risk of attempting suicide and 922 different prescribed drugs. The study simultaneously screened each drug for associations with suicide attempts. Surprisingly,...

High-dose folic acid is protective against congenital malformations if the mother is at particular risk of having a child with congenital malformations. Treatment with antiseizure medication in pregnancy is associated with risk of congenital malformations in the children, and women with epilepsy are therefore often recommended a supplementary high dose of folic acid (4–5 mg daily) before and during pregnancy. However, some studies have raised concern that folic acid can increase the risk of cancer not only in the mother, but in the child when exposed during pregnancy. "We found an increased risk of childhood cancer if the child was...

More than half the Canadian population regularly uses vitamins and minerals in order to stay healthy, according to Health Canada. Yet most are likely not aware that high doses of many common vitamins can increase the risk of cancer or death. “Vitamins have become synonymous with health, but there’s this false idea that, if a little bit is good, a lot has to be better,” says Dr. Tim Byers, associate dean at the Colorado School of Public Health. Byers challenged this idea recently at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting. “We now have direct evidence that a lot...

UK researchers have found that high doses B-vitamins – including folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 – can slow down brain tissue atrophy, a wasting process associated with Alzheimer’s disease.David Smith of the University of Oxford, and colleagues, used randomised controlled trials to test the long-term effects of B-vitamins on the brain health of elderly people with mild cognitive impairment, who were classed as having an increased risk of dementia. They found the brains of those treated with B-vitamins shrank less over a two year period than those given a placebo, and experienced less atrophy in regions of grey...

A combination of vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12 and folic acid might protect women against age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, a new study finds. Women taking this trio of vitamins in amounts well beyond the recommended daily doses were one-third less likely to develop macular degeneration than were people taking placebos, researchers report in the Feb. 23 Archives of Internal Medicine. Cigarette smoking is known to increase a person’s likelihood of developing macular degeneration. Other than not smoking, there is little a person can do to limit risk, says study coauthor William Christen, an epidemiologist...

NEW ORLEANS — Periconceptual folic acid supplementation appears to reduce by close to 20% the overall risk of congenital heart defects, a Dutch case-control study has shown. This finding has important public health implications in light of the enormous number of babies born with congenital heart defects each year worldwide, Dr. Ingrid van Beynum said at the annual scientific sessions of the American Heart Association. Indeed, congenital heart defects are the most common form of birth defects. In the United States alone, 40,000 affected babies are born each year. Periconceptual folic acid supplementation at 400 mcg/day is already recommended for...

PARIS (AFP) - Lack of folate, also called vitamin B-9, may triple the risk of developing dementia in old age, according to a study published Tuesday. Researchers in South Korea measured naturally occurring folate levels in 518 elderly persons, none of whom showed any signs of dementia, and then tracked their development over 2.4 years. At the end of the period, 45 of the patients had developed dementia, including 34 diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, said the study, published by the British Medical Association's Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. When the researchers, led by Jin-Sang Yoon of Chonnam National University...

Women Taking Nutrient Lower Early Birth Risk by 70 Percent: Study Women who take folic acid supplements for at least a year before becoming pregnant can greatly reduce their risk of delivering a baby prematurely, researchers said on Thursday. Folic acid, a B vitamin, already is known to prevent major birth defects that involve a baby's brain or spine. This study shows it may provide another benefit -- cutting down on premature births in which babies have less time to develop in the womb and are more likely to experience serious medical problems. The study tracked about 35,000 pregnant women...

Amino acids: Key to a healthier heart? Could taking a few B vitamins cut your risk of a heart attack or a stroke? That's the suggestion from a study published last week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).  The key is an amino acid called homocysteine, a substance made when the protein we eat is digested — already there is growing evidence to link it with cardiovascular disease, and even stroke. Homocysteine — with the help of the B vitamins including B12 and folate — is rapidly turned into other useful compounds such as the amino acids cysteine and...

Folic acid 'increases memory' By Nic Fleming, Medical Correspondent Last Updated: 2:26am GMT 19/01/2007 Folic acid supplements can significantly improve the memory and brain power of older people, according to a study to be published today. Researchers found that men and post-menopausal women aged between 50 and 70 who took daily doses had the mental abilities of those almost five years their junior. The supplements also helped maintain speed of information processing, reactions involving movement and overall brain power. These abilities decline with age, and their loss has been linked to a higher risk of dementia. Folate, the natural form...

Folic acid supplements may prevent cancer progression and promote regression of disease, according to a new study. Published in the July 15, 2006 issue of CANCER (http://www.interscience.wiley.com/cancer-newsroom), a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the small study found that 31 of 43 patients with the precancerous laryngeal lesion called leucoplakia demonstrated 50 percent or greater reduction in the lesion size after six months of taking folate supplements. In 12 of 31 responders, there was no evidence of the original lesion. Folate levels in the patients' blood also increased significantly from baseline while homocysteine levels decreased significantly. This study provides...

WASHINGTON - B vitamin deficiencies can cause a range of serious health effects, including spinal defects in children born to women with below-normal levels of folic acid and anemia in people not getting enough B12. That‘s why a two-step method of diagnosing those deficiencies that three medical school doctors patented in 1990 has become so widely used. It‘s performed tens of millions of times a year, at a cost of just a dollar or two, by laboratory testing companies nationwide. Even more surprising is that the Supreme Court may dredge up a bombshell question not asked when the lower...

HARLINGEN - Tortillas made with contaminated corn may have caused a rash of newborns with missing or rudimentary brains in the Rio Grande Valley in the 1990s, new data suggest. According to the February issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers now have human studies linking a toxin in corn mold called fumonisin with babies' neural tube defects. Scientists have been searching more than a decade for answers to the surge of anencephalic babies - babies born without brains or with underdeveloped brains - in the Rio Grande Valley from 1990-92. There were six such cases in six weeks...

Women don't get enough folate. And the results can be disastrous twice over. According to a recent March of Dimes survey, most U.S. women of child-bearing age are not taking supplements of folic acid (the synthetic form of folate, a B vitamin). When women have an adequate intake of folate, risk of birth defects drops off sharply. But the March of Dimes survey reveals that only one in three child-bearing age women take the recommended 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid supplements daily. The reason most women offered for not taking a supplement: They forgot. I hope women who...

Preventing Alzheimer's disease may be as simple as increasing the amount of the B vitamin called folate that you get from fruits, green vegetables and supplements, researchers suggest in a new study. ADVERTISEMENT According to the study, older people whose folate intake is above the recommended dietary allowance are at a significantly reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's. However, the researchers cautioned that far more research is needed to establish a link between folate and the possible prevention of the brain-wasting disease. In fact, one previous study found folate encouraging the development of Alzheimer's disease. This latest study appears in the...

A new study conducted by researchers at The University of California Irvine suggests that folates or B-vitamin nutrients found in oranges, legumes, leafy green vegetables and folic acid supplements are more effective in limiting Alzheimer's disease risk than antioxidants and other nutrients. The team led by Maria Corrada and Dr Claudia Kawas of UC Irvine's Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia analyzed the diets of non-demented men and women aged 60 and older. They compared the food nutrient and supplement intake of those who later developed Alzheimer's disease to the intake of those who did not develop the disease. "Although...

High-dose folic acid pills — providing as much of the nutrient as 2.5 pounds of strawberries — might help slow the cognitive decline of aging. So says a Dutch study that's the first to show a vitamin could really improve memory. The research, unveiled Monday at a meeting of Alzheimer's researchers, adds to mounting evidence that a diet higher in folate is important for a variety of health effects. It's already proven to reduce birth defects, and research suggests it helps ward off heart disease and strokes, too. The new study doesn't show folic acid could prevent Alzheimer's — the...

Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 Decrease Risk of Hip Fracture in Stroke Patients LibrariesMedical News   KeywordsFOLATE FOLIC ACID VITAMIN B12 HIP FRACTURE STROKE PATIENTS OSTEOPOROSIS Contact InformationAvailable for logged-in reporters only DescriptionPatients who took folic acid and vitamin B12 after their stroke had a reduced risk of hip fracture compared to patients who took placebo, according to an article. Newswise — Patients who took folic acid and vitamin B12 after their stroke had a reduced risk of hip fracture compared to patients who took placebo, according to an article in the March 2 issue of JAMA.According to background information in...