Folic acid (here) is one of the B complex of vitamins, found in foods such as green leafy vegetables. Recent research based on work by Kilmer McCully in the 1960’s (here) has uncovered a role for folic acid in the prevention of homocysteine related disorders including cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease. However, folic acid is best known because deficiency during pregnancy can cause neural tube defects in the growing foetus. Folic acid is required for post translational modifications during DNA and RNA synthesis and it has been hypothesised that deficiency may impair this process. Also, that high homocysteine levels in the maternal plasma may be detrimental to foetal growth has also been postulated. Folic acid is contained within foods that are not commonly consumed in the Western diet, and therefore the risk of developing insufficiencies through inadequate nutrition is high amongst populations in developed nations. Periconceptional folic acid supplementation is therefore vital in those women likely to become pregnant.
The folic acid status of populations living in developed nations has been reported to be inadequate in a number of studies. For example, the folic acid status of 103 adolescent Alabaman girls was assessed by taking blood samples1. The results showed that 11.7 % of the girls had serum folic acid levels of less than 3 ng/mL (6.8 nmol/L), and 14.6 % of the girls had folic acid erythrocyte levels of less than 140 ng/mL (317 nmol/L). These girls were therefore classified as folic acid deficient. Worryingly, as age increased folic acid intake decreased, although the trend was not significant. Of the initial subjects, 50 of the girls were followed in a longitudinal study for 3 years in order to ascertain long-term data for folic acid status. During this follow-up, 75 % of the girls who were deficient in serum folic acid, and 66 % who were deficient in erythrocyte folic acid initially, were still deficient by year three. When the study authors investigated the socio economic status of the girls, they found no association between folic acid status and per capita income.
Although this study was performed in 1987, more recent data shows that intakes of micronutrients have not improved with time. In fact, the vitamin and mineral status of the Western nations continues to deteriorate as the food supply is further deleteriously modified in favour of sugar and salt laden poison. Generally, the importance of vitamin and mineral supplementation in maintaining health is not widely accepted. Much of this results from deliberate obfuscation by the food industry in the form of coordinated disinformation campaigns to misleads the public and lobbying to bribe the politicians. That folic acid is fortified into foods in Western nations, yet is still deficient in the population, highlights just how bad some Western diets have become. Folic acid is cheap, readily available and has an exemplary safety record in the nutritional and medical literature. Supplementation is a choice, but looking at the data it seems a pretty easy choice to make, especially for females of childbearing age.
RdB
