James Dowd and Diane Stafford
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 Folic Acid
You can eat fruits and vegetables for your folic acid fix, but to be sure, take a daily multivitamin that has 400 micrograms of folic acid.
Folic acid is important in fighting cardiovascular disease and reducing levels of homocysteine, an amino acid responsible for inflaming and damaging blood vessels and associated with osteoporosis. folic acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 all can reduce levels of homocysteine.
Pregnant women have a special need for folic acid because it's key to fetal development and nervous system functioning. |
| Colored veggies are loaded with potassium, magnesium, calcium, vitamin K, vitamin A, folic acid, and a number of other trace elements. Let's look at some of these critical nutrients.
Folic Acid
You can eat fruits and vegetables for your folic acid fix, but to be sure, take a daily multivitamin that has 400 micrograms of folic acid.
Folic acid is important in fighting cardiovascular disease and reducing levels of homocysteine, an amino acid responsible for inflaming and damaging blood vessels and associated with osteoporosis. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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 FOLIC ACID
The most practical reason for women of childbearing age to take multivitamins with folic acid supplements is the prevention of neural tube-related birth defects like spina bifida. Prevention of neural-tube birth defects is accomplished with 400 meg of folic acid daily, obtained from food and/or vitamin supplements. Foods high in folate include leafy vegetables like lettuce and spinach as well as asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, and lentils. |
James Dowd and Diane Stafford
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| Folic acid is important in fighting cardiovascular disease and reducing levels of homocysteine, an amino acid responsible for inflaming and damaging blood vessels and associated with osteoporosis. folic acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 all can reduce levels of homocysteine.
Pregnant women have a special need for folic acid because it's key to fetal development and nervous system functioning. The same goes for women who are planning pregnancies. |
Jack Challem
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 They include
• Antibiotics, which interfere with the B vitamins
• Beta-blockers, which interfere with coenzyme Q10
• Metformin, which interferes with vitamins B6, B12, folic acid, and coenzyme Q10
• Oral contraceptives, which interfere with the B vitamins
• Proton-pump inhibitors, which interfere with vitamins B12 and C
• Thiazides, which interfere with magnesium, potassium, and zinc Metformin, one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for prediabetes and diabetes, interferes with the body's absorption and use of folic acid (a B vitamin) and vitamin B12. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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| Danish population already has a high intake of calcium, iron, B6 and folic acid . . . the knowledge on toxicity of vitamins and minerals is very limited and practically nonexistent for children . . . [vitamin deficiencies exist] only in small groups like immigrants who aren't getting enough vitamin D or pregnant women who need folic acid. We need to take care of all of the groups in our population." Since that time the European Union has placed a limit on the amount of vitamins and minerals that can be added to food.
And it isn't only in Europe. |
T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and Thomas M. Campbell II
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 What are folic acid and homocysteine? folic acid is a compound derived exclusively from plant-based foods such as green and leafy vegetables. Homocysteine is an amino acid that is derived primarily from animal protein.77 This study found that it was desirable to maintain low blood homocysteine and high blood folic acid. In other words, the combination of a diet high in animal-based foods and low in plant-based foods raises the risk of Alzheimer's disease. |
Peter J. Whitehouse and Daniel George
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 Researchers randomly assigned 818 male and female participants aged fifty to seventy 800 milligrams daily oral folic acid or placebo for three years. The effect on cognitive performance was measured as the difference between the two groups in the three-year change in performance for memory, sensorimotor speed, complex speed, information processing speed, and word fluency. After three years, researchers noted that the changes in memory, sensorimotor speed, and information processing were significantly better in the folic acid group than in the placebo group. |
Dr. Steven R. Gundry
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 Along with folic acid, they were among the first the government required in "enriched white flour." If you're trying to lose weight, I cannot emphasize too much how important high doses of folic acid and B vitamins in general are in reducing the buildup in your bloodstream of the amino acid homocysteine, which has been directly linked to increased coronary artery disease, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease. A word of warning: More than 300-500 mg of vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) can cause severe neurologic problems. |
Andreas Moritz
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 He gave folic acid to one group of monkeys and compared them with another group monkeys who were folic acid deficient. All the monkeys with "normal" levels of this vitamin were infected with malaria whereas the ones with "abnormally low" levels stayed healthy.
Over 40 percent of the world's population is threatened by malaria today and it is no longer restricted to developing countries. Malaria is rapidly becoming the leading cause of death in the world. |
Peter J. Whitehouse and Daniel George
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| Proof is lacking in the form of randomized controlled trials, although a recently published study appears to have confirmed the effect of folic acid supplementation on cognitive performance in human beings. Jane Durga et al. structured a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that took place between November 1999 and December 2004 in the Netherlands. Researchers randomly assigned 818 male and female participants aged fifty to seventy 800 milligrams daily oral folic acid or placebo for three years. |
Mehmet C. Oz., M.D. and Michael F. Roizen, M.D.
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 The Fine Print
Folic acid, vitamin B6, Yes folic acid, vitamin B5, and vitamin B12 work by reducing levels vitamin BB of homocysteine, a body chemical that's related to increased risk of heart disease. You should get 800 micrograms of folate a day. Most folks get half of that in their diet, so add an additional 400-microgram supplement. Get 50 milligrams of vitamin B6 and 800 micrograms of B,2.
Coenzyme Q10 Yes Mitochondria convert glucose into electric energy, and one of the molecules carrying electrons in this process is coenzyme Q10. |
Devra Davis
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 At the time, children with leukemia were expected to die quietly and were known to die more quickly when given folic acid. Farber reported that giving them agents that blocked the formation of folic acid basically extinguished their cancers.
These discoveries rocked the cancer world. They showed that Mary Lasker had been right about one thing: medicine could come up with drugs to treat cancer. Within ten years, death rates from leukemia in children had begun to fall. Where the disease had been a death sentence for most, it became treatable in many instances. |
Dr. Sharon Moalem
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 When a pregnant woman has too little folic acid, the fetus is at significantly higher risk for serious birth defects, including spina bifida, a deformation of the spinal cord that often causes paralysis. And as we said, ultraviolet light destroys folic acid in the body. In the mid-1990s an Argentinian pediatrician reported that three healthy women all gave birth to children who had neural tube defects after using indoor tanning beds during their pregnancies. Coincidence? Probably not.
Pregnancy isn't the only time folate is important, of course. |
Mike Adams
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 Additionally, since pernicious anemia and folic acid anemia go hand in hand, you should also take folic acid supplements to prevent and treat folic acid anemia.
As with any condition, it is far better to prevent both iron deficiency and pernicious anemia than to treat them after the fact. Give your children and teenagers iron supplements, especially if they eat large quantities of junk food. Additionally, take iron supplements whenever you experience heavy menstruation and when you are pregnant or lactating. Don't forget to take vitamin B12 supplements, either. |
Mark Sircus
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 November 2002
26 Between 1992 and 1996, FDA prohibited companies that sell folic acid from telling women of childbearing age that .4 mg of folic acid daily before pregnancy could reduce the incidence of neural tube defects (including spina bifida and encephaly) by 40%. FDA's censorship contributed to a preventable 10,000 neural tube defect births.
Between 1994 to 2000, FDA prohibited companies that sell omega-3 fatty acids from telling Americans that those fatty acids found in fish oil could reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by as much as 50%. |
Michael Pollan
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 More recently, scientists recognized that many of us also had a deficiency of folic acid in our diet, and in 1996 public health authorities ordered millers to start adding folic acid to flour as well. But it would take longer still for science to realize that this "Wonder Bread" strategy of supplementation, as one nutritionist has called it, might not solve all the problems caused by the refining of grain. |
Dr. Sharon Moalem
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| To manage this can't-live-with-you-can't-live-without-you relationship, different populations have evolved a combination of adaptations that, together, help to protect folic acid and ensure sufficient vitamin D production. vitamin d i s a critical component of human biochemistry, especially to ensure the growth of healthy bones in children and the maintenance of healthy bones in adults. It ensures that our blood has sufficient levels of calcium and phosphorus. |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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 Insufficient B vitamins may be associated with morning sickness; pregnant women are often deficient in B6 as well as folic acid (the need for which increases during pregnancy). Foods rich in B vitamins—such as nutritional yeast, yogurt, bee pollen, spirulina, wheat germ, whole grains, egg yolk, cabbage, and organic organ meats—might be sufficient to alleviate morning sickness; if not, a B-50 vitamin supplement may be needed during the first trimester. |
| Deficiencies of folic acid have been linked in studies to low birth weight infants and neural tube defects.
According to one controlled study, women at high risk (having previously given birth to babies with neural tube defects) who were given folate supplementation showed a 72 percent protective effect compared to the placebo group.25 In one study, a group of pregnant women given folate supplementation gave birth to infants with increased birth weight and Apgar scores and had a decreased incidence of fetal growth retardation and maternal infections. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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| D or pregnant women who need folic acid. We need to take care of all of the groups in our population." Since that time the European Union has placed a limit on the amount of vitamins and minerals that can be added to food.
And it isn't only in Europe. Feskanitch and colleagues followed 72,337 nurses from 1980 to 1998 and showed that women in the top 20% of vitamin A intake (through diet and vitamin supplements such as multivitamins) had a 48% increase in hip fracture compared with women in the bottom 20% of vitamin A intake. |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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| Constitutional
Vegetarian diet for 3 months until follow-up
Alternative Naturopathic Plan
Week 4: herbal vaginal suppository nightly for 6 nights, Vag Pack suppository 1 night per week Weeks 5-12: green tea suppository twice per week
Systemic
Vitamin C: 6 g daily Beta-carotene: 150,000 IU daily Folic acid: 10 mg daily
Multiple vitamin/mineral: follow label directions Green tea capsules: 1 capsule daily Botanical Formula I: Vz tsp twice daily
Use systemic treatment for 3 months until follow-up. |
| Use folic acid supplementation if using oral contraceptives.
• HIV-positive women and women who are immunosuppressed because of kidney dialysis or immunosuppressive medications are at higher risk for cervical dysplasia and cervical cancer and need more frequent screening.
• Consider contraceptive options other than oral contraceptives. lifestyle habits, dietary factors, nutritional supplementation, and regular Pap smears, most cases of cervical dysplasia and its consequence, cervical cancer, could be avoided. |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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 Supplements needed: Take vitamin B12 (200-1,000 micrograms [meg]), folic acid (400-800 meg), and CoQj0 (30-200 milligrams [mg]).
SULFONYLUREAS: chlorpropamide (Diabinese), glimepiride (Amaryl), glipizide (Glucotrol), and glyburide (DiaBeta, Micronase, or Glynase)
These drugs may be used as first-line therapies in patients who are not overweight, or as a second-line therapy—either instead of or in addition to metformin—in those who fail to get adequate blood sugar control with metformin. Sulfonylureas work best in patients who are not very insulin resistant. |
Michael T. Murray
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 Although folic acid has received the most attention as a nutritional supplement to lower homocysteine levels, several studies have shown quite clearly that the best reductions are seen when vitamin Bfi and B12 are supplemented along with folic acid. A good high-potency multiple vitamin and mineral should provide sufficient levels to see significant reductions in homocysteine levels.
High Blood Pressure
Blood pressure control is essential in preventing the complications of diabetes, especially kidney disease, retinopathy, and stroke. |
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