Wednesday 13th December 2006
A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that taking a folic acid supplement does not in any way decrease the risk of heart disease or stroke in people with a history of heart problems. The findings of the study contradict those of other studies that have shown that folic acid helps the heart.
Folic acid is a B-vitamin and is used by our body to make new cells. Also called folate, this vitamin is recommended by certain doctors for decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
For their study, researchers from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans analysed the results of 12 trials covering more than 17,000 people. The researchers covered trials conducted since 2002.
The researchers compared people who had taken folic acid supplements for at least six months with those who had not taken any. They found there were no differences in the percentages of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, stroke and all causes of death in the two groups.
?We found that there was no benefit to using folic acid supplements in terms of cardiovascular disease risk or stroke risk,? Dr. Lydia Bazzano, lead researcher said. ?We also found that there was no harm in terms of all-cause mortality. Using the supplements didn?t seem to make you die any faster, which was good news,? Dr. Bazzano added.
Some earlier studies had associated folic acid with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. These studies found that folic acid supplements drive down blood levels of homocysteine, a sulfur-containing amino acid. Homocysteine has been associated with increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Despite their research findings, Dr. Bazzano feels folic acid is extremely important for other health reasons. These include the benefits it provides women planning to become pregnant or already pregnant in the form of prevention of major birth defects of the baby?s brain and spine.
Women are normally advised to take folic acid daily, soon as they plan on becoming pregnant as this is believed to help prevent so-called neural tube defects like spina bifida and anencephaly.
?Take it if you?re a woman trying to get pregnant, absolutely. But if you?re an older person who?s already had a heart attack or has any form of vascular disease, this is not what you should be doing,? Dr. Bazzano said.
?Really, what you should be doing are things like quitting smoking, increasing your exercise if you can, lowering your blood pressure, lowering your cholesterol. We know that those things have a major benefit and significantly reduce your risk of having a heart attack or a stroke in the future,? she added.
