Folic acid helps vascular function in female amenorrheic runners
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Taking folic acid supplements can be a cost-effective measure to improve vascular function in young female runners who suffer amenorrhea more likely than others, according to a new study.The study showed that oral folic acid supplements improved blood flow-mediated dilation in the brachial artery and increased blood flow to the heart in young female runnes who are amenorrheic.
Anne Hoch, D.O. at The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and colleagues published their study in the May 2010 issue of Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine.
Young female athletes may stop menstruating or develop irregular menses if they do not eat enough to compensate for the energy they expend exercising like running.
As a consequence, their estrogen levels may also be reduced to levels commonly found in postmenupausal women, leading to high risk of early onset heart disease.
For the study, Anne Hock et al. recruited 20 female colleagues or recreational runners aged 18 to 25 who did not use birth control pills during the study and had been running at least 20 miles a week for the past year.
The researchers assigned both the amenorrhea group and the control group 10 mg of folic acid per day for four weeks. They found the study group had their vascular function returned to normal while the control group maintained the normal levels.
Prevalence of amenorrhea in high school sports girls and women who run at least six times a week is about 44 percent, according to a press release by Medical College of Wisconsin.
Folic acid is found high in fortified breakfast cereal, orange juice, cooked spinach, asparagus, lentils, garbanzo beans, Lima beans, bread, pasta and rice.
David Liu
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