Among nearly 39,000 Norwegian children, 204 had severe language delay at age 3. Mothers who took folic acid from four weeks before to eight weeks after conception reported a 0.4 percent prevalence, lower than among the roughly 9,000 children whose mothers took none.
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Folic Acid
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Heart & Blood
Eating Beans, Vegetables May Cut Risk of Coronary Heart Disease
A meta-analysis of 15 studies tied the highest dietary folate intakes to 31% lower coronary heart disease risk, each extra 200 micrograms a day to 12% lower risk, and the highest blood folate levels to 26% lower risk. The authors note the observational data cannot prove cause.
Vitamins
Folic acid for everybody -- arguments in favor of food fortification (pr)
Writing in Deutsches Aerzteblatt International, Wolfgang Herrmann and Rima Obeid argue that fortifying German foods with folic acid could prevent 85-100% of neural tube defects, about 800 pregnancies a year, and say evidence does not support the suspicion that it accelerates some cancers.
Vitamins
The brain benefits of folic acid
In a double-blind trial in rural Nepal, women took iron and folic acid, with or without zinc or other micronutrients, from early pregnancy through three months postpartum. Their children, tested at ages 7 to 9, scored better on working memory, inhibitory control and fine motor tasks.
Vitamins
Folic acid helps vascular function in female amenorrheic runners
Twenty female runners aged 18 to 25 took 10 mg of folic acid daily for four weeks; vascular function returned to normal in the amenorrheic group while controls stayed normal. Runners who under-eat can stop menstruating and see estrogen fall to postmenopausal levels.
Watch-List
Folic acid supplements raise cancer risk
Pooling two Norwegian heart disease trials with 6,837 patients, researchers found those given folic acid for about 3.5 years had 21 percent higher cancer risk, mostly folate-associated types, and were more likely to die during 6.5 years of follow-up.
Watch-List
Forced folic acid fortification not justified
Irish researchers tested blood from 20 mothers and 20 infants and found folic acid in most samples was not fully metabolized, suggesting voluntary fortification already supplies enough and that mandatory fortification is not warranted. The study appears in BMC Public Health.
Vitamins
Folic acid linked to reduced risk of preemie births
A University of Texas study of 35,000 women found those taking folic acid for a full year before conception were 50 percent less likely to deliver before 37 weeks, 70 percent less likely to have a spontaneous birth at 20 to 28 weeks and 50 percent less likely at 28 to 32 weeks.
Cancer
Folic acid may boost colorectal cancer risk
Since Chile mandated folic acid fortification of flour, colorectal cancer rates rose 162 percent among people aged 49 to 64 and 190 percent among those 65 to 79, a University of Chile team reports. Critics point to obesity, smoking and heavy drinking as alternative explanations.
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