Folic Acid Food source - Foods High in Folic Acid

Folic acid–containing supplements have become popular, especially for women who are ready to become pregnant. Folic acid fortified foods, including enriched cereal–grain products and ready-to-eat cereals, are the primary food sources of folic acid intake in the United States. Other food sources rich in folic acid are green leafy vegetables and liver. There are thousands of food products, including such widely used products as flour and pasta, that contain folic acid enriched cereal-grain components.
   Folic acid is a synthetic compound of folate, a B vitamin. You can find a Vitamin-B-Coenzyme supplement here.

Function of folic acid
Folic acid  generally functions in cooperation with vitamin B12 in many metabolic reactions, including the synthesis of DNA. Folic acid helps reduce levels of homocysteine. Folic acid functions as a methyl donor. Folic acid is found in almost all foods and the recommended daily intake is about 400 micrograms. The coenzyme form of folate is called tetrahydrofolate. A shortage of folic acid can lead to anemia.

FDA allows these two qualified health claims for Folic Acid:
A. Healthful diets with adequate folic acid may reduce a woman's risk of having a child with a brain or spinal cord defect. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences recommends that women capable of becoming pregnant consume 400 micrograms of folic aced daily from supplements, folic acid fortified foods, or both, in addition to consuming food folate from a varied diet."
B. 0.8 mg folic acid in a dietary supplement is more effective in reducing the risk of neural tube defects than a lower amount in foods in common form. FDA does not endorse this claim. Public health authorities recommend that women consume 0.4 mg folic acid daily from folic acid fortified foods or dietary supplements or both to reduce the risk of neural tube defects."

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Folic Acid benefit
Folic acid is a nutrient essential for the health and function of DNA. Relative deficiency of folic acid may occur in  pregnancy and hyperproliferative or chronic inflammatory disorders. Folic acid supplementation could prevent neural tube defects and in limiting side effects methotrexate. Supplements of folic acid may reduce the risk of colon cancer and perhaps cognitive decline. Folate is one of the vitamins that lower blood levels of homocysteine, which in turn is a thought to be a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Folic acid supplementation may be helpful in those who have chronic inflammatory skin diseases, such as moderate to severe psoriasis. For the time being, a daily supplement of 400 micrograms appears to be sufficient.
   high doses of folic acid, whether from supplements or food sources, improve endothelial function, which could potentially reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
 

Folic Acid Food Sources
You can get folic acid in beans and legumes; citrus fruits and juices; wheat bran and other whole grains; dark green leafy vegetables; and poultry, pork, shellfish, and liver.

Benefits of folic acid - Homocysteine
Folic acid reduces plasma homocysteine and may be an important therapy for preventing cardiovascular disease. A key mechanism in the benefit of folic acid in heart disease may be the reduction of arterial stiffness. Folic acid is a safe and effective supplement that targets large artery stiffness and may prevent isolated systolic hypertension.

Folic acid and Osteoporosis
Folic and other B vitamins seem even more of a wonder drug than anyone suspected: Already known to prevent severe birth defects and heart attacks, they may also reduce the risk of osteoporosis.

Folic acid and Cognitive Decline
High-dose folic acid pills might help slow the cognitive decline of aging. So says a Dutch study that's the first to show a vitamin could really improve memory. The research adds to mounting evidence that a diet higher in folic acid is important for a variety of health effects. It's already proven to reduce birth defects, and research suggests it helps ward off heart disease and strokes, too. But as people age, some decline in memory and other brain functions is inevitable. Taking 800 micrograms of folic acid a day slowed that brain drain, reported lead researcher Jane Durga of Wageningen University in the Netherlands. In the study, 818 cognitively healthy people ages 50 to 75 swallowed either folic acid or a dummy pill for three years. On memory tests, the supplement users had scores comparable to people 5.5 years younger, Durga said. On tests of cognitive speed, the folic acid helped users perform as well as people 1.9 years younger. That's significant brain protection, with a supplement that's already well-known to be safe.

Folic Acid and Colon Cancer

A suboptimal intake of folic acid may play a role in the development of colorectal cancer, which points to a possible role for folic acid supplementation in colorectal cancer prevention. In individuals with colorectal adenomas -- polyps that can be precursors to bowel cancer -- folic acid supplementation reverses so-called DNA hypomethylation.

Folic Acid and Stroke
After folic acid fortification of enriched grain products was fully implemented in 1998, deaths due to strokes dropped rapidly in the US and Canada. The main reason for folic acid fortification was to reduce the number of babies born with neural tube defects such as spina bifida. There is "accumulating, controversial evidence" that homocysteine -- an amino acid in the blood -- is a risk factor for stroke and heart disease, Dr. Quanhe Yang, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said in a statement. Folate decreases homocysteine levels, which may help explain the drop in stroke deaths. Yang's team compared stroke mortality trends between 1990 and 2002 in the US and Canada with those in England and Wales, where folate fortification is not required. Stroke mortality was already falling in the US and Canada from 1990 to 1997, but in 1998 a precipitous drop began, the report indicates. In the US, the annual decrease in mortality during the earlier period was 0.3 percent, whereas starting in 1998 the reduction was 2.9 percent. Similar results were seen in Canada. By contrast, stroke mortality rates did not decline significantly in England and Wales between 1990 and 2002. Source: Circulation, March 14, 2006.

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