Folic Acid News and Research

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Folic acid is a B vitamin. It helps the body make healthy new cells. Everyone needs folic acid. For women who may get pregnant, it is really important. When a woman has enough folic acid in her body before and during pregnancy, it can prevent major birth defects of her baby's brain or spine.

Foods with folic acid in them include leafy green vegetables, fruits, dried beans, peas and nuts. Enriched breads, cereals and other grain products also contain folic acid. If you don't get enough folic acid from the foods you eat, you can also take it as a dietary supplement.

What role does dysbiosis play in Parkinson's disease?

The current study, published in the journal Revue Neurologique, is based on the hypothesis that dysbiosis, or unhealthy variations in the gut and oral microbiota, is a key component of PD pathogenesis.

19 Mar 2023

Researchers investigate the potential effect of folic acid supplementation on DNA mutation rates

It is well established that folic acid supplementation can significantly reduce the risk of birth defects, including neural tube defects like spina bifida, the most common birth defect of the central nervous system and the second most common of all structural birth defects.

6 Mar 2023

Review: Latest findings in the spina bifida-related care of many comorbidities

Open spina bifida (SB), a neural tube defect (NTD), also known as myelomeningocele, remains the most complex congenital abnormality of the central nervous system compatible with long term survival.

21 Feb 2023

How does early life diet affect a child's mental health and personality?

A recent Nutrients study investigated the relationship between maternal and child diet and a child's personality traits and mental health, i.e., depression and anxiety.

10 Jan 2023

New imaging agent lights the way for surgeons during lung cancer surgery

Surgery, especially surgery to remove cancerous tumors, relies on a range of tools and techniques as well as on the skill of the surgeon.

19 Dec 2022

Researchers identify micronutrient supplementation to reduce cardiovascular risk

Healthy diets are rich in antioxidants like amino acids, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin C, but exactly how beneficial these micronutrients are for cardiovascular health has long been controversial.

6 Dec 2022

Food supplement recommendations during pregnancy not always adhered to in practice

Although a majority of pregnant women believed that they were aware of the recommendations on food supplement use, the recommendations were not always adhered to in practice, shows a study conducted at the University of Turku, Finland.

8 Nov 2022

Prenatal exposure to high-dose folic acid linked to cancer risk in children of mothers with epilepsy

High-dose folic acid is protective against congenital malformations if the mother is at particular risk of having a child with congenital malformations.

27 Sep 2022

Supplementary folic acid associated with higher risk of COVID-19 diagnosis and mortality

In a recent study published in the journal BMJ Open, researchers investigated the impact of folic acid supplements and methotrexate, in combination or individually, on disease severity and mortality in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases.

8 Sep 2022

Mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid has potential to prevent neural tube defects

The UK Government's current proposal to fortify one type of flour with folic acid is inadequate as it suggests a low dose that would fail to prevent hundreds of cases of severe birth defects each year, according to a new paper by UCL's Professor Sir Nicholas Wald.

22 Aug 2022

Vitamin B12, folic acid supplements could potentially halt or reverse advanced form of fatty liver disease

Scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore have uncovered a mechanism that leads to an advanced form of fatty liver disease - and it turns out that vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements could reverse this process.

5 Aug 2022

Exploring association of fetal and infant weight growth patterns with impaired arterial health

A new study examined the association of weight growth patterns during infancy and fetal periods with carotid distensibility and cIMT in children who are 10 years of age.

1 Jul 2022

East African newborns nearly five times more likely to have neural tube defects

Newborns, whose brains, spines or spinal cords do not properly develop in utero, can be born with neural tube defects (NTD), increasing their risk of physical disabilities, intellectual impairments and death.

30 Jun 2022

Vitamins are a waste of money for non-pregnant and healthy Americans, scientists say

Drawn to the allure of multivitamins and dietary supplements filling nutritional gaps in their diet, people in the U.S. in 2021 spent close to $50 billion on vitamins and dietary supplements.

21 Jun 2022

Maternity Disparities Taskforce focuses on supporting women’s health before and during pregnancy

Minister for Women's Health Minister Maria Caulfield and Chief Midwifery Officer Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent co-chaired the second meeting of the Maternity Disparities Taskforce this week (Monday 16 May 2022).

18 May 2022

Inexpensive daily diet supplementation in pregnancy can reduce complications at birth, study shows

A six-year study of nearly 100,000 women in Botswana has provided new evidence that relatively inexpensive daily diet supplementation of iron, folic acid and vitamin supplementation in pregnancy can reduce complications at birth.

11 May 2022

COVID-19 may affect a group of biochemical reactions called one-carbon metabolism

A new study addresses the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 to the metabolism of one-carbon molecules in the host, suggesting new therapeutic pathways.

13 Apr 2022

Serum folate deficiency in older people may be associated with heightened dementia and death risks

Low levels of folate (vitamin B9) in the blood may be linked to a heightened risk of dementia and death from any cause in older people, suggests research published online in the journal Evidence Based Mental Health.

16 Mar 2022

Study suggests folic acid supplementation linked to increased risk for COVID-19 diagnosis

In a recent study posted to the medRxiv* preprint server, researchers evaluated if folic acid or methotrexate use impacts the risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) diagnosis or associated mortality in the United Kingdom (UK).

15 Feb 2022

Folic acid-like drug reprograms DNA methylome of aggressive brain tumors

A folic acid-like drug, L-methylfolate, when administered alongside the standard therapy for patients with recurrent glioblastoma, changed aDNA process within their brain tumors, according to results from a phase 1 clinical trial.

5 Jan 2022