B-Complex Vitamins – Folic Acid Health Benefits

Folic acid, also called folate, folacin or vitamin B9, is a vitamin that has widely been promoted as being beneficial for pregnant women. However, whilst folic acid certainly has been shown to be important for ensuring a normal pregnancy and preventing birth defects, it is also important for promoting good health in both sexes as it plays many vital roles within the body.

Consequently, most processed foods, such as breakfast cereals, are now fortified with folic acid as the manufacturing process of such foods can degrade the levels of naturally occurring folate. In western countries, a folic acid deficiency therefore tends to be quite rare as most people should be getting adequate amounts from their diet.

There are however, concerns that fortified foods can provide too much folate which can then mask the signs of anemia, an early indicator of vitamin B12 deficiency. As a result, some nutritionists recommend taking folic acid supplements instead so that one can control how much folic acid they consume on a daily basis.

Note: The difference between folic acid and folate is that folate is a naturally occurring vitamin found in food, whilst folic acid is a man made synthetic vitamin.

Why Is Folic Acid Important?

Vitamin B9 is part of the B vitamin complex (as shown below), so foods that naturally contain B vitamins, such as brewers yeast, will also contain folate.

•    Vitamin B1 (thiamine)
•    Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
•    Vitamin B3 (niacin)
•    Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)
•    Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)
•    Vitamin B7 (biotin)
•    Vitamin B9 (folic acid)
•    Vitamin B12 (cobalamins)

The B vitamins as a whole are an extremely important family of vitamins that work synergistic together, so it is important to consume adequate levels of all the B vitamins in your diet rather than just trying to load up on a specific few.

If you would like to learn more about some of the health benefits that the B vitamins provide, then please see the following two videos as the remainder of this article shall focus only on the health benefits of folic acid.

As with all vitamins, the physical and mental health benefits that they provide come as a direct result of the effects they have in your body. Therefore, in order to understand why folic acid is beneficial for promoting good health, we first need to look at some of its biological roles.

Blood

The oxygen in the air that you breathe gets distributed throughout the body via your circulatory system in red blood cells. This oxygen is then used by cells to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is essentially a form of energy that allows cells to function and carry out whatever role they have been designed to do. This is why you would die if your oxygen supply were to be cut off, as without it, your body would have no energy to run itself and so would essentially shut down.

However, just like how having no oxygen can kill you, not getting enough oxygen can prevent your body from functioning in an optimal state. Low levels of oxygen would be like trying to run an appliance that requires 200 watts with a 100 watt power supply. The appliance may still work, but it won’t be able to carry out many of the functions that it was designed for to its full capacity.

So how does all this relate to folic acid? Well, along with vitamin B12, folic acid is needed by the body to ensure that red blood cells are produced properly so that they can transport enough oxygen to your cells to keep them running as they should. Low levels or deficiency in folic acid can impair this process and lead to macrocytic anemia, which is a type of anemia that is caused by blood cells not having enough hemoglobin.

Since hemoglobin is what red blood cells use to carry the oxygen that they are transporting, not having enough hemoglobin will therefore result in less oxygen getting to your cells and ultimately less energy that the body can use to fuel itself with. The importance of this process should not be overlooked, because it is the very foundation upon which all good health is built.

Furthermore, in addition to being required for healthy blood cell production, folate is also required for the normal production of rapidly dividing cells such as those in your skin and esophagus. A deficiency in folate has been linked to abnormalities in these cells, such as dermatitis of the skin and cancer of the esophagus.

Circulation

The blood that circulates throughout your body does so through the circulatory system. If red blood cells are trucks carrying goods, then your circulatory system is the highway that they drive upon to get to their destination. If however, this highway were to contain road blocks, then the delivery of the goods that those trucks contain would be delayed, and in some cases, may never reach their destination at all.

Folic acid helps to ensure that your red blood cells reach their destination by keeping your circulatory system healthy. One way in which it does this, is by preventing the build up of an amino acid known as homocysteine.

High levels of homocysteine in the body have been strongly linked to an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease. Although the exact reason for this is not entirely known, it is thought that homocysteine degrades and inhibits the formation of collagen and elastin.

These two proteins, which you probably already know as being very important components of your skin, are also very important for keeping your arteries healthy as they are the main structural components of the walls of your arteries. Once your artery walls become damaged, the body then tries to repair that damage with cholesterol.

This process is just like when a road develops pot holes and then tarmac is poured into the holes to fill them up. Unfortunately, when this happens in your circulatory system it can lead to the build up of arterial plaque which subsequently reduces the flow of blood through the artery (arteriosclerosis), and in serve cases, can block it entirely resulting in a heart attack.

Ensuring that your diet contains enough folic acid via supplements or folate via food can help to slow down or prevent this process from occurring. It is also worth noting that low levels of folate, and high levels of homocysteine, have also been linked to an increased risk of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and bone disorders such as osteoporosis.

Brain & Nervous System

Perhaps the most celebrated and well known benefit of folic acid is its ability to prevent birth defects such as neural tube defects in newborns, and this benefit is largely due to the role that folate plays in ensuring the proper development and formation of new cells and its role in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis.

During embryonic development the neural tube eventually develops into the brain and spinal cord, the central nervous system. Defects in the developmental process can sometimes lead to the neural tube not forming properly, resulting in an opening in the spinal cord or the brain. When this occurs, it is referred to as a neural tube defect and can lead to disorders such as spina bifida and cleft palate.

The link between low levels of folic acid and neural tube defects has been well known in the medical community for quite some time, yet despite this, not all expectant mothers are aware of the importance of this vitamin which is why governments from around the world have taken measures to ensure that certain foods are fortified with folic acid.

The following videos discuss the role that folate plays in reducing the risk of neural tube defects in more detail.

Another vital role that folate plays in the body is in the production of neurotransmitters. Some neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, require folate, and other B vitamins, in order to be produced from the amino acid tryptophan.

Serotonin is known to play a role in mood regulation,  learning, memory and sleep. Low levels of serotonin can cause depression, difficulties in getting to sleep and aggressive behavior.

What Are The Health Benefits Of Folate?

The health benefits of folate come largely as a result of the effects it has on the formation and development of new cells such as red blood cells, and also as a result of the effects it has on the circulatory and nervous system as previously described. A summary of the main health benefits of B9 are summarized below.

• Plays a role in the production of neurotransmitters which regulate mood, and thus can be useful for reducing the incidence of mental disorders such as anxiety and depression.

• Important for enabling red blood cells to carry oxygen to the cells of the body.

• Assists in the synthesis of DNA.

• Needed for the proper development and formation of rapidly growing cells in the body.

• Reduces the risk of birth defects during pregnancy.

• May help to reduce ones risk of cervical, lung, colon, esophageal, stomach and pancreatic cancer.

• Helps to lower homocysteine levels and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disorders.

• Assists in ones cognitive ability to learn and remember new information.

• May reduce the incidence of neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

• Low levels have been linked to infertility in men.

• Acts as an antioxidant which helps to protect the body from free radicals that can accelerate aging and cause disease via errors in DNA replication.

• Helps to prevent anaemia.

Vit-B9 Videos

How Much Vitamin B9 Do You Need?

The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for folic acid is 200mcg for men and women, and 400mcg for women in the early stages of pregnancy. This upper dosage is usually best achieved via supplementation rather than relying upon unhealthy processed fortified foods.

Where Do You Get It From?

Folate is found naturally in foods such as meats, fruits, vegetables and legumes. When it is added to food or obtained via a supplement it is referred to as folic acid.

Folate is most stable in meats, as in grains and vegetables its levels can be reduced quite substantially via cooking.

Who Needs Folic Acid Supplements?

Anyone looking to promote optimal levels of health in their body would benefit from taking folic acid supplements. In fact, this may actually be the best way of getting folic acid as you will be able to control how much of it you are consuming each day.

Foods that contain fortified vitamins tend to be heavily processed and refined. This strips out the natural vitamins and minerals that food normally contains, and so food manufactures add synthetic versions back in.

However, these foods also tend not to be the most healthy of foods as they usually contain a lot of sugar and salt. For this reason, relying upon fortified foods as your primary source of nutrients is generally not a good idea if you looking to improve your overall level of health.

It is recommended that pregnant women take folic acid supplements at a dosage of 400mcg/day two months before becoming pregnant. Some nutritionists also recommend that supplementation should be continued for several months after giving birth.

What Causes A Deficiency In Folate?

Alcohol consumption, contraceptive pills, aspirin, medicines and some drugs can interfere with the absorption of folate.

Signs Of Deficiency

Some of the signs of a folic acid deficiency include:

• Anaemia
• Memory problems
• Skin disorders
• Sore tongue
• Heart palpitations
• Osteoporosis
• Infertility
• Excessive tiredness
• Heart disease
• Spina bifida
• Mood disorders

Best Food Sources

Some of the best food sources to obtain folate from your diet are:

• Chicken liver
• Ox liver
• Lamb
• Beetroot
• Brussels sprouts
• Black-Eye beans
• Breakfast cereals
• Spinach
• Peanuts
• Sunflowers seeds