06 March 2013
A new Chinese data review says that daily folic acid supplementation may reduce hardening of the arteries and decrease atherosclerosis risk.
The meta-analysis included data from 10 randomized controlled trials investigating the heart health benefits of folic acid, involving a total of 2,052 people (1). The study results showed that regular supplementation with folic acid was consistently associated with significantly reduced thickening of artery walls (carotid intima-media thickness, CIMT), particularly for people with chronic kidney disease or with a high risk of severe cardiovascular disease. The benefits were most significant when folic acid intakes were associated with the greatest reductions of high homocysteine levels, which have been linked to heart disease.
The researchers concluded that increased folic acid intakes are associated with less hardening of the arterial walls, which has proved to be a good marker for both the presence of early atherosclerosis and the degree of atherosclerosis within an individual. In addition, the analysis proved, according to them, that folic acid supplementation could not possibly increase the progression of atherosclerosis, irrespective of baseline homocysteine concentrations.
Some clinical trials including participants at risk of, or already suffering from, cardiovascular disease showed no clear effect from folic acid supplementation. Experts argued that short-term supplementation with B vita-mins cannot be expected to reverse the long-term development of heart disease.
10 September 2015
A new study has shown that, after a four-week daily high dose intervention, fish oils, fish oil ethyl esters and krill oil have almost the same bioavailability in red blood cells and plasma when levels of EPA and DHA are matched. There was no evidence that the high phospholipid content or antioxidant content of krill oil improved the bioavailability of EPA and DHA.
1 February 2009
“A recently published evaluation of data from the VITamins And Lifestyle cohort study discusses the connection between antioxidants and the incidence of lung cancer."
5 August 2011
According to a new study from UK, a protective effect of folic acid against depression outside pregnancy is particularly observed at women with the MTHFR C677T TT genotype.
