Folic acid is essential for red blood cell production.

Folic Acid, Folacin, Vitamin B9, and Folate (the naturally occurring form) is a vital nutrient that's important for rapid cell growth and is essential for the formation of red blood cells. It is water soluble and needs to be replenished.

Vitamin B9 has no known toxicity, although a few people have experienced an allergic skin reaction. It's also a member of the Vitamin B complex. The word Folic comes from the Latin word for leaf, folium. The vitamin is commonly found in leafy vegetables. Dr. Lucy Wills in the 1930's found that vitamin B9 was an important nutrient that prevented anemia during pregnancy. It was equally important during rapid cell division in infants. It was found in Brewer's yeast and later isolated in spinach. It was later synthesized in the mid-1940's.

This nutrient has been brought to our attention because it has been found that anemia affects more than 30% of the world’s population due to nutritional deficiencies in folate, iron and vitamin B12.

I have noticed that the orange juice commercials talk about getting your folate.

What Folic acid can do for you:

• Works along with Vitamin B12 for amino acid metabolism and protein synthesis, and in the production of RNA,DNA and nucleic acids cell division and tissue growth, immunity, and production of neurotransmitters
• May decrease the risk of cancer formation
• Utilization of sugar and amino acids
• Aid in protein metabolism
• Improve lactation
• Protect against intestinal parasites and food poisoning
• Promote healthier-looking skin
• Acts as an analgesic for pain
• Increase appetite if run down
• Reduce the risk of stroke
• Decrease the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration
• Can prevent canker sores
• Prevents anemia

What can interfere with Folic acid:

• Poor intestinal absorption
• Can be destroyed by being stored, unprotected at room temperature for extended time periods
• Water, sulfa drugs, sunlight, estrogen, food processing (especially boiling) heat
• Taking Dilantin, Estrogens, Phenobarbital, Sulfonamides, or aspirin can lead to a deficiency of folic acid, cause anemia and digestive disturbances
• Hyperthyroidism
• Alcohol consumption
• Disease, chronic illness, infection
• Stress
• Certain drugs
• Ingestion of toxic substances
• Blood conditions
• Genetic abnormalities
• Excess blood loss from menstruation
• High vitamin C intake (increases excretion of folic acid)

Food with Folic acid:

• deep-green leafy vegetables
• carrots
• liver
• egg yolk
• brewer’s yeast
• cantaloupe
• apricots
• pumpkins
• avocados
• beans
• whole wheat
• dark rye flour
• wheat germ
• yogurt
• soybeans

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have observed that vitamin B9 in leafy vegetables protects the body from colon polyps and colorectal disease. According to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, these supplements provide even greater protection.

Research done in the 1970’s showed that large doses destroyed precancerous cervical cells.

It is currently being studied for reducing the damaging effects of smoking on the lungs. In 1986, the National Cancer Institute found that smokers who developed certain cancer-prone bronchial cells also had suppressed B9 levels. As a result, researchers at the University of Alabama, in 1988, successfully decreased this variety of precancerous cells in smokers by using a mixture of folate and vitamin B12. It is now accepted that insufficient B9 intake increases a smoker’s vulnerability to cancerous changes in lung tissue, while, as Dr. Hamburger of the University of Alabama observed, folate supplementation reduces the amount of injury to lung tissues as a result of smoking.

Folic acid is good for:

• Possible reversal of several types of skin discoloration
• Fighting illness
• Essential for human health; especially for a developing fetus
• For pregnant women, this nutrient assists the enzyme responsible for DNA duplication and is necessary for healthy development of the spinal cord. A vitamin B9 deficiency will slow the baby’s growth resulting in a miscarriage or brain or neural tube defects causing children to be born mentally retarded
• Should take before getting pregnant
• Short-term memory, mental agility and verbal influence
• Normal, happy people can become depressed when deficient in vitamin B9
• Nutritional macrocytic anemia, a deficiency disease
• Cancer
• Bone marrow
• Cataracts
• Low cholesterol
• Hemochromatosis
• Restless leg syndrome
• Schizophrenia
• Angina, is chest pain or discomfort that occurs when your heart muscle does not get enough blood
• Arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)
• Men who are planning on fathering children, to reduce chromosomal defects in their sperm

Dr. Kurt Oster, Chief of Cardiology at Park City Hospital in Bridgeport,CT, gives twice the RDA amount of folate to prevent repeated heart attacks, to reduce angina and the need for the popular anti-angina drug.

An article in Heart Alert asserted that B9, B6 and choline (all part of the B-complex vitamin) can reduce homocysteine levels in 3 weeks. Homocysteine (HCY) is a toxic amino acid obtained from pasteurized cow’s milk and red meat. According to an article by Dr. McCully in Atherosclerosis Review, HCY is a principal cause of arterial lesions, a blood vessel disease.

Amount of Folic acid to take:

RDA 400 mcg

More for planning pregnancy, pregnant, and breastfeeding women. Less for children.

It also functions as a coenzyme along with Vitamin B12 and Vitamin C.

PABA(para-aminobenzoic acid) helps form vitamin B9 and is important in the utilization of protein (Folate and PABA might inhibit the effectiveness of sulfonamides).

High doses for extended periods of time are not recommended for anyone with a medical history of convulsive disorders or hormone-related cancer.

A folic acid deficiency can be mistaken for megaloblastic anemia, with symptoms of cramps, irritability, tiring easily, and overall feeling of weakness.

Poor diet and malabsorption are common for this deficiency in the elderly and pregnant women and when you have a B12 deficiency.

Excessive Folate can mask a B12 deficiency .

If your deficient in vitamin B9, so are your antibodies.

Studies have found that folic acid is helpful for elderly by dilating blood vessels and permitting improved auxiliary circulation. It relieves the symptoms of peripheral nerve disorders, improves vision and skin temperature in diabetics.

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