Nutraceuticals and nootropics for anti-aging

Folic acid shown to prevent strokes

Folic acid supplementation has been in the news on a regular basis for years. It was shown in the 1980s that certain kinds of birth defects (such as spina bifida) are caused by a deficiency of folic acid during the mothers’ pregnancies. The fortification of baking flour with folic acid put an end to most of these birth defects.

More recently, folic acid supplements have made the news repeatedly as researchers have found them beneficial in preventing or treating a host of other ailments:

• neuroblastoma (a cancer of the nervous system)
• cardiovascular disease (by reducing homocysteine production)
• dementia (by reducing risk of stroke)
• cleft lip and palate
• leukemia in newborns
• side effects of methotrexate in treating rheumatoid arthritis

The use of folic acid to reduce the risk of strokes has been suggested both by its ability to lower the body’s homocysteine production and by epidemiological studies correlating folic acid consumption with lower stroke risk. Now a very large epidemiological study has confirmed that the risk of stroke has declined by 10 to 15 percent with the fortification of flour with folic acid.

Link to a news story:

Flour ingredient prevents strokes

---

LifeLink carries Folic Acid in 5 mg capsules.