Taking folic acid or other B-vitamin supplements does not cause any reduction in heart attacks, strokes, or deaths from coronary heart disease.
Supplements containing folic acid are known to cut levels of a protein in the blood implicated in heart disease, but recent research suggests that this does not translate into a lowered risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer or death.
Folic acid has been found to lower levels of a protein the body makes after eating meat - homocysteine - which has been linked to cardiovascular and other health problems. The connection seemed to suggest that the vitamin could also be a powerful ally in the fight against heart disease, as well as stroke and cancer.
The homocysteine hypothesis of cardiovascular disease attracted considerable interest as homocysteine is easily lowered by dietary supplementation with folic acid and other B-vitamins. To see if the theory was worthy of the hype, researchers collected and analysed data from eight large trials on the subject, involving a total of 37,485 people at heightened risk for cardiovascular disease. About half of the participants were randomly assigned to take relatively high doses of folic acid - ranging from 0.8 to 40 milligrams per day - and the rest were given placebo pills.
Homocysteine levels were, on average, 25 percent lower among the trial subjects taking folic acid supplements over the five or so years they were followed, compared to those on placebo. The researchers tallied a total of 9,326 major first-time vascular events, including strokes, as well as 3,010 cases of cancer and 5,125 deaths across the studies. However, no meaningful differences between the two groups were seen in the rates at which outcomes occurred.
Of the more than 9,000 first-time vascular events in the study group, for instance, 25 percent were in individuals taking folic acid and 25 percent in those on placebo. Major coronary events were also split evenly between the vitamin group (11.4 percent) and the placebo group (11 percent).
Taking folic acid supplements or adding folic acid to cereal grains is beneficial for prevention of neural tube defects. However, taking folic acid or other B-vitamin supplements does not cause any reduction in heart attacks, strokes, or deaths from coronary heart disease or stroke, the researchers concluded.
Folic acid has been found to lower levels of a protein the body makes after eating meat - homocysteine - which has been linked to cardiovascular and other health problems. The connection seemed to suggest that the vitamin could also be a powerful ally in the fight against heart disease, as well as stroke and cancer.
The homocysteine hypothesis of cardiovascular disease attracted considerable interest as homocysteine is easily lowered by dietary supplementation with folic acid and other B-vitamins. To see if the theory was worthy of the hype, researchers collected and analysed data from eight large trials on the subject, involving a total of 37,485 people at heightened risk for cardiovascular disease. About half of the participants were randomly assigned to take relatively high doses of folic acid - ranging from 0.8 to 40 milligrams per day - and the rest were given placebo pills.
Homocysteine levels were, on average, 25 percent lower among the trial subjects taking folic acid supplements over the five or so years they were followed, compared to those on placebo. The researchers tallied a total of 9,326 major first-time vascular events, including strokes, as well as 3,010 cases of cancer and 5,125 deaths across the studies. However, no meaningful differences between the two groups were seen in the rates at which outcomes occurred.
Of the more than 9,000 first-time vascular events in the study group, for instance, 25 percent were in individuals taking folic acid and 25 percent in those on placebo. Major coronary events were also split evenly between the vitamin group (11.4 percent) and the placebo group (11 percent).
Taking folic acid supplements or adding folic acid to cereal grains is beneficial for prevention of neural tube defects. However, taking folic acid or other B-vitamin supplements does not cause any reduction in heart attacks, strokes, or deaths from coronary heart disease or stroke, the researchers concluded.
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