Vitamin B9 Folate Facts

Vitamin B supplements

B vitamins help the body use fuel. B vitamins are not fuel in themselves. The body actually uses carbohydrates, fat, and protein as fuel. B vitamins thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, and biotin form part of the coenzymes that assist certain enzymes in the release of energy from carbs, fat, and protein.

Vitamin B 9 helps the body make red blood cells and also needed to make DNA. Folate is critical in reducing risks of neural tube defects. The brain and spinal cord develop from the neural tube, and defects in its formation during the early weeks of pregnancy may cause various central nervous system disorders and death. Folate B9 supplements taken one month before conception and continued throughout the first trimester of pregnancy can help prevent neural tube defects.

Because high intakes of folate complicate the diagnosis of a vitamin B12 deficiency, folate consumption should should not exceed 1 milligram daily without close supervision.  Folic acid supplements can correct the anemia associated with vitamin B12 deficiency. Unfortunately, folic acid will not correct changes in the nervous system that result from vitamin B12 deficiency. Permanent nerve damage could theoretically occur if vitamin B12 deficiency is not treated. To date the evidence that such masking actually occurs is scarce, and there is no evidence that folic acid fortification in Canada or the U.S. has increased the prevalence of vitamin B12 deficiency or its consequences.

However, one recent study has demonstrated that high folic or folate levels, when combined with low B12 levels, are associated with significant cognitive impairment among the elderly.

In any case, it is important for older adults to be aware of the relationship between folic acid and vitamin B12, because they are at greater risk of having a vitamin B12 deficiency. Patients 50 years of age or older should ask their physicians to check their vitamin B12 status before taking a supplement that contains folic acid.

Folate in foods seems to have a positive effect on reducing heart disease, but supplementation doesn't seem to have the same effect. Folate may also be helpful in preventing cancer in smokers and drinkers.

Aspirin, some anti-cancer medications, and antacids interfere with the body's handling of folate. Occasional use of antacids and aspirin should not raise concern for the average individual, but continuous use may have nutritional consequences.

Also oral contraceptives and smoking can harm the body's use of folate.

Folic acid increases lipolysis in adipocytes and may have a role in the prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes.

In a 3-year trial on 818 people over the age of 50, short-term memory, mental agility, and verbal fluency were all found to be better among people who took 800 micrograms of folic acid daily, twice the current RDA, than those who took placebo. The study was reported in The Lancet on 20 January 2007.

Folic acid supplementation of 5–27 mg per week has shown to have a protective effect against rheumatoid arthritis.

Sources: 
Understanding Nutrition Eleventh Edition 

Books on Folate for further research.