The Orphan Vitamin
There are two important facts to know about folic acid.
First, it is an orphan vitamin.
Second, it has almost nothing to do with sex! (Although I always think of folic acid and sex together. And back problems, and sadness).
Folic acid is one of the B vitamins – like B6 and B12. All the other B vitamins from 1 to 12 get a number as well as a name. For example, Vitamin B12 is also called “cyanocobalamin”. (Just like 007 is also called “James Bond”.)
But folic acid is the orphan B vitamin. It never even got a number. Although it may be number one in significance to us.
Folic acid may be a big risk factors for heart attacks, strokes, and even depression. Even though it has absolutely nothing to do with sex. Almost. I have this theory that women should pop a folic acid capsule after sex, rather than smoke cigarettes. That way they would have lots of folic acid in their systems should they ever become pregnant. (I know that a lot of these women aren’t actually planning to get pregnant, but many of the babies I have delivered weren’t specifically planned.)
If a child does happen to occur, we would all wish for it to be healthy. The second most common genetic defect that children are be born with can be prevented by having mom take lots and lots of folic acid. The genetic problem is officially called “ neural tube defects”. This can mean anything from being born with a small problem with the bottom part of the spinal cord to a baby being born without a brain. And all of these can be prevented or made less severe by folic acid supplements.
The ideal amount is a lot more than you can get from diet alone. So folic acid tablets are recommended for all woman of child bearing age. And they are just like birth control pills -- the ideal time to take them is before you get pregnant. Although we encourage women to take folic acid throughout the pregnancy, and they are included in all prenatal vitamins, the most important time for proper development of the spinal cord is right at the beginning of fetal development – before most women have missed a period or have realized that they are pregnant. So folic acid and frisky frolicking fun should go together.
Folic acid is also good for grumpy old men. It can prevent heart attacks and strokes. Although it took an 8 year old girl to figure this out. In the mid 1960’s researchers at Harvard were treating a child with a rare genetic disease called homocysteinuria. Even though she was only eight, this young lady had severe hardening of the arteries.
Researchers now think that the amino acid that she had too much of – homocysteine – may be the cause of heart attacks in people with normal cholesterol levels. Having high levels of homocysteine in your blood can be as deadly as smoking or high cholesterol.
Homocysteine makes whatever amount of cholesterol is in your blood stream start clogging up your arteries. We know now that anti-oxidant vitamins such as Vitamin C and E will slow the damage from high cholesterol. Having high levels of homocysteine will speed the cholesterol damage up. A high blood homocysteine level is one of the most accurate ways of predicting who will die of a heart attack or stroke.
There are three ways of getting too much homocysteine into your body. One is from eating a diet high in meat, which contains a lot of it. The second is to have the same genetic defect that the young girl had. And the third is to be low in folic acid. If you are low in folic acid, your homocysteine levels will be high. If you take folic acid pills, your homocysteine levels will go down, and you will have healthy children and live a longer and healthier life yourself.
Actually, the best way to prevent heart attacks and strokes is to take folic acid, B12, and B6 all at the same time. Along with Vitamin C and E, and some low dose aspirin if you are at high risk, and a low cholesterol diet, and not smoking, and controlling your blood pressure, and …
Of course this gets a little bit depressing to those of us who don’t like to take pills. But the solution to that depression may be to just take more folic acid. The American Journal of Psychiatry reported last year that some people with internal chemical depressions unresponsive to Prozac could be cheered up by B Vitamins. They found that the lower their patients were in B6, B12, and that orphan B vitamin without a number, the tougher their depressions were to treat. With the addition of some multivits to their treatment regimen the Prozac started working a lot better!
So taking folic acid and the other B vitamins can help us to be healthy from around the time of conception to when we are grumpy old grouches --from stork to stroke. Definitely a health habit worth adopting!
Dr. Patrick Nesbitt
First, it is an orphan vitamin.
Second, it has almost nothing to do with sex! (Although I always think of folic acid and sex together. And back problems, and sadness).
Folic acid is one of the B vitamins – like B6 and B12. All the other B vitamins from 1 to 12 get a number as well as a name. For example, Vitamin B12 is also called “cyanocobalamin”. (Just like 007 is also called “James Bond”.)
But folic acid is the orphan B vitamin. It never even got a number. Although it may be number one in significance to us.
Folic acid may be a big risk factors for heart attacks, strokes, and even depression. Even though it has absolutely nothing to do with sex. Almost. I have this theory that women should pop a folic acid capsule after sex, rather than smoke cigarettes. That way they would have lots of folic acid in their systems should they ever become pregnant. (I know that a lot of these women aren’t actually planning to get pregnant, but many of the babies I have delivered weren’t specifically planned.)
If a child does happen to occur, we would all wish for it to be healthy. The second most common genetic defect that children are be born with can be prevented by having mom take lots and lots of folic acid. The genetic problem is officially called “ neural tube defects”. This can mean anything from being born with a small problem with the bottom part of the spinal cord to a baby being born without a brain. And all of these can be prevented or made less severe by folic acid supplements.
The ideal amount is a lot more than you can get from diet alone. So folic acid tablets are recommended for all woman of child bearing age. And they are just like birth control pills -- the ideal time to take them is before you get pregnant. Although we encourage women to take folic acid throughout the pregnancy, and they are included in all prenatal vitamins, the most important time for proper development of the spinal cord is right at the beginning of fetal development – before most women have missed a period or have realized that they are pregnant. So folic acid and frisky frolicking fun should go together.
Folic acid is also good for grumpy old men. It can prevent heart attacks and strokes. Although it took an 8 year old girl to figure this out. In the mid 1960’s researchers at Harvard were treating a child with a rare genetic disease called homocysteinuria. Even though she was only eight, this young lady had severe hardening of the arteries.
Researchers now think that the amino acid that she had too much of – homocysteine – may be the cause of heart attacks in people with normal cholesterol levels. Having high levels of homocysteine in your blood can be as deadly as smoking or high cholesterol.
Homocysteine makes whatever amount of cholesterol is in your blood stream start clogging up your arteries. We know now that anti-oxidant vitamins such as Vitamin C and E will slow the damage from high cholesterol. Having high levels of homocysteine will speed the cholesterol damage up. A high blood homocysteine level is one of the most accurate ways of predicting who will die of a heart attack or stroke.
There are three ways of getting too much homocysteine into your body. One is from eating a diet high in meat, which contains a lot of it. The second is to have the same genetic defect that the young girl had. And the third is to be low in folic acid. If you are low in folic acid, your homocysteine levels will be high. If you take folic acid pills, your homocysteine levels will go down, and you will have healthy children and live a longer and healthier life yourself.
Actually, the best way to prevent heart attacks and strokes is to take folic acid, B12, and B6 all at the same time. Along with Vitamin C and E, and some low dose aspirin if you are at high risk, and a low cholesterol diet, and not smoking, and controlling your blood pressure, and …
Of course this gets a little bit depressing to those of us who don’t like to take pills. But the solution to that depression may be to just take more folic acid. The American Journal of Psychiatry reported last year that some people with internal chemical depressions unresponsive to Prozac could be cheered up by B Vitamins. They found that the lower their patients were in B6, B12, and that orphan B vitamin without a number, the tougher their depressions were to treat. With the addition of some multivits to their treatment regimen the Prozac started working a lot better!
So taking folic acid and the other B vitamins can help us to be healthy from around the time of conception to when we are grumpy old grouches --from stork to stroke. Definitely a health habit worth adopting!
Dr. Patrick Nesbitt