Lee Swanson Research Update

Study Shows Folic Acid Likely to Help Maintain Healthy Homocysteine Levels

December 2010

Daily doses of folic acid as low as 0.2 mg are sufficient to lower homocysteine levels—an amino acid metabolite linked to increased risks of heart disease and dementia, says a new study.

Researchers supplemented the diets of 101 subjects with heart disease and 71 without the condition with varying doses of folic acid, ranging from 0.2 mg to 0.8 mg per week for six months. The study showed that the lowest dose was adequate to lower homocysteine levels.

"The potency of folic acid at low doses given chronically, as demonstrated in this study, should not be underestimated, and it is possible that doses lower than those investigated here would also be effective over a longer time period," reported researchers led by Helene McNulty from the University of Ulster, Coleraine in Northern Ireland.

McNulty and her co-workers conducted their double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with 101 adults with heart disease (average age 64) and 71 adults free of the disease (average age 60). Participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups, and received daily supplements containing 0, 0.2, 0.4, or 0.8 mg folic acid.

After 26 weeks of intervention the researchers reported that the higher doses of folic acid produced higher blood levels of the B vitamin. However, there were no significant differences between the homocysteine reductions in the 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8 mg per-day groups.

The greatest homocysteine reductions were observed in individuals with the highest levels of the amino acid metabolite at the start of the study, the researchers added.

"The finding in this study that 0.2 mg folic acid per day given for 26 weeks was effective at lowering homocysteine is important for emerging folic acid fortification policy," the researchers said.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Published online ahead of print.

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