Folic Acid, and the
B Complex Vitamins

Folic acid (folate), along with vitamin B6 and vitamin B12, act as co-factors in our body to help the function of certain enzymes. Folate must be present for certain enzymes to perform their vital functions in the body, some of which include the reduction of free radicals. By interfering with oxidative stress, you can stabilize the nitric oxide in your body.

These vitamins also play an important role in cardiovascular health. The Nurses' Health Study showed that women who consume more B vitamins (either from food or vitamin supplements) had half the risk of heart disease as those who consumed less B vitamins. Folate plays a vital role in reducing homocysteine levels in the body. Homocysteine increases ADMA (asymmetric dimethylarginine) which damages the endothelium, thus reducing the production of nitric oxide. High levels of homocysteine are toxic to the body and a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Kilmer McCully, a Harvard pathologist, proposed an association between severe atherosclerosis and high homocysteine levels as far back as 1969, however, his hypothesis gained little support until the 1990s, when additional research began confirming his findings.

A brief history of folate - In the 1920s, there were a substantial number of deaths among pregnant women in Bombay, India. It was discovered that these young women had a form of anemia, which was labeled "pregnancy anemia." These victims tended to be poorly nourished from living mostly on bread and polished rice. However, they did not appear to be deficient in iron or other nutrients typically associated with anemia.

Desperate for some form of treatment, doctors began giving these women extracts of yeast and liver. Amazingly, the health of these women returned. It took more than a decade to better understand the reason for their improvement. Scientists identified a vitamin, present in these foods, as the key factor for the recovery of these pregnant women. In the 1940s, scientists were able to manufacture an extract of this vitamin from spinach leaves, and called it "folic acid" from the Latin folium, meaning leaf.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health wrote a review article regarding a series of studies that looked at a person's diet to modify the functioning of the endothelium. Their article, which was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2001, concluded that the "overall results of these studies suggest that folic acid supplementation has a beneficial effect on endothelial function...in healthy subjects or patients with elevated homocysteine." The scientists stated that this benefit "is probably explained largely by the homocysteine-lowering effect of folic acid," although they also said that folate is found to have some antioxidant properties in laboratory research and "may directly improve nitric-oxide production by enhancing enzymatic activity of nitric-oxide synthase."

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