Folate Reduces Hypertension in Women

Folate Reduces Hypertension in Women

BOSTONFolicacid, well known for its ability to reduce the risk of birth defects, appears tohave another major health benefit for women: decreasing the incidence ofhypertension. According to researchers from Brigham & Womens Hospital andHarvard Medical School, higher folate intake from food and supplements appearsto reduce the risk of high blood pressure; the study was published in the Jan.19 issue of The Journal of the American MedicalAssociation (JAMA)(293, 3:320-9, 2005) (http://jama.ama-assn.org).

The researchers used two prospective cohorts from the NursesHealth Study, one of 93,803 women aged 27 to 44 years and another of 62,260women aged 43 to 70 years; information on dietary and supplemental folate intakewas derived from questionnaires and the participants were followed for eightyears. After adjusting for confounding factors, the researchers foundyounger women who consumed at least 1,000 mcg/d of total folate (through foodand supplements)two and a half times the recommended daily intakehad a46-percent decreased risk of hypertension compared to younger women consumingless than 200 mcg/d. In older women, higher folate intake reduced the risk ofhypertension by 18 percent.

In the food supply, dark green leafy vegetables and legumesare the richest natural source of folic acid; the U.S. government mandatesfortification with folate in grain foods, in part to help decrease the risk ofbirth defects. However, in the JAMA study,researchers found women who only got folate through food, rather thansupplements, had difficulty attaining high enough levels to lower bloodpressure.

Tracy A. Taylor, vice president of public affairs andcommunications with the National Nutritional Foods Association (NNFA), noted thestudy supports the importance of folic acid supplementation. Last year welearned that if just a small percentage of women of childbearing age took 400mcg/d of folic acid, it could save more than $1 billion in health care costsover a five-year period, she said. Now it appears this inexpensive supplement has thepotential to reduce health care costs by many more billions of dollars, sinceone in four Americans suffers from high blood pressure. This study is alsointeresting, given that the therapeutic benefit is only seen with the supplementform of folate.