Folic acid was added to the diet as a simple means to increase serum folates in gestating sows. At weaning, 95 multiparous sows were randomly assigned to five treatments. Of these sows, 67 farrowed and were used for this trial. Three supplementation levels of folic acid added to a commercial diet at 3, 9 and 27 mg per kg were studied. A commercial diet without any supplementation of folic acid ...

An overwhelming body of evidence for a protective effect of periconceptional folic acid supplementation against neural tube defects (NTDs) led to mandatory folic acid fortification in the United States. The effectiveness of folic acid fortification in improving folate status has already been shown to be quite striking, with a dramatic increase in blood measurements of folate in the United State...

In 2008, planned folic acid fortification for the prevention of Neural Tube Defects (NTD) was postponed. Concurrently, the economic recession may have affected dietary folic acid intake, placing increased emphasis on supplement use. This study examined folic acid supplement use in 2009. A cross-sectional survey of 300 ante-natal women was undertaken to assess folic acid knowledge and use. Assoc...

BACKGROUND The bioavailability of dietary folate has been estimated to be approximately 50% of that of synthetic folic acid. Folate in the diet is linked to a polyglutamate chain that may restrict folate absorption. OBJECTIVE Our goal was to quantify the bioavailability and bioefficacy of low doses of polyglutamyl folic acid relative to that of monoglutamyl folic acid. DESIGN In total, 180 ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Folic acid modulates several disorders in humans. We investigated the effects of folic acid supplementation at varying doses on ulcer formation in the rat. MATERIALS AND METHODS Male Wistar rats were treated with 1 mg/kg, 2 mg/kg and 3 mg/kg diet of folic acid for 21 days. Gastric ulceration was induced by indomethacin, scored, and assayed to determine the concentration of muc...

Background: In the precent study, firm evidences indicate that folic acid supplementation during the peri-conceptional period reduces the risk of having a baby with neural tube defects. Aim: To ascertain the level of awareness about folic acid, its use during peri-conceptional period and the predictive factors of folic acid awareness among pregnant women in our setting. Subjects and Methods: Co...

BACKGROUND All flour in the USA is fortified with folic acid at a level of 140 microg/100 g which is estimated to supply an extra 100 microg daily to the average diet. Some researchers have advocated that this be increased to double and even four times this amount. Based on previous research these higher levels are likely to lead to the appearance of unmetabolised vitamin in the circulation, wh...

BACKGROUND Current thinking, which is based mainly on rodent studies, is that physiologic doses of folic acid (pterylmonoglutamic acid), such as dietary vitamin folates, are biotransformed in the intestinal mucosa and transferred to the portal vein as the natural circulating plasma folate, 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid (5-MTHF) before entering the liver and the wider systemic blood supply. OBJ...

We tested the hypothesis that methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T polymorphism, folic acid deficiency and riboflavin deficiency, independently or interactively, are important determinants of genomic stability, cell death, cell proliferation and homocysteine (Hcy) concentration in 9-d human lymphocyte cultures. Lymphocytes of seven wild-type (CC) and seven mutant (TT) homozygotes w...

BACKGROUND Endothelial dysfunction is considered as a fundamental and also preventable factor in the progression of vascular complications among type 1 diabetic patient. It occurs before the clinical manifestation of the mentioned complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of folic acid on endothelial function by measurements of adhesion molecules and von Willebrand factor...