Researchers favour vitamin B supplementation for warding off Alzheimer's Disease

See BBC News report. What a refreshing change to have medical researchers speaking in favour of vitamin supplements! All too often doctors intone that a balanced diet should provide all the nutrients necessary for health and so people shouldn't 'waste money' on nutritional supplements, despite the undoubted fact that many, many people benefit from taking vitamin and mineral pills. Healthy, fit professionals tend to forget that others may have difficulty eating because of ill-fitting dentures, for example, or may have difficulty shopping for food or problems in cooking it, etc.

It is such good news to learn that here is a positive step that can be taken against the increasing scourge of this feared disease that causes such great personal suffering, impaired quality of life and earlier death, and great economic cost to the nation. In the light of these research findings I personally intend to take more vitamin B6 and B12 and I'll think about more folate. And I certainly won't be going to see a GP for permission/encouragement to do so! since I do not yet lack the cognitive competence to recognise good sense when I read it!

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems associated with low folate levels in expectant mothers

It has long been suggested that healthy folate (the natural form of folic acid) levels in expectant mothers goes hand in hand with healthy nervous system development in their children. A study published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry finds that low maternal folate levels is linked to the development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity problems in children at age seven to nine years.
Read article at physorg.com

Vitamins may help coeliac disease management: Study

Daily supplements of B vitamins may improve the overall health of people with coeliac disease by reducing levels of an amino acid linked to heart disease, says a new Dutch study. A study with 51 adults with coeliac disease and 50 healthy controls found that people taking daily supplements of vitamin B6, folate, and vitamin B12 had significantly lower levels of the amino acid homocysteine, according to findings published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.
Read article at nutraingredients.com

Vitamin B and folate supplements could be the key to fighting the debilitating symptoms of migraines, according to new research.

Vitamin B and folic acid 'help fight migraines'
article in the Telegraph

Extracts:

"They "significantly" reduced the frequency and severity of attacks in a clinical trial involving 50 migraine sufferers.

Professor Lyn Griffiths, director of the Genomics Research Centre (GRC) at Griffith University in Australia, said the results of the six-month study were very positive.

The findings showed "a drastic improvement in headache frequency, pain severity and associated disability for those treated," she said."

"The success of the trial proved that "safe, inexpensive" supplements - rather than expensive medication that can have adverse side effects - could treat migraine patients, [Professor Griffiths] said."

Avoiding salt and salty food lessens the incidence and severity of migraines and other headaches.

Folate may protect colon from DNA damage: study

Low levels of dietary folate may increase the risk of DNA damage in colon cells, and ultimately the risk of cancer, suggests a new Anglo-American study.
Read article at nutraingredients.com

Caution is advised with regard to folic acid supplementation

Can folic acid cause cancer?
Article in the Telegraph:

Extract:

"Folic acid is the synthetic form of a naturally occurring B vitamin, folate. Women who have good levels of folate in their diet, or take folic acid supplements, are far less likely to have babies affected by the birth defect spina bifida. America and Canada started adding folic acid to flour in 1998 and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the UK has called for a similar fortification here. But recent research has linked high folic acid consumption with an increased risk of bowel cancer; the modest-sounding annual increase of one per cent could, in fact, amount to an extra 3,000 cases per year in the UK. Other evidence points to an increased risk of breast or prostate cancers."

""People with a high intake end up with unmetabolised folic acid floating in their bloodstream," says Dr Siân Astley of the Institute for Food Research in Norwich. "We don't really know what its consequences might be."

The recommended daily intake for folate is 200 micrograms (mcg), and most multivitamins contain this amount of folic acid. But it is also added to breakfast cereals, snack bars and some margarines. Official government advice puts the safe upper limit for folic acid at 1,000mcg per day, but the leading vitamin B expert, Prof David Smith of Oxford University, thinks there is now sufficient evidence to cut that down to 500mcg in general and 400mcg for cancer survivors.

"If you eat a lot of fortified cereals, you may want to rethink your daily multivitamin. Or you could stick with the vitamin pill and switch to wholegrains without added synthetic vitamins, such as porridge or muesli," says Dr Astley. "Fortification is an overly broad approach that increases everyone's folic acid intake, instead of targeting those who need it."

Cutting down on salt/sodium intake lowers the risk of most cancers.

You may like to consider eating more green vegetables...

Lack of folic acid dementia link

Extract from the article on the BBC website:

"Dementia is three times more common in people whose blood is low in folates, a form of vitamin B particularly found in green vegetables, a study suggests.

The Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry study followed 518 South Korean pensioners for two years.

There is growing evidence linking levels of folates - or folic acid - and Alzheimer's disease, though deficiency could be a symptom of dementia."

Should folic acid be added to bread to help prevent neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, affecting foetuses and causing disabilities in babies?

Support for folic acid in bread

Extracts:

"The campaign to add folic acid to bread in an attempt to stop hundreds of babies from being born with disabilities has been bolstered by research suggesting that the move was probably safe."

"Each year, up to 600 babies are born with neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, while several hundred pregnancies are aborted because foetuses are affected. Many scientists support the mandatory adding of folic acid, which contains the vitamin folate, because they say there is overwhelming evidence that it helps prevent neural tube defects. There is to be a three-month consultation.

Critics have described the plans as "mass medication"."