VitaMist Folacin - A Product for Everyone.

Folic acid has to be one of the most underrated vitamins around. How many of us have heard of it, let alone know anything about it. But why? Not a month goes by without some report appearing on the benefits of folic acid. Not only that, but recently these reports have stressed the additional benefits of vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 when used in combination with folic acid. Many of these articles have associated folic acid with a reduced risk of colon cancer and cardiovascular disease, and, in combination with vitamin B12, folic acid may have a connection to Alzheimer's disease.

As long ago as 1992, the US Public Health Service recommended that all women of childbearing age who could potentially become pregnant should take 400 mcg of folic acid every day, either through diet or supplementation. Adequate amounts of folic acid reduce the occurrence of birth defects, such as spina bifida, which affects the spine and spinal cord, and anencephaly, a lethal disorder affecting the brain and skull.

Then in 1996, the FDA, a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services authorized the use on labels and in the labeling of food, including dietary supplements, of health claims on the association between adequate intake of folate and the risk of neural tube birth defects. This was followed in 1997 by mandatory addition of folic acid to all enriched cereal grains.

Perhaps the most exciting development has been the relationship between homocysteine levels (associated with risk factors in heart disease) and folic acid, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12. For example, a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that intake of folic acid and vitamin B6 may be important in the prevention of coronary heart disease among women. The evidence is so strong that the American Heart Association has issued an advisory suggesting that those with a history of heart disease make sure that they consume the RDA of vitamin B6, vitamin B12, and folic acid.

Is there a downside? NO! All the current evidence suggests that there is no danger of consuming too much folic acid.

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