Feels Like Summer I dubbed this summer The Summer of Folate a few weeks ago when I sent you an e-Alert with a cluster of new folate studies. But even though Labor Day is past and you'll have to put away the white shoes, that doesn't mean The Summer of Folate is quite finished yet. A new study indicates that folate is even more critical for postmenopausal women than previously thought. Over the course of many studies, folate has earned a reputation for helping keep the heart healthy, reducing stroke risk, and controlling homocysteine, the amino acid that promotes plaque buildup in arteries. Other research has shown folate to help prevent depression and cognitive decline. So it's a no-brainer - everyone needs folate. And looking at that list, we know it's especially important for postmenopausal women. In an e-Alert I sent you in 2003, I told you about a Harvard study in which women who drank in moderation and had high folate levels were significantly less likely to develop breast cancer compared to women with low folate levels. New research from Lund University in Sweden revisits the breast cancer/folate link. STUDY PROFILE * Dietary intake for nearly 11,700 postmenopausal women was assessed with diet records, a food-frequency questionnaire, and a dietary habit interview with each subject
* The highest average intake of folate was 456 micrograms (mcg) per day, the lowest average intake was 160 mcg per day, and the average intake was nearly 240 mcg per day
* Almost 20 percent of the subjects said they took a folic acid supplement (folic acid is the synthetic form of folate)
* Researchers followed subjects' medical records for more than nine years
* Results showed that women who had the highest average folate intake reduced their risk of invasive breast cancer by nearly 45 percent, compared to women with the lowest average intake. In a unique wrinkle (somewhat like the Harvard study detail about moderate drinking), further examination of the data showed that overweight women (a body mass index of more than 25) with the highest folate intake tended to have the highest level of protection. I'm sure many postmenopausal women will be encouraged to know that there appears to be at least one upside to carrying a few extra pounds. In the e-Alert "Life is Good" (7/30/07), I told you about a study in which inefficient metabolism of folate was linked to depression. But as noted in the e-Alert "On the Level," there's a folic acid derivative that's more bioavailable than a standard folic acid supplement. The derivative has a name that only a chemistry teacher could love, but it's marketed under the brand name Metafolin, and it seems to be metabolized especially well when a little vitamin C is added. In a 2006 German study, researchers showed that when a 343 mcg Metafolin supplement was taken with about 290 mg of vitamin C, folate levels stayed high for about six hours, compared to only four hours when Metafolin was taken alone. You can find more information about Metafolin at metafolin.com, but talk to your doctor first before using Metafolin or any other folic acid supplement. Of course, the best way to ensure a good folate intake is to eat plenty of folate-rich foods, including spinach and other dark green vegetables, citrus fruits, broccoli, wheat germ, brewers yeast, lima beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, brown rice, peas, sprouts, poultry, shellfish, pork, and liver from organically raised animals. Sources:
"High Folate Intake is Associated with Lower Breast Cancer Incidence in Postmenopausal Women in the Malmo Diet and Cancer Cohort" American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 86, No. 2, August 2007, ajcn.org
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