A simple vitamin deficiency could trigger 30% to 40% of the
heart attacks and strokes suffered by American men each year,
a researcher reported.
This startling revelation, emerging from a few dozen new
studies, means that vitamin supplements might prevent many of
those heart attacks, saving the country untold suffering and
billions of dollars in medical costs.
The vitamin is folic acid, heralded in recent years for its
critical role in preventing birth defects.
"This is so new there aren't recommendations," said Dr.
Judith Hall, a geneticist at the University of British
Columbia. She described the new findings at a genetics meeting
at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine.
Hall, who specializes in the study of folic acid and birth
defects, has called for the addition of folic acid to wheat,
rice and corn to prevent birth defects, just as iodine is
added to salt and vitamin D is added to milk to prevent other
deficiencies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now
considering such a move.
Studies have shown that ensuring adequate folic acid levels
in women when they get pregnant could cut the rate of birth
defects in half. The job could be accomplished at a cost of
about 1 cent per person per day, Hall said.
The importance of folic acid is now growing even more as
studies begin to suggest that folic acid might likewise
produce reductions of up to 40% in heart attacks and strokes.
While the link to heart disease isn't proven, Hall and
others are suggesting that boosting folic acid intake should
be done now, even before more conclusive studies are done.
Dr. Jacob Selhub, the author of a February 1995 paper
published in the New England Journal of Medicine that linked
folic acid deficiencies to increased risk of strokes, was more
conservative than Hall, estimating that folic acid
deficiencies might be responsible for 15% to 20% of heart
attacks and strokes.
But both agreed that the link between folic acid and heart
disease was very strong.
"These studies have been repeated 30 or 40 times by many
other people," Selhub said in a telephone interview. He is the
director of the vitamin metabolism laboratory at Tufts
University's Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center
on Aging.
In a recent discussion of the studies, Dr. Meier J.
Stampfer of the Harvard School of Public Health, an authority
on heart disease risks, said "it will be prudent to ensure
adequate dietary intake" of folic acid because "the weight of
the evidence is substantial."
The researchers noted, however, that it is still important
to control fat and cholesterol in the diet, because they are
separate risks for heart disease. Ensuring adequate folic acid
levels will not protect against the evils of an unhealthy
diet.
Folic acid is found in green leafy vegetables such as
brussels sprouts, spinach and lettuce, and in many fruits,
including apples and oranges. It is also available in most
common multiple vitamin supplements, Hall said.
Selhub's study and others published in recent months have
shown that high levels of a natural substance called
homocysteine - which has many roles in the body - are
associated with an increased risk of heart attacks and
strokes.
The studies suggest that the higher the level of
homocysteine, the greater the risk of heart attacks and
strokes. Increasing the amount of folic acid in the diet
reduces the level of homocysteine.
About 400 micrograms of folic acid per day seems to be
enough to lower homocysteine to a safe level, Hall said,
protecting against heart attacks, strokes and birth defects.
By The Associated Press
09/04/97
