HOMOCYSTEINE DIET STUDY: EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT FOLATE SOURCES

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Homocysteine is a factor found in blood that has been found to be elevated among adults with heart disease, similar to elevated blood cholesterol levels. This relatively risk factor for heart disease has been found to respond to the dietary vitamin known as either folate or folic acid. There are three different sources of folate in the diet. One is from typical multivitamins, another is from breakfast cereals and others that have been with folate, and a third is from beans and leafy greens, which have naturally high folate levels. The purpose of this study was to determine which of those three sources of folate would be most effective in lowering homocysteine levels in adults with moderately elevated homocysteine. Sixty participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to be in one of four groups: Multivitamin, fortified foods, beans and greens, or a placebo group. After six weeks it was found that blood levels of homocysteine dropped the most for the group taking the multivitamin. The group eating the fortified foods did almost as well as the multivitamin group. The group eating beans and greens did no better than the placebo group, both showed negligible change. Knowledge of the form of folate found in each of these sources might explain the observed differences. In the multivitamins and fortified foods, the form of folate used is the smallest, best absorbed form of folate, whereas in the beans and greens the folate is found in a larger, more complex form, and is not as readily absorbed. In conclusion, two safe and readily available approaches for increasing folate in the diet were effective at lowering elevated homocysteine levels, but the approach of increasing daily consumption of beans and greens was not effective for improving this one particular heart disease risk factor.