When you have anemia, your blood can't bring enough oxygen to all your tissues and organs. Without enough oxygen, your body can't work as well as it should. Low levels of folic acid can cause megaloblastic anemia. With this condition, red blood cells are larger than normal.
Although it's uncommon, vitamin B12 or folate deficiency (with or without anaemia) can lead to complications, particularly if you have been deficient in vitamin B12 or folate for some time. Potential complications can include: problems with the nervous system. temporary infertility.
Folate deficiency caused by a lack of dietary folate is more common in people who have a generally unbalanced and unhealthy diet, people who regularly misuse alcohol, and people following a restrictive diet that does not involve eating good sources of folate.
If your anemia is caused by not having enough folate in your body, you could also notice the following: Reduced sense of taste. Diarrhea. Pins and needles feeling or numbness in your hands and feet.
Common symptoms of folate deficiency can include: Tiredness, fatigue and lethargy. Muscle weakness. Neurological signs, such as a feeling of pins and needles, tingling, or burning, or peripheral neuropathy, i.e. a numbness in the extremities.
Deregulation of folate metabolism is associated with diverse metabolic alterations, including insulin resistance [8], metabolic syndrome [9], fatty liver disease [10] and lipoprotein profile imbalance [11]. Furthermore, folate deficiency may lead to body weight gain and adiposity [12].
Is there any food or drink I need to avoid? You can eat and drink normally while taking folic acid.
Vitamin B12 is an especially important vitamin for maintaining healthy nerve cells, and it helps in the production of DNA and RNA, the body's genetic material. Vitamin B12 works closely with vitamin B9, also called folate or folic acid, to help make red blood cells and to help iron work better in the body.
Folate-deficiency anemia most often responds well to treatment within 3 to 6 months. It will likely get better when the underlying cause of the deficiency is treated.
Folate helps the body make healthy red blood cells and is found in certain foods. Folic acid is used to: treat or prevent folate deficiency anaemia. help your baby's brain, skull and spinal cord develop properly in pregnancy, to avoid development problems (called neural tube defects) such as spina bifida.
We have found that your blood folic acid (Vitamin B9) levels are low. A lack of folic acid may be a cause of anaemia. Anaemia means you have fewer red blood cells than normal. Folic acid is a vitamin and is needed to make new cells in the body, including red blood cells. The body does not store very much folic acid.
If you're planning to have a baby, it's important that you take folic acid tablets for two to three months before you conceive. This allows it to build up in your body to a level that gives the most protection to your future baby against neural tube defects, such as spina bifida.
Because the body stores only a small amount of folate, a diet lacking in folate leads to a deficiency within a few months. Not eating enough raw leafy vegetables and citrus fruits can cause folate deficiency. Anemia can develop, causing fatigue, paleness, irritability, shortness of breath, and dizziness.
If you do not get enough folic acid before and during pregnancy, your baby is at higher risk for neural tube defects. Neural tube defects are serious birth defects that affect the spine, spinal cord, or brain and may cause death.
Many fruits contain folic acid, but citrus fruits rank highest — oranges are especially high in the vitamin. Other folate-rich fruits include grapefruit, papayas, grapes, bananas, strawberries, raspberries and cantaloupe.
Abdominal fat morphology results showed that adipocyte area and diameter were smaller in the folic acid group when compared with the control group. Similarly, Oil Red O staining also revealed that folic acid addition reduced lipid content of abdominal fat, corresponding to the reduction of abdominal fat percentage.
Vitamin B9, also called folate or folic acid, is one of 8 B vitamins. All B vitamins help the body convert food (carbohydrates) into fuel (glucose), which is used to produce energy. These B vitamins, often referred to as B-complex vitamins, also help the body use fats and protein.
For this reason, those taking folic acid supplements need to take one every day. There is no need to take the supplement at a specific time of day or with a meal. However, developing a habit, such as taking a prenatal vitamin every morning with breakfast, may make it easier to remember to take folic acid.
Folic acid does have a variety of useful purposes, and doctors may recommend folic acid supplementation. Studies have found that folic acid deficiency may lead to anxiety and depression, and some studies claim that folic acid may reduce depression when taken in conjunction with vitamin B12.
The terms “folic acid” and “folate” often are used interchangeably. However, folate is a general term used to describe the many different forms of vitamin B9: folic acid, dihydrofolate (DHF), tetrahydrofolate (THF), 5, 10-methylenetetrahydrofolate (5, 10-MTHF), and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) 1.
Folate deficiency causes anemia, and stages of folate inadequacy are most evident in the hematopoietic system. Stage I (negative folate balance) is manifest with lowered plasma or serum folate <3ng/ml. In stage II folate deficiency, the red blood cell level is <160 ng/ml.