Folic acid deficiency in humans has been linked with megaloblastic anaemia,
Research has shown that folate deficiency can increase your risk of some cancers, such as colon cancer.
Sometimes your body may be unable to absorb folate as effectively as it should. This is usually caused by an underlying condition affecting your digestive system, such as coeliac disease.
Folate deficiency is most commonly found in pregnant and lactating women, people with chronic conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, people following restricted diets due to weight-loss regimes or medical conditions, people with alcohol dependence and people more than 65 years of age.
Although it's uncommon, vitamin B12 or folate deficiency (with or without anaemia) can lead to complications, particularly if you've been deficient in vitamin B12 or folate for some time. Potential complications can include: problems with the nervous system. temporary infertility.
If you do not have enough folic acid, your body can make abnormally large red blood cells that do not work properly. This causes folate deficiency anaemia, which can cause tiredness and other symptoms. Folic acid will help you make healthy red blood cells and improve or prevent the symptoms of anaemia.
Over the past 35 years numerous studies have shown a high incidence of folate deficiency correlated with mental symptoms, especially depression and cognitive decline in epileptic, neurological, psychiatric, geriatric, and psychogeriatric populations.
It's important for vitamin B12 or folate deficiency anaemia to be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible. Although many of the symptoms improve with treatment, some problems caused by the condition can be irreversible if left untreated.
A complete blood count (CBC) measures three types of blood cells circulating in your bloodstream. The results can help healthcare providers diagnose cancer or detect whether cancer has spread.
Folic acid plays a role in the growth and repair of cells. Some studies show that folic acid blocks cancer in its early stages. The evidence for prevention is strongest for colorectal cancer. But getting too much folic acid could have the opposite effect by causing cancer cells to grow more easily.
Most blood tests aren't used on their own to diagnose cancer. But they can provide clues that may lead your health care team to make the diagnosis. For most types of cancer, a procedure to remove a sample of cells for testing is often needed to be sure.
The doctor might order a blood test to look for anemia (a low red blood cell count), which could be caused by the cancer bleeding into the stomach. A test might also be done to look for blood in your stool (feces) that can't be seen by the naked eye, which could also be a sign of bleeding in the stomach.
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.
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.
problems with the nervous system. temporary infertility. heart conditions. pregnancy complications and birth defects.
Folate has been found to protect against some cancers, prevent heart disorders and stroke, build muscle mass, form hemoglobin, and reduce the impact of mental and emotional disorders, says Improve Memory. Perhaps most interestingly, folic acid is also thought to slow down age-related memory and cognitive decline.
Folate deficiency has been associated with the presence of depression,1 may hinder response to antidepressants,1,2 and may contribute to relapse of depression. 3 Low levels of folate, a B vitamin, have also been associated with poor cognitive function,4 which is common among patients with depression.
Maintain immunity as part of a balanced diet. Studies show that deficiency of folic acid and B12 can change our immune responses.
The blood cancer 1st stage includes the enlargement of the lymph nodes. This happens because of the sudden increase of the number of the lymphocytes. The risk at this stage is very low as the cancer is not yet spread or affected any other physical organ.
Aside from leukemia, most cancers cannot be detected in routine blood work, such as a CBC test. However, specific blood tests are designed to identify tumor markers, which are chemicals and proteins that may be found in the blood in higher quantities than normal when cancer is present.
Stomach cancer can present itself in several different ways, such as difficulty swallowing, feeling bloated after eating, feeling full after only eating a small amount of food, heartburn, indigestion, nausea, stomach pain, unintentional weight loss, and vomiting.