Randomized trial of folic acid supplementation and serum homocysteine levels.

BACKGROUND: Lowering serum homocysteine levels with folic acid is expected to reduce mortality from ischemic heart disease. Homocysteine reduction is known to be maximal at a folic acid dosage of 1 mg/d, but the effect of lower doses (relevant to food fortification) is unclear. METHODS: We randomized 151 patients with ischemic heart disease to 1 of 5 dosages of folic acid (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0 mg/d) or placebo. Fasting blood samples for serum homocysteine and serum folate analysis were taken initially, after 3 months of supplementation, and 3 months after folic acid use was discontinued. RESULTS: Median serum homocysteine level decreased with increasing folic acid dosage, to a maximum at 0.8 mg of folic acid per day, when the homocysteine reduction (placebo adjusted) was 2.7 micromol/L (23%), similar to the known effect of folic acid dosages of 1 mg/d and above. The higher a person's initial serum homocysteine level, the greater was the response to folic acid, but there were statistically significant reductions regardless of the initial level. Serum folate level increased approximately linearly (5.5 nmol/L for every 0.1 mg of folic acid). Within-person fluctuations over time in serum homocysteine levels, measured in the placebo group, were large compared with the effect of folic acid, indicating that monitoring of the reduction in an individual is impractical. CONCLUSIONS: A dosage of folic acid of 0.8 mg/d appears necessary to achieve the maximum reduction in serum homocysteine level across the range of homocysteine levels in the population. Current US food fortification levels will achieve only a small proportion of the achievable homocysteine reduction.

Quantifying the effect of folic acid.

BACKGROUND: Folic acid is known to prevent neural-tube defects (NTDs) but the size of the effect for a given dose is unclear. We aimed to quantify such an effect. METHODS: We used published data from 13 studies of folic acid supplementation on serum folate concentrations and results from a large cohort study of the risk of NTDs according to serum folate, to measure the preventive effect of specified increases in intake of folic acid. FINDINGS: Serum folate concentrations increase by 0.94 ng/mL (95% CI 0.77-1.10) for every 0.1 mg/day increase in folic acid intake in women aged 20-35 years, and about double that in people aged 40-65. Every doubling of serum folate concentration roughly halves the risk of an NTD. These two effects can be combined to predict the reduction in risk according to intake of extra folic acid and background serum folate concentration. Such results predict that the preventive effect is greater in women with low serum folate than in those with higher concentrations. The results have also been used to predict direct observations from large randomised trials and the effect of food fortification. From a typical western background serum folate of 5 ng/mL, about 0.2 mg/day (the US level of folic acid fortification) would be expected to reduce NTDs by about 20%; a similar effect can be expected from the current British recommendation (0.24 mg/day). An increase of 0.4 mg/day would reduce risk by about 36%, of 1 mg/day by 57%, and taking a 5-mg tablet daily would reduce risk by about 85%. INTERPRETATION: Folic acid fortification levels should be increased. Additionally women planning a pregnancy should take 5 mg folic acid tablets daily, instead of the 0.4 mg dose presently recommended.