Every day, it is said that middle-aged and elderly people should pay attention to folic acid supplementation, what is the use in the end?
Often there are readers and friends to leave messages to ask this question, we have also talked about the importance of folic acid before, but on the issue of folic acid supplementation, there are still many friends who have various questions and misunderstandings. For middle-aged and elderly friends, folic acid is one of the many nutritional elements that need to be supplemented, pay attention to reasonable supplementation of folic acid, what health benefits can be brought to the body? And what are the precautions? Today's popular science article, I will continue to talk to you about the things that supplement folic acid.
Folic acid is a B vitamin that is especially important for middle-aged and elderly people
In various types of vitamins, we will have a synergistic effect, similar physiological functions, all have a water-soluble class of vitamins into a large category, called B vitamins, and in the B vitamin family, folic acid ranked ninth, also known as vitamin B9, because the earliest in the early 20th century by scientists in spinach leaves found, therefore, also known as folic acid.
Folic acid is a nutrient present in natural food, but also a coenzyme that plays an important role in the maintenance of normal physiological functions of the human body, if you say professionally, folic acid in the nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) and amino acid synthesis process, play a role in coenzymes or co-reaction substrates, if it is simple, that is, the production of cells, the metabolism of protein amino acids, are inseparable from the substance of folic acid.
After the folate in food is ingested into the human body with the diet, it will first be hydrolyzed in the intestine into the form of a single glutamate, and then absorbed through the active transport of the intestinal mucosa, if the exogenous supplement is carried out in large doses, the folic acid will be further passively diffused and absorbed, before entering the bloodstream, dihydrofolate reductase converts the monoglutamic acid into tetrahydrofolate and methylates it, and the physiologically active folic acid in the human body is 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate.
With the increase of age, the intestinal hydrolysis ability, transformation ability and absorption capacity of folic acid in food will decline, therefore, with the increase of age, the risk of lack of folic acid in the body will further increase, especially some middle-aged and elderly people with absorption dysfunction, long-term heavy drinking, and congenital methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase low activity, compared to young people, should pay more attention to the reasonable supplement of folic acid.
Reasonable folic acid supplementation for middle-aged and elderly people can bring 3 health benefits
Middle-aged and elderly people should pay attention to folic acid supplementation, the body's folic acid is sufficient, what are the benefits for health? Let's talk about three main aspects.
1. Reduce cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk
I believe that many friends have heard of the word H hypertension, for hypertension problems, accompanied by homocysteine increases (blood concentration of more than 15 μmol / L), it is called H hypertension problems. Compared with ordinary hypertension, patients with H-type hypertension have a further increased risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, especially stroke, due to the common effect of homocysteine elevation, which deserves special attention. Hyperhomocysteine problem, also known as the fourth highest in addition to the "three highs", is an independent risk factor affecting cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health.
Homocysteine is an intermediate metabolite of amino acids in the human body, which itself has a certain vascular toxicity, under normal circumstances will be further metabolized into beneficial health amino acids, and in this metabolic process, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate is an important methyl donor, lack of folic acid, is to lead to the rise of homocysteine, so that one of the main reasons for the increase in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk. For friends in this situation, by rationally supplementing folic acid, the level of homocysteine in the body will be reduced, and the risk of stroke will be greatly reduced.
2. Reduce the risk of anemia
Megaloblastic anemia is a common anemia problem, which is not a lack of red blood cells in the blood, but a large, abnormally nucleated red blood cell that replaces normal red blood cells, thus affecting the normal oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. As an important coenzyme that promotes platelet production, folic acid may lead to megaloblastic anemia if the body lacks folic acid for a long time.
In addition to folic acid, the lack of vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and other B vitamins, may also bring about this anemia problem, which also fully illustrates the synergistic function of B vitamins, therefore, reasonable supplementation of folic acid, to avoid long-term lack of folic acid in the body, is also an important aspect of reducing the elderly megaloblastic anemia.
3. Nutritional nervous system
In terms of nutritional nervous system, B vitamins are also an indispensable type of nutrient, and folic acid is also an important member in it, as we all know, women who are preparing for pregnancy and early pregnancy to supplement folic acid can prevent fetal neural tube malformations, and for the elderly, reasonable and moderate supplementation of folic acid can also play a nutritional supplement to the nervous system.
Folic acid is an important nutrient for promoting the growth and development of nerve cells. In terms of clinical data, although it is not particularly sufficient at present, folic acid supplementation has also been proved in a number of studies to have a certain auxiliary effect on the prevention of Alzheimer's disease, the improvement of depression and other issues, which are related to the nutritional effect of folic acid on the nervous system.
Middle-aged and elderly people supplement folic acid, and it is important to understand two precautions
Earlier talked about the importance and health benefits of folic acid supplementation, but any kind of nutritional supplementation, is not more good, if the body is lacking, it should pay more attention to supplementation, but if long-term excessive supplementation, it may lead to certain health risks, folic acid This nutrient, although water-soluble, but also should not be long-term overdose supplementation.
If there is no lack of folic acid in itself and long-term excessive supplementation of folic acid, it may mask the symptoms associated with the lack of vitamin B12 in the body, causing irreversible damage to the nervous system, and will also increase the risk of anemia due to vitamin B12 deficiency; excessive folic acid supplementation will exceed the body's ability to convert it into tetrahydrofolate, and unconverted folic acid may be harmful to cells and may also increase the risk of certain precancerous lesions progressing to malignant tumors. If you want to supplement folic acid safely and reasonably, it is important to do the following two aspects of precautions.
The first is to eat supplements, if you often drink big wine, then first control the drinking is a very important aspect, in addition, in terms of diet, to change the habit of big fish and meat, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as cereals, beans, dairy products, etc., these diets can obtain a lot of folic acid, if the body's absorption capacity is not a problem, through the diet can be supplemented for the body with sufficient folic acid, do not have to take additional supplements, food supplement folic acid will not bring excessive folic acid harmful, is a safer way to supplement folic acid.
Secondly, if you take supplements, under normal circumstances, in addition to the treatment of anemia caused by a large amount of folic acid deficiency, the amount of supplements taken daily by middle-aged and elderly people, 0.4 mg per day is enough, the maximum daily intake of folic acid recommended by dietary guidelines for adults does not exceed 1 mg, plus the intake of folic acid in the daily diet, an additional daily supplement of 0.4 mg is enough, if there is a defect in the folic acid reductase gene, direct supplementation with physiologically active tetrahydrofolate should be considered, which may have a better supplementary effect.
The above-mentioned knowledge about folic acid supplementation, I hope to be able to play a certain role in helping the middle-aged and elderly friends to reasonably supplement folic acid, if you read this article, I think it is useful to you, and you are also welcome to forward and share more, so that more friends around you need these health knowledge to see, let us work together to help healthy aging science, and make a small contribution to the health of middle-aged and elderly people.