With the gradual improvement of living standards and health awareness, everyone's awareness and demand for nutritional supplements are getting higher and higher, especially for middle-aged and elderly people, with the growth of age, the body's ability to digest and absorb food will decline, and the demand for certain nutrients will increase.
For middle-aged and elderly people, there is a nutrient that can be said to be very important, it is not only an important coenzyme for the development of the nervous system and the normal production of blood cells, but also an important methyl donor for amino acid metabolism, which plays an important role in protecting cardiovascular health, preventing stroke and dementia risk, etc., this nutrition is familiar to many of us - folic acid.
Folic acid, also known as vitamin B9, is a member of the B vitamins, is a nutrient that although the human body does not need much, once it is deficient, it will have an important impact on the health of the body.
Folic acid plays an important role in protecting cardiovascular health. In addition to high blood pressure, there is a very common phenomenon among hypertensive patients on the mainland, and that is the problem of elevated homocysteine levels. Homocysteine is an intermediate product of amino acid metabolism, it contains sulfhydryl groups, has a certain toxicity to vascular health, will strengthen the inflammatory response of vascular intimal cells, and promote thrombosis and other effects, for hypertensive patients with elevated homocysteine and blood levels of more than 15μmol/L, the risk of infarct stroke (stroke) is much higher than that of ordinary hypertensive people.
The active metabolite of folic acid is an important substrate for homocysteine metabolism, and the lack of folic acid in the body is one of the main causes of homocysteine. Therefore, for middle-aged and elderly people, reasonable and moderate supplementation of folic acid and keeping folic acid sufficient in the body are also important aspects of reducing homocysteine levels and reducing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risks.
In addition to protecting cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, folic acid has also been found to play an important therapeutic or auxiliary role in the treatment of megaloblastic anemia, the prevention of dementia, the reduction of the risk of depression, the protection of male sexual function, and the improvement of chronic kidney disease. It is precisely because of this that many middle-aged and elderly people pay attention to the supplement of folic acid, but there are also such and such misunderstandings about the reasonable supplement of folic acid.
Myth 1: Supplementing folic acid is enough to rely on food
Some friends believe that dietary supplements are sufficient, and folic acid supplementation is also consumed through dietary intake in daily life, without taking supplements. Dietary supplementation is certainly the basic means of reasonable nutritional supplementation, and it is also the safest way to supplement, reasonable dietary supplementation, without worrying about the risk of overdose. However, for some special groups, dietary folic acid is still far from enough.
Middle-aged and elderly people, especially those who have a clear folic acid deficiency, have digestive and absorption disorders, or have insufficient daily intake of folic acid due to dietary structure problems, and people who have been drinking alcohol for a long time are high-risk groups that should focus on folic acid supplementation. For daily routine supplements, choose 0.4mg of Silian folic acid, two tablets of 0.8mg per day, can meet the daily needs of the human body, and if it is a severe deficiency, has led to disease problems in patients, it is necessary to concentrate on supplementation with high-dose folic acid to correct the problem of folic acid deficiency as soon as possible.
Myth 2: The more folic acid supplements, the better
Some friends say that folic acid is a good thing and a vitamin nutrient, so it doesn't matter if you supplement a little more. In fact, this kind of thinking is also undesirable, and the principle of "too much" also applies to folic acid supplementation.
As mentioned above, people with folic acid deficiency should concentrate on supplementation, and for the daily supplement of folic acid that more people are concerned about, it is still recommended to choose a dose of 0.4mg or 0.8mg for supplementation outside the daily diet, and 5mg of folic acid tablets is not suitable for daily supplementation of folic acid. Long-term excessive intake of folic acid will mask the health risks caused by vitamin B12 deficiency, and excessive methylated folic acid will also trigger the body's overreaction, causing certain health risks.
Myth 3: Taking supplements for a short period of time is enough
Some friends themselves are people who need to supplement folic acid, but for the consumption of supplements, they always stop eating for a period of time, thinking that they have replenished folic acid for the body and do not need to take supplements anymore.
The fact is that folic acid itself is a water-soluble vitamin, and it will not form reserves in the body, we need to take folic acid reasonably and correctly every day to meet the needs of various physiological functions of the body, therefore, for high-risk people who need to do a good job of daily supplementation, it is still recommended to be able to do a good job of daily supplementation for a long time, and there is no need to stop using supplements casually.
Myth 4: Folic acid supplements, the more expensive the better
"You get what you pay for", "cheap is not good", such concepts are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and some expensive health products occupy a large part of the market for folic acid supplements, but in fact, will the folic acid health products of hundreds of yuan be better than the folic acid tablets of the pharmaceutical name? In terms of supplement quality requirements, production requirements, etc., the quality reliability of folic acid is much stronger than that of folic acid in health care products, and it is recommended to choose a product with a medicinal name for supplementation, which is an economical and safe and reliable way to supplement folic acid, which is more suitable for middle-aged and elderly people who need to supplement folic acid.
Myth 5: To prevent cerebral infarction, it is enough to supplement folic acid
Some friends have heard that folic acid supplementation can reduce the risk of stroke, so they insist on taking folic acid supplements, thinking that as long as folic acid supplementation, they can avoid "cerebral infarction", which is actually a deviation.
For people with high homocysteine and hypertension and lack of folic acid in the body, folic acid supplementation is of course an important aspect to reduce the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, but at the same time, reasonable antihypertensive drug treatment, control of blood lipids, blood sugar and other indicators to the range of safety standards, and maintaining healthy and good living habits are all important aspects that help delay atherosclerosis and reduce the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Regardless of the need for folic acid supplementation, the control of the above risk factors for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases is worthy of special attention.
The above five aspects are some common misunderstandings in the process of folic acid supplementation for middle-aged and elderly people, and I hope that we can supplement folic acid reasonably and correctly, protect cardiovascular health and overall health, which can be helpful, and we are also welcome to actively forward and share, so that more people can see reliable health science knowledge.