Monday, April 21, 2008

Folic Acid: How Much Should A Person Have In Their Diet?

If you haven't already heard the exciting news, folic acid (a member of the B vitamin family), is beneficial as a preventative measure against heart disease. Whether you are overweight and have high cholesterol levels, or are in shape and watch what you eat carefully, anyone can be susceptible to a heart attack if they have clogged arteries.

Clogged arteries do not become clogged in the way in which most people think. The latest research shows that if you have high blood levels containing homocysteine then this could be responsible for damaging the arteries.

Homocysteine is an amino acid that is found naturally in the body and when it builds up to excessive levels, you are at risk for a heart attack. The question than is: What prevents buildup of this amino acid? The answer: Folic Acid.

Went folic acid teams up with cobalamin and pyridoxine, it works very quickly to break down the buildup of homocysteine and sends it out of your system through the urine. This way, it cannot do any further damage to your body. When the homocysteine is not broken down and carried away by the benefits of folic acid, it spends its time in attack against the walls of your arteries.

How much folic acid should a person take to keep their homocysteine Levels Low?

At this point you are probably concerned about getting enough folic acid in your system to prevent your arteries from becoming damaged. Fortunately, it doesn't take very much of this B vitamin to protect you. Most people only need up to 2 mg per day. It may seem excessive in comparison to the RDA recommendations (which are much lower than 2 mg), but you must remember that the RDA is the bare minimum and everybody has different requirements.

If you are worried that you're not consuming enough of the proper foods that contain folic acid, you can find this be vitamin in any health food store as well as many standard grocery stores in the vitamin section. Before taking any supplements it is wise to consult with your doctor, however, research shows that you cannot overdose on folic acid. Whatever your body does not absorb and utilize it will simply excrete through the urine.

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