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Two B Vitamins Improve Female Heart Health |
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High intakes of folic acid and B6 (pyrodoxine) can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in women by up to 45 percent, according to researchers at Harvard University.
During a 14-year period, Eric B. Rimm, Sc.D., and colleagues assessed the diet and health of more than 80,000 nurses. They found that 95 percent of the women who had the highest intakes of folic acid (an average of 696 mcg per day) and B6 (4.6 mg per day) had a significantly reduced incidence of heart disease. Women who drank one alcoholic beverage a day and had high folic acid and B6 intakes were at even lower risk.
The beneficial intakes cited in the study for both B vitamins are well above the current RDAs--180 mcg/day of folate and 1.6 mg/day of B6 for nonpregnant women. The study noted, however, that fortified foods may increase folic acid intakes by only 100 mcg per day and that even after fortification, 75 percent of women will still have inadequate intakes. Researchers also noted that food and supplements are equally good sources of folate and B6, but supplements may be the only way women can get helpful amounts of each.
--JAMA, 279: 5, Feb. 4, 1998
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