Rediscovering the folic acid

Abstract

The largest variation of nutritional supplement is to conceive nutrients as drugs and this is the case for Folates. Folate describe a group of similar compounds that are chemically and nutritionally essential in the metabolism by acting as cofactors in transfer reactions of a carbon. They are considered essential because man needs to eat them through food and they are found largely extended in nature and specifically in vegetables, liver and cereals. The function of Folates referred to erythrocyte and leukocyte and to the prevention of damages in the child's neural tube during gestation have been studied. At present, is one of the most common nutritional deficiency throughout the world and it produces severe consequences on health. The supplement with folic acid has been demonstrated to be an effective measure on primary prevention of such defects if it is taken before conception and during the last years functions related to congenital malformations, pregnancy pathologies, cardiovascular health, the development of tumoral diseases and Alzheimer disease are identified. In this revision the authoress pretends to point out the folate function in human health. In many countries, ours inclusive, folate ingestion is low, even below optimum levels. It is a priority to raise the interest about this vitamin in order to increase the Folate levels, as well as to explore the possibilities of promoting other sources that are beneficial to health.