Folic acid supplements 'cut stroke risk'

Polly Curtis, health correspondent
Friday June 1, 2007

Guardian

Taking folic acid supplements reduces the risk of stroke by 18%, according to a large study published in today's Lancet.
The findings also suggest that mandatory fortification of flour, currently being considered by health officials in England, could reduce death rates from strokes.

Hopes of such a dramatic impact in reducing the 110,000 strokes diagnosed every year in the UK are tempered by warnings that supplementation could also worsen heart disease in those who are vulnerable.

The scientists, led by Professor Xiaobin Wang, of the Northwestern University Feinberg school of medicine in Chicago, collated evidence from eight trials of folic acid involving nearly 17,000 people which recorded stroke as one outcome.

They found folic acid supplementation reduced the relative risk of stroke by an average of 18%. An even greater reduction of risk, 29%, was seen in people who had taken supplements for more than 36 months.

The authors report: "Our meta-analysis provides coherent evidence that folic acid supplementation can significantly reduce the risk of stroke in primary prevention."

In areas that did not already have supplementation through fortified or partly fortified grain, folic acid supplementation reduced the risk of stroke by 25%.

Health protection officials in England are poised to recommend the fortification of flour or bread products with folic acid to reduce births of babies with neural tube defects such as spina bifida.

The research suggests that countries which have fortified flour or bread have seen drops in the levels of fatal strokes, which the UK has not yet experienced. But it warns there is still controversy over whether folic acid could also increase heart diseases.

Peter Coleman, deputy director of research at the Stroke Association, said: "We urge people to consult their doctors before taking any medication with a view to reducing their risk of stroke."

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