OT: This Vitamin Could Help You Live Longer

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Hey y'all,

 

This article is from October 2004. Butch

 

Eight years ago, the Food and Drug Administration ordered manufacturers

to add the vitamin folate to flour to help prevent neural tube birth

defects. It worked. These tragic birth defects have been reduced by

about 20 percent. But it appears there has been another, even more

astounding benefit. The folate in flour has markedly reduced the

incidence of cardiovascular disease, preventing an estimated 48,000

deaths a year from strokes and heart attacks, the Associated Press

reports of a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

Click to find out the foods to eat and how much folic acid you need for

the best health benefits.

 

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/homerealestate/package.jsp?name=fte/folicacid/fo\

licacid & floc=wn-ns

 

Folate, one of the B vitamins, is good for our circulatory systems,

lowering the amount of the amino acid homocysteine, which has long been

linked to heart attacks and strokes. The CDC reviewed nationwide death

certificate data before and after folate was added to flour to see if it

impacted the number of deaths from strokes and heart disease. (Since

deaths from both causes were already declining, the entire impact cannot

be attributed to folate.)

 

If you eat these 14 ordinary foods regularly, you'll live longer and

healthier. Click to find out the surprising list of must-eat " superfoods. "

 

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/homerealestate/package.jsp?name=fte/musteatfoods\

/musteatfoods & floc=wn-ns

 

AP reports the numbers: From 1990 to 2001, there were almost 26 million

deaths among Americans over age 40, including 8.2 million from heart

disease and 3.2 million from stroke. Stroke mortality, which was down

about 1 percent before folate was added to flour, dropped almost 5

percent annually afterward. In all, the researchers estimate that folate

in food led to 31,000 fewer deaths from stroke and 17,000 from heart

disease each year from 1998 to 2001. " The critical issue is timing, "

study leader Quanhe Yang told AP. " We expect these changes to be

gradual. We observed a sudden change around the time of the fortification. "

 

This food that is rich in folate can also help ward off blindness. Click

to find out what it is.

 

http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020121/spinach.html

 

Without even realizing it, we get extra folate from enriched bread,

flour, corn meal, rice, pasta, and other grain products. Just by eating

these foods, the amount of folate in the average American's bloodstream

has doubled while homocysteine levels have plummeted by 14 percent. What

should a low-carb dieter who shuns bread and pasta do? Doctors recommend

taking a daily multivitamin that contains folate. The study findings

were presented to a meeting of the American Heart Association.

 

Earlier this month, researchers found yet another health benefit of

folate--especially for women who drink alcohol.

 

http://webcenter.health.webmd.netscape.com/content/article/83/97590.htm?DEST=Web\

MD_contentSRC_nsmain