Folate’s added benefit

Taking folic acid supplements -- along with eating more foods high in folate, such as oranges, leafy greens and fortified grains -- may help some women reduce their risk of hypertension.

The possible link between folate consumption and lower blood pressure was found by researchers culling results from questionnaires returned by nurses participating in an ongoing study of women’s health habits. The results were from an eight-year period in the 1990s. The report was published in the Jan. 19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Among younger women, those who took more than 1,000 micrograms of folate daily had 6.7 cases of hypertension per 1,000 women, compared with 14.8 cases per 1,000 women in those who took less than 200 micrograms -- suggesting that eight women per 1,000 might have avoided high blood pressure if they had consumed more folate. Among older women, taking more than 1,000 micrograms per day of folate appeared to prevent about six cases of hypertension per 1,000 women.

However, the researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston cautioned that they weren’t ready to recommend that women start increasing their folate intake.

Further, food makers began supplementing packaged products with folic acid in the mid- to late 1990s. Most women in the latter part of the study probably would have been consuming more than 200 micrograms a day, the study said.