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Folic Acid Lowers Blood Arsenic Levels

Posted on: Monday, 8 October 2007, 15:00 CDT

Folic acid supplements can lower blood arsenic levels in individuals exposed to arsenic through contaminated drinking water, U.S. researchers found.

Arsenic is found naturally in some aquifers used for drinking and chronic arsenic exposure is associated with increased risk for skin, liver and bladder cancers, skin lesions, cardiovascular disease,and other adverse health outcomes, said lead author Mary Gamble of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that treatment with 400 micrograms a day of folic acid -- the U.S. recommended dietary allowance -- reduced total blood arsenic levels in the study population by 14 percent.

Folate, a B vitamin found in leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, beans, and whole grains, can also be taken as a vitamin supplement, and in the United States and other countries it is added to flour and other fortified foods.

However, the researchers found that folate deficiency is very common in Bangladesh, where the study was conducted.

Folic acid supplementation enhanced the detoxification of arsenic to a form that is more readily excreted in urine, Gamble said in a statement.

Source: United Press International

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