Folic acid supplements can reduce the risk of stroke by 18% or more, conclude authors of a recent article published in The Lancet. Professor Xiaobin Wang and colleagues did a meta-analysis of eight trials of folic acid, all of which had stroke as one of the endpoints.
Folic acid supplementation lowers the levels of homocysteine in the blood. High amounts of homocysteine are thought to increase the risk of stroke, as well as that of cardiovascular disease and deep vein thrombosis.
They found folic acid supplementation reduced the relative risk of stroke by an average of 18%. In subgroup analyses, an even greater reduction of risk was seen when the treatment lasted over 36 months (29% less risk); if it reduced the concentration of homocysteine in the blood by more than 20% (23% less risk); or if the patient had no previous history of stroke (25% less risk).
The authors conclude: "Our meta-analysis provides coherent evidence that folic acid supplementation can significantly reduce the risk of stroke in primary prevention."
Source: The Lancet, Jun 1, 2007
