Don't forget the sprouts

Several decades ago, doctors often prescribed folic acid to pregnant women to avoid problems in the development of the fetus.

Illustration photo

Later, thanks to the discovery of folic acid's role in red blood cell production as well as ovarian function, this vitamin was widely used for infertile people, breastfeeding women, anemic patients, and children with slow growth.

Many physicians have long advocated folic acid supplementation for alcoholics because alcohol inhibits the absorption of folic acid from food.

Folic acid is named after the Latin word Folium - meaning leaf - because this vitamin is present in almost all vegetables. In other words, it is difficult to lack folic acid if there is no lack of green vegetables, fresh cabbage on the table... However, diseases caused by folic acid deficiency still exist in reality for the following reasons:

- In pregnant women, the need for folic acid increases up to 3 times higher than normal.

- In subjects with a very stressful life, the evidence is that the amount of homocysteine ​​in the blood, a toxic substance that promotes the progression of coronary atherosclerosis and leads to myocardial infarction, is very high in people lacking folic acid. On the contrary, the electrocardiogram of people with coronary artery problems improves significantly after a period of treatment with folic acid.

In addition, even a completely proper diet can still be deficient in folic acid if regular medication is required, because folic acid is a catalyst for the metabolic reactions of many pharmaceuticals.

Without enough folic acid, medications cannot achieve maximum effectiveness. The more medications you take, the more likely you are to deplete your folic acid stores, such as birth control pills, antibiotics, lipid-lowering drugs, pain relievers, antispasmodics, anti-tuberculosis drugs, blood pressure-lowering drugs, sedatives, liver tonics, and cardiac tonics.

Therefore, do not forget a cheap and easy-to-find food rich in folic acid if you have to take one of the above drugs. That is sprouts, combined with as many types of beans as possible.

According to Dr. Luong Le Hoang - Laborer - NT