Vitamina B9 Acido folico 400mcg

Vitamin B9, also known as folic acid, has a large number of beneficial properties for the body. This vitamin is particularly important for brain function, but it also plays a decisive role in blood circulation and vision, and influences cell division and the development of genetic material. Folic acid is used in a large number of treatments for anaemia, but also for many other conditions, such as spina bifida, diarrhoea, dyspepsia, gastritis, depression and arthritis.

Physiologically, only a small amount of folic acid is produced by the human body through the intestinal bacterial flora. The rest of the body’s needs must be met through diet, so those at risk of deficiency are strongly advised to eat foods with a high folate content. But it can often happen that due to dietary imbalances, various types of deficiency or increased needs such as during pregnancy, then specific folic acid supplements must be used.

As it is not able to synthesise this precious element, the human body needs a greater supply from food, bearing in mind that in the human body has around 12-15 mg of folic acid reserves, which are mainly stored in the liver and are only sufficient to overcome a few weeks of deficiency not compensated by the food we eat. In these cases there are numerous health risks, as the bone marrow and various tissues with high proliferation can be damaged. In particular, there are two main causes that can lead to this deficiency, namely megaloblastic anaemia and spina bifida in the unborn child. In the first case, it involves an increase in the size of red blood cells, which leads to considerable psychophysical fatigue. As for the second problem (which has long been addressed with appropriate preventive therapy in obstetrics), a child affected by this disorder would have a spinal cord that is not perfectly enclosed within the vertebrae and could suffer very serious damage, even to the point of paralysis of the lower limbs. Among the other risks associated with folic acid deficiency we also find cardiovascular problems, as it is well known that this situation causes an increase in the levels of circulating homocysteine, favouring the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Other disorders related to this deficiency include depression, lesions that form on the skin and mucous membranes, developmental and ossification disorders, infertility, mental retardation and atrophy of the lymphatic organs.

It is therefore undeniable that folic acid/vitamin B9 has numerous beneficial properties for the human body, starting with the brain, as this vitamin contributes to its optimal functioning, also protecting it against various pathologies that affect the nervous system.

Folic acid is a molecule that intervenes in the cellular synthesis of proteins, DNA and haemoglobin, and it’s worth remembering that haemoglobin is the factor that transports oxygen to the body’s tissues thanks to iron, therefore a lack of haemoglobin would create anaemia. Folic acid deficiencies in adults mainly manifest themselves with the so-called ‘megaloblastic anaemia’, i.e. lack of iron in haemoglobin and enlarged red blood cells, where in these cases folic acid supplementation brings considerable benefits. As already mentioned, folic acid helps to reduce the levels of the amino acid homocysteine in the blood, a warning sign that signals a potential risk of cardiovascular accident, so folic acid support is essential in case these values are high, as a preventive measure.

During pregnancy, the need for vitamin B9 increases dramatically and a deficiency can cause serious damage to the foetus. For this reason, in addition to the advice of maintaining a balanced diet, pregnant women are prescribed folic acid supplements as a precautionary prophylactic treatment. This supplement becomes a fundamental weapon for the correct development of the foetus, above all for the prevention of certain congenital defects of the neural tube, that is the structure that will create the nervous system and the spine in the first weeks of pregnancy, such as spina bifida (the spine develops two endings instead of one), anencephaly (lack of or incorrect cerebral development). Spina bifida involves problems of varying degrees, some of which can be corrected with surgery, while others cannot, such as paralysis of the lower limbs, difficulty in controlling the bowels and bladder, and difficulties in physical and mental development. Babies with anencephaly die before or just after birth. Folic acid also seems to play a role in the prevention of other congenital defects and malformations (cleft lip and palate, some heart defects).