NUR 302 Concepts In Nursing

1.Folic acid is one of the forms of vitamin-B and it is mainly found in the fruits, peas, leafy green vegetables and in dried beans. The synthetic form of folic acid is used in various dietary supplements in order to meet the requirement of the body. The folic acid supplementation can be used to treat the cases of birth defects named neural tube defects that is disrupted formation of brain and spine. Anencephaly and spina bifida are mostly reported diseases (Czeizel et al., 2013). Supplements are generally prescribed in pregnancy. In some cases, it can be used to prevent heart diseases like stroke and congenital heart diseases (Huo et al., 2015).

2.Higher amount of folic acid intake can create various adverse effect in the body. However, excessive intake of folic acid will cause presence of unmetabolized folic acid (UFA) in the blood circulation. Moreover, excessive intake is associated with higher risk of cancer .The higher risk of cancer is due to the reduced response of Natural killer cells to carcinogenic cells. According to Krishnaveni et al. (2014) higher level of folic acid may cause obesity and insulin resistance in children who are in < 5 years age group. Lower concentration of adiponectin in the body is associated with the type 2 diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance (Patel & Sobczy?ska-Malefora, 2017). So it can be said that, the although folic acid is very much effective for pregnant woman, but enhanced amount of folic supplements can contribute to child obesity and insulin resistant along with increased risk of cancer development.

References

Czeizel, A. E., Dudás, I., Vereczkey, A., & Bánhidy, F. (2013). Folate deficiency and folic acid supplementation: the prevention of neural-tube defects and congenital heart defects. Nutrients, 5(11), 4760-4775.

Huo, Y., Li, J., Qin, X., Huang, Y., Wang, X., Gottesman, R. F.,  & Fu, J. (2015). Efficacy of folic acid therapy in primary prevention of stroke among adults with hypertension in China: the CSPPT randomized clinical trial. Jama, 313(13), 1325-1335.

Krishnaveni, G. V., Veena, S. R., Karat, S. C., Yajnik, C. S., & Fall, C. H. (2014). Association between maternal folate concentrations during pregnancy and insulin resistance in Indian children. Diabetologia, 57(1), 110-121.

Patel, K. R., & Sobczy?ska-Malefora, A. (2017). The adverse effects of an excessive folic acid intake. European journal of clinical nutrition, 71(2), 159.