“Knowing how to eat” is power | Research finds: Eat enough of this nutrition to fight aging and prolong life!

Expert interviewed: Chen Mengting, PhD, nutritionist, Department of Nutrition, Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Chongqing University

Folic acid is a water-soluble vitamin that participates in many biochemical reactions in the body. The human body cannot synthesize folic acid itself and must obtain it from the outside, mainly including natural folic acid in food and synthetic folic acid supplements. Some people think that taking supplements is simple and efficient, but recently, a new study published in the British journal Food and Function showed that if you want to achieve the purpose of prolonging life, only consuming more natural folic acid is effective.

The study included nearly 20,000 participants in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Researchers from Harbin Medical University evaluated folic acid intake from different sources through a 24-hour dietary recall survey, and divided the participants into four groups accordingly: a low-folate group, a high-folate dietary group, a mixed high-folate group, and a mixed-folate excess group. The folic acid in the first two groups mainly came from natural foods, and the latter two groups came from natural foods and supplements. The researchers determined the biological age of the participants and analyzed the relationship between the source, intake, and aging of folic acid. The results showed that natural folic acid intake was negatively correlated with biological age. Specifically, compared with the low-folate group, the high-folate dietary group had a lower biological age, but the mixed-high-folate group and the mixed-folate excess group had no advantage in this regard. In other words, only natural folic acid in food can have an anti-aging effect, and folic acid supplements do not have such a function, even if the dose is increased.

Chen Mengting, a nutritionist and doctor at the Nutrition Department of the Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Chongqing University, said in an interview with the "Global Times Health Client" reporter that with age, the biological aging process of the human body gradually accelerates. This process not only involves appearance, but also includes complex changes at the cellular and molecular levels. As an important B vitamin, folic acid can first maintain the stability of the genome and delay cell aging by participating in the synthesis and repair of DNA. Secondly, folic acid can slow down the shortening of telomeres. Telomeres are protective structures at the ends of chromosomes, and their length gradually shortens with age, leading to cell aging and functional decline. Finally, folic acid can reduce chronic inflammation by regulating the methylation state of DNA and affecting the expression of inflammatory genes; participating in one-carbon metabolism helps maintain normal metabolic balance and reduce the risk of metabolic disorders. Therefore, appropriate supplementation of folic acid can provide strong support for delaying aging and reduce the risk of age-related diseases.
Chen Mengting explained that the reason why natural folic acid has a significantly better anti-aging effect than supplements may be that folic acid supplements produce products such as tetrahydrofolate during metabolism, which have adverse effects on health. In contrast, folic acid in natural foods mainly exists in the form of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, which is easier to be absorbed and utilized by the body and has fewer metabolites, so it has a better anti-aging effect.

The main dietary sources of folic acid include green leafy vegetables such as spinach, rapeseed, and lettuce, fruits such as oranges, strawberries, and cherries, as well as animal liver, eggs, beans, nuts, and grains. It is worth noting that folic acid is easily degraded during cooking, and it is recommended to adopt light cooking or raw food to retain more nutrients. The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)" recommends that adults consume 400 micrograms of folic acid per day, and the maximum tolerable intake is 1000 micrograms per day. Excessive intake may have negative health effects, such as increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. Therefore, the best anti-aging strategy is to consume sufficient natural folic acid through diet while ensuring that the total intake does not exceed the upper limit.

Certain groups of people may need additional folic acid supplements. For example, my country has recommended folic acid supplements to women of childbearing age since 2010 to prevent neural tube defects in the fetus; smokers have higher folic acid consumption and need to consume more to maintain a healthy level. Even in these cases, people should pay attention to the intake of natural folic acid and should not rely entirely on supplements.