Vitamin B and Folic Acid

In a discussion of the importance vitamin B, folic acid is nearly always included. Not that vitamin B refers to just one vitamin--there are actually many. But at least when vitamins B6 and B12 are involved folic acid is included. This is because folic acid is a B vitamin.

The B vitamins are a set of vitamins that when originally discovered were all mistaken to be one vitamin and that vitamin was named vitamin B.

That's why you will notice that there are so many different vitamins running around these days with 'vitamin B' as part of their label.

Today the B vitamins are known as a complex of vitamins that all interact with each other and are commonly found in the same foods. When buying a vitamin B complex in the store it will contain many different vitamins that go under the 'B vitamin' label. All in all there are eight B vitamins that we humans use and among them is folic acid. There are other B vitamins that people don't use but you needn't worry about them.

You may find folic acid referred to as a folate, Vitamin B-9, Vitamin M and Vitamin B-c. These are all the same vitamin running around under varying pseudonyms. Also you may find it interesting to know that since the discovery that vitamin B was really so many different vitamins many of them have been renamed, so the eight that we have today aren't all of the original B vitamins. Some have had legal name changes.

Folic acid was found in the nineteen thirties to help prevent anemia in many pregnant women. Of course back then there wasn't a synthesized form of folic acid, so it was initially given in yeast extract. Later in nineteen forty one it was extracted from spinach.

You can also find folic acid in othere green leafy veggies, dry beans, peas, and fruits. Currently many governments fortify their white flour with folates and you can often find cereal with enough folic acid in it to meet your daily requirment.

Speaking of daily requirement, the recommended daily requirement for folic acid is four hundred micrograms. If you are pregnant, could become pregnant or lactating take between six hundred and eight hundred micrograms daily.

Folic acid is necessary for the replication and maintenance of DNA and RNA. It helps to prevent changes in your DNA that can lead to cancer and its needed for proper growth and to make red blood cells. Thus it is very important for the pregnant and those who may become pregnant in order to prevent birth defects.

A deficiency of folic acid may present itself with Diarhhea, poor apetite, weakness, sore tongue, headaches, heart palpitations, and neurological problems. In general B vitamins help to keep up your metabolism, help you maintain healthy skin and muscle tone. They benefit your immune system and nervous system.

They also help with cell growth and can fight stress, depression, and cardiovascular disease. Remember your body doesn't store B vitamins well. You must get them daily but luckily folic acid and other B vitamins are present in many foods.

About the Author
Author Vincent Platania represents the Stanley Beauty Products. Stanley Beauty Products has been in business since 1936, and offers high quality home and personal care products to keep your home and your body clean. Visit http://www.stanleybeautycare.com

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Want to stay young? Try some of these steps

These days, the desire of the average person (especially-and understandably- the female gender) is to retain youth, both in appearance and physiology.

This desire is in spite of the fact that aging is actually a natural process and again it is understandable that in this day and age where most things are image driven, one would want to stay looking young.

To this end friend, if there is a magic pill for anti-aging, there is no doubt among leading researchers that exercise is it. Nothing comes closer to achieving anti-aging effects in our body as exercise, even more so when combined with a proper and healthy diet.

Now, exercises for anti-aging consist of 3 separate components:
1. Flexibility Training
2. Cardiovascular Training
3. Strength Training

At this point, based on experience and some documented facts, most if not all of these components could very well be addressed and met with the use of Yoga.

Speaking of yoga, both of its "descendants" (Pilates and the Royal Court Exercises) and even the common body-weight exercises can all be used as the forms of exercises for anti-aging purposes.
Furthermore, the diet that is normally associated to a Yogic lifestyle (that being a 'sattvic diet') is perhaps one of the best dietetic choices for health and wellness.

Thus it should come as no surprise that this specific diet is perhaps the best for delaying the aging process.

Moreover, it is quite similar (if not the exact same) diet that is coined in the drug-free fraternity as the "Mucus-Less Diet" as it comprises of Raw Fruits, Fruit, Leafy and Root Vegetables and Some Less Harmful Whole Grains all the while being sure to adhere to simple rules such as proper food combining and eating at the right times.

This diet will see to it that all the sources of vitamins and nutrients are adequately met and that the primary dietetic needs of the body are catered to while simultaneously cleansing the body at the same time.

In addition to subsisting on a proper diet, other factors such as getting enough rest, laughter, keeping company with friends and family (that raise your spirits), interacting with children, animals and nature and just remembering to take things easy are other steps that aid in delaying the aging process and offer the best and superior tips on anti-aging steps.

Here's to being...FOREVER YOUNG!!!

About the Author
Foras Aje is an independent researcher and co-founder of BodyHealthSoul LLC. Stop by His Anti-Aging Solutions Blog today for more information on Anti-Aging Solutions

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