Health News__
Long-term Folate Use Lowers Premature Delivery Risk

.....Taking folic acid supplements before conceiving a child may help prevent premature delivery, a large new study demonstrates.
.....The reduction in risk was greatest among women who had been taking folate for a year or longer before getting pregnant, while the preventive effects of supplementation were most powerful for preventing the earliest -- and riskiest -- preterm births.
.....Infants born early (before 37 weeks of pregnancy instead of the normal 40 weeks) run the risk of a host of health and developmental problems, with the risks greatest for babies born the earliest.
.....Women who deliver their babies preterm have low levels of folate in their blood, the researchers note in their report, but it has not been clear whether folate supplementation might influence preterm birth risk.
.....To investigate, the study looked at 34,480 pregnant women taking part in a study of Down syndrome screening methods. About 20 percent had been taking folate supplements for a year or more, 36 percent had been taking them for less than a year, and 44 percent of women weren't taking them at all.
.....There were 160 women, or 0.5 percent of the study participants, who delivered their babies before 32 weeks of pregnancy, while 1,658 (4.8 percent) delivered before 37 weeks.
.....Use of folate supplements for a year or more reduced the risk of delivering a baby at 20 to 28 weeks by 70 percent. Women who had been taking the supplements for less than a year were still half as likely to deliver their babies very early as women who didn't take supplements.
.....For deliveries between 28 and 32 weeks, the risk was 50 percent lower for women on supplements for a year or longer and 30 percent lower for women taking them for a shorter time. But there was no relationship between folate supplement use and risk of delivering a baby between 32 and 37 weeks' gestation.
.....The mechanism by which folic acid might prevent preterm birth is unknown, although it is possible that supplementation could prevent women from developing infections of the uterus, which are associated with early preterm birth.

Age-related
Macular Degeneration
.....The leading cause of blindness in adults over 40 is the degeneration of the macula of the eyes, called age-related macular degeneration or AMD. Those at the greatest risk of experiencing macular degeneration are smokers, Baby Boomers, women, and those with light-coloured irises (blue). The macula form the central area of the retina, the better known part of the eyes that receive focused images of light for pick-up and transmission to the brain by the optic nerve. Macular degeneration disables this retinal function, leaving only a margin of peripheral vision. Such blindness for all practical purposes ushers in a loss of independence, an end to normal or robust sighted living, and effectively prevents enjoyable reading or fine finger work.
.....A lifetime of exposure to solar light causes critical degeneration of the macula tissue, unless they are regularly supplied with the dietary pigment, lutein. The macula have been shown to concentrate dietary lutein, and convert some of it into zeaxanthin as another related protective pigment. They belong to the carotinoids, the pigment class to which well known beta-carotene belongs. These pigments are able to absorb harmful blue light, modulating the exposure to solar damage. The evidence is clear that people who regularly consume green leafy vegetables as an important part of their weekly diet are at a significantly reduced risk for blindness due to the deterioration of the macula region of the retina.
Lutein.....Another debilitating eye problem is the formation of cataracts, caused by solar damage to the lens proteins. The lens is also able to accumulate lutein to prevent cataracts and it has been found that when there is a high level of lutein in the macula, there is also a reduced incidence of cataracts. A Harvard University study examined the prevalence of cataracts in 50,000 nurses who responded to a dietary inquiry. It found that women who consumed five servings per week of spinach had significantly lower risk for cataracts than women who consumed five servings per week of carrots, sweet potatoes, or winter squash. This study bears out the understanding that the green leafy vegetables are the best sources of lutein.
.....Lutein is an an excellent choice for those people who do not consistently consume green leafy vegetables and who may be at risk of macula or lens solar damage.