The recent study results published in January's issue of "The Annals of Internal Medicine" finds that taking folic acid may actually help decelerate the normal hearing loss process that occurs in the elderly.

The study was conducted by European researchers who provided a group of elderly participants with folic acid supplements to compare with another group who were not taking the supplements, but were given a placebo instead

Flour and bread should be fortified with folic acid to lessen the risk of birth defects such as spina bifida, the Expert Advisory Group on Nutrition said Monday. The group recommends that fortification be mandatory, but some say the initiative would take away individual choice and could mask signs of vitamin deficiency in elderly people.

Now the Food Standards Agency (FSA) will begin a 3-month consultation to see how the public feels about the issue

Folic acid, a group-B Vitamin found in green leafy vegetables and liver, can be used as a cheap and simple way to reduce heart disease and strokes, researchers say. British researchers analyzed previous studies and found that folic acid lowers levels of the amino acid homocysteine in blood.

High levels of homocysteine in blood is one of the causes of cardiovascular disease

St. John's Wort, several B vitamins and fish oil, particularly the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid it contains, may be effective in alleviating the symptoms of depression, according to a review study conducted by Australian researchers. The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Sidney, analyzed literature on depression to determine how diet may influence mood, with 103 sources cited.

Dr. Diane Volker and Jade Ng write in the journal Nutrition and Dianetics that there is a great deal of epidemiological, experimental and circumstantial evidence that suggest omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid is protective against depression

Your grandmother's eating habits may have an influence on your genes, a new study on pregnant mice suggests. The researchers found that a mother mouse's diet had an effect on her offspring's offspring.

"This is a mouse model study, so it is not directly relevant to humans," study co-author Dr. David K. Martin, a researcher with the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, tells HealthDay News