Folic Acid Shows Hope for Mental Health

by | Jun 5, 2009 | 2009, Brain Health, Folic Acid & Folate

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. In a study of 88 young patients with bipolar disorder, those given 3 mg per day of folic acid in addition to sodium valproate ( a leading medication) had 11% greater benefit than those taking sodium valproate alone.

Bipolar disorder (BD) affects more than 5 million American adults or 2.6% of the population aged 18 and older (1). Also known as manic-depressive illness, bipolar disorder is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person’s mood, energy, and ability to function. Bipolar disorder is a long-term illness that must be carefully managed throughout a person’s life (2). Current treatments for bipolar disorder consist of prescription drugs classified as “mood stabilizers” that include lithium, anti-psychotic, and anti-convulsant medications (3). But because these treatments can have side effects that include nausea, weight gain, tremor, hair loss and anxiety (4), alternative treatments to complement the prescription drugs are always sought after.

Now a new study (5) has found that folic acid may be an effective adjunct treatment for bipolar disorder. In the study, 88 patients with an average age of 35 years and a diagnosis of type 1 bipolar disorder were given either an average of 1200 mg of sodium valproate (sp) plus 3 mg folic acid per day or sodium valproate  alone for three weeks. Researchers used the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) (6) before the study began and at the end of the first, second and third weeks to rate the severity of symptoms, with higher scores indicating more severe bipolar disorder symptoms.

The researchers found significant drops in the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) scores after each week, with a 23% decrease in the sodium valproate + folic acid group vs. 21% decrease in the sodium valproate  group after week 1 (26.7 vs. 27.3), 48% vs. 41% drop after week 2 (18.1 vs. 20.7), and an 80% vs. 71% drop in week 3 (7.1 vs. 10.1).

For the researchers, “Based on our findings, folic acid seems to be an effective adjuvant supplement to sodium valproate in the treatment of the acute phase of mania in patients with bipolar disorder.”

Source: Behzadi, A. H., Z. Omrani, M. Chalian, S. Asadi, and M. Ghadiri. “Folic acid efficacy as an alternative drug added to sodium valproate in the treatment of acute phase of mania in bipolar disorder: a double‐blind randomized controlled trial.” Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 120, no. 6 (2009): 441-445.

© 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/S

Posted June 5, 2009.

References:

  1. Kessler RC.  Prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of twelve-month DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). Archives of General Psychiatry, 2005 Jun;62(6):617-27.
  2. “Bipolar Disorder” posted on the National Institute of Mental Health Website.
  3. Docherty JP. The expert consensus guideline series: medication treatment of bipolar disorder 2000. Postgraduate Medicine, 2000; Spec No:1-104.
  4. Sophia F.  Efficacy of ethyl-eicosapentaenoic acid in bipolar depression: randomised double-blind placebo-controlled study.  Br Jou Psy 2006; 188(1): 46-50.
  5. Behzadi AH.  Folic acid efficacy as an alternative drug added to sodium valproate in the treatment of acute phase of mania in bipolar disorder: a double-blind randomized controlled trial (p).  Acta Psychiat Scand 2009.  Published Online: Mar 10 2009.
  6. YRMS available at the Formedic website.