Study finds folic acid treatment is associated with decreased risk of suicide attempts

Medical Xpress / University of Chicago / JAMA Psychiatry ^ | Sept. 29, 2022 | Robert D. Gibbons et al

[ConservativeMind]

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the US. Experts recommend many strategies and treatments to decrease the risk of suicide. Few would put folic acid supplements on that list.

The study found patients who filled prescriptions for folic acid, also known as vitamin B9, experienced a 44% reduction in suicidal events (suicide attempts and intentional self-harm).

Robert Gibbons, Ph.D. became interested in folic acid in the context of suicide because of a previous study between risk of attempting suicide and 922 different prescribed drugs. The study simultaneously screened each drug for associations with suicide attempts. Surprisingly, folic acid was associated with a decreased risk of suicide attempt, along with drugs expected to be associated with risk of suicide, like antidepressants, anxiolytics, and antipsychotics.

They initially thought folic acid had shown up because of a simple explanation. "Pregnant women take folic acid, and pregnant women tend to have a low suicide rate. So, we just did a quick analysis to restrict it to men. But we saw exactly the same effect in men," Gibbons said.

To investigate and further confirm the relationship between folic acid and suicide risk, Gibbons and his co-authors did this new study and focused specifically on folic acid, and accounted for many possible confounding factors. Even after adjusting for all factors, filling a prescription for folic acid was associated with decreased risk of attempting suicide.

They even found that the longer a person took folic acid, the lower their risk of suicide attempt tended to be. Each month of being prescribed folic acid was associated with an additional 5% decrease in risk of suicide attempt during the 24-month follow-up period of their study.

[ConservativeMind]

Their negative control for taking vitamins was B-12, which had no correlation, so it looks more likely that vitamin B-9, folate, is somehow able to mitigate suicidal tendencies.

They used folic acid, but note that form can build up in the body and cause other problems, if taking more than your body can use. Consider an active form of folate to get around these other issues, if taking long-term folate.

[ConservativeMind]

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[packagingguy]

Methylfolate is sometimes used to treat depression so this makes sense.

[ryderann]

I’ve been using B-12/folic acid patches for years. It’s made a tremendous difference in my life. Energy, happy mood, even fixed the lower leg tingles.