Folic Acid and Restless Legs Syndrome

Do you have creepy crawlies in your legs at night or slight twitches that just make you feel uncomfortable? You may be suffering a folic acid deficiency.

In recent years, folic acid has been "prescribed" to women taking birth control and women who are pregnant. We know folic acid is extremely important for the developing fetus but it's also important for the mother to be and women in general.

Restless legs syndrome is a common ailment during pregnancy, especially in later months when supplies of folic acid are being depleted by the developing fetus.

It's only been the last several years that RLS has become a well known ailment and about as recent as women have been put on folic acid during pregnancy or even while taking birth control, but doctor's and nutritionist have known about this relation for over 25 years. Imagine how many birth defects may have been prevented if doctors had been using nutritional therapy all those years.

Folic acid, just like other B vitamins is directly related to nerve health too. Folate, or folic acid, is concentrated in the fluid of the spinal column. A deficiency can cause messages from the central nervous system to get sidetracked in route to the brain and body.

Many patients under psychiatric care have no response to traditional medicine. Tests often reveal a folate deficiency and once treatment with the nutrient is started they began to show improvements. Folate deficiency may be a more common cause of mental illness than doctors would be willing to admit, but cases are showing a direct link between the two.

Mental illness, senility, restless legs syndrome and a number of other disorders are the result of a central nervous system disorder where the brain isn't get the messages correctly and many cases can be traced back to a deficiency in folic acid as well as other B vitamins.

Another well documented result of folic acid deficiency is neural tube defects. A South African study done over 25 years ago discovered that 57% of the children born with delayed or abnormal development had mothers who were folate deficient. It stands to reason that if this deficiency can cause these problems in our unborn children, then we may need this vital nutrient well into old age.

Many signs of old age are not necessarily the result of growing old, but directly related to nutritional deficiencies either by lack of nutrition present in the diet or from mal-absorption.

Folic acid is readily available in fresh vegetables, but the cooking process leeches over half of the nutrition from most vegetables. It's best to eat raw vegetables or use the water from the vegetables in other recipes. Folic acid is not destroyed but transferred to the cooking water. You may even be better off to throw out the vegetables and just drink the cooking water.

If you suffer from Restless Legs Syndrome, be sure to ask your doctor to do a blood test to check for levels of folic acid. Even if counts suggest you aren't deficient, it may be a good idea to try nutritional therapy anyway. B vitamins are water soluble so getting too much is rarely ever a problem.