Trial reportThe American journal of clinical nutrition2007
Folic acid supplementation lowers blood arsenic.
Trial report in The American journal of clinical nutrition, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 109 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
109 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 212 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparing Folic Acid Interventions and Arsenic Reduction Strategies for Neural Tube Defect Prevention in Bangladesh: A Systematic Review and Decision Analysis.Birth defects research · 2025Pooled it
- Provision of folic acid for reducing arsenic toxicity in arsenic-exposed children and adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- The Association of Arsenic Metabolism with Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, and Diabetes: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Evidence.Environmental health perspectives · 2017Pooled it
- Metabolic Signature of Arsenic Exposure and Metabolism: The Folic Acid and Creatine Trial.Environmental science & technology · 2025Trial
- The Folic Acid and Creatine Trial: Treatment Effects of Supplementation on Arsenic Methylation Indices and Metabolite Concentrations in Blood in a Bangladeshi Population.Environmental health perspectives · 2023Trial
- Betaine and choline status modify the effects of folic acid and creatine supplementation on arsenic methylation in a randomized controlled trial of Bangladeshi adults.European journal of nutrition · 2021Trial
- Folic acid supplementation enhances arsenic methylation: results from a folic acid and creatine supplementation randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2019Trial
- Supplementation with Folic Acid, but Not Creatine, Increases Plasma Betaine, Decreases Plasma Dimethylglycine, and Prevents a Decrease in Plasma Choline in Arsenic-Exposed Bangladeshi Adults.The Journal of nutrition · 2016Trial
- Folic Acid and Creatine as Therapeutic Approaches to Lower Blood Arsenic: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Environmental health perspectives · 2015Trial
- A dietary-wide association study (DWAS) of environmental metal exposure in US children and adults.PloS one · 2014Trial
- Maternal and early-life arsenic exposure and relative telomere length in children: Findings from the BiRCH cohort.Environmental research · 2026Article
- Air Pollution Mixture and Folate Status Indicators among Pregnant Women in Canada: Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) Study, 2008 to 2011.Current developments in nutrition · 2026Article
- High-Dietary Fiber Diet Reduces Arsenic Oral Bioavailability and Health Risk from Soils by Regulating Gut Microbiota and Intestinal Barrier Function.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Dietary folate supplementation modifies effects of arsenic exposure on DNA methylation profiles in sperm of mice expressing the human AS3MT.Archives of toxicology · 2026Article
- Maternal environmental exposure and early-life health risks: The modulating role of nutritional status-A scoping review.iScience · 2026Review
- The gut-brain axis in arsenic-induced toxicity: mechanisms, consequences, and therapeutic perspectives.Metabolic brain disease · 2026Review
- Association between gestational environmental chemical mixtures and folate exposures with autistic behaviors in a Canadian birth cohort.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- Fetal Growth Is Associated with Amniotic Fluid Antioxidant Capacity, Oxidative Stress, Minerals and Prenatal Supplementation: A Retrospective Study.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Review
- Metabolism of inorganic arsenic in mice carrying the human AS3MT gene and fed folate deficient or folate supplemented diet.Toxicology and applied pharmacology · 2025Article
49 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundChronic arsenic exposure currently affects >100 million persons worldwide. Methylation of ingested inorganic arsenic (InAs) to monomethylarsonic (MMAs) and dimethylarsinic (DMAs) acids relies on folate-dependent one-carbon metabolism and facilitates urinary arsenic elimination.
objectiveWe hypothesized that folic acid supplementation to arsenic-exposed Bangladeshi adults would increase arsenic methylation and thereby lower total blood arsenic.
designIn this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we evaluated blood concentrations of total arsenic, InAs, MMAs, and DMAs in 130 participants with low plasma folate (<9 nmol/L) before and after 12 wk of supplementation with folic acid (400 microg/d) or placebo.
resultsMMAs in blood was reduced by a mean +/- SE of 22.24 +/- 2.86% in the folic acid supplementation group and by 1.24 +/- 3.59% in the placebe group (P < 0.0001). There was no change in DMAs in blood; DMAs is rapidly excreted in urine as evidenced by an increase in urinary DMAs (P = 0.0099). Total blood arsenic was reduced by 13.62% in the folic acid supplementation group and by 2.49% in the placebo group (P = 0.0199).
conclusionsFolic acid supplementation to participants with low plasma concentrations of folate lowered blood arsenic concentrations, primarily by decreasing blood MMAs and increasing urinary DMAs. Therapeutic strategies to facilitate arsenic methylation, particularly in populations with folate deficiency or hyperhomocysteinemia or both, may lower blood arsenic concentrations and thereby contribute to the prevention of arsenic-induced illnesses.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.