Support Positive Mood with a B Vitamin

by VRP Staff

Sure, there are a lot of obvious factors that could leave you feeling down in the dumps at times: a job loss, money worries, work-related stress or a nasty divorce, just to name some. And like most people, you’ve probably suffered some temporary hiccups in your day-to-day happiness over the years.

But if your mood doesn’t seem to need a good excuse to take a turn toward the gloomy—and you find yourself sad, irritable or just plain indifferent at times because of it—you might be surprised to learn that insufficient levels of just one key vitamin might be partially to blame.

A new study analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, with a focus on the folic acid (vitamin B9), vitamin B12 and homocysteine levels of 2,524 adults between the ages of 20 and 85 years old. Each participant also completed a standard questionnaire designed to assess mood health.

Results indicated that female subjects were more likely than their male counterparts to report higher frequencies of mood health imbalances—and that lower folic acid levels were also inversely linked to greater measures of mood instability, especially among women. In fact, study data revealed a dramatic 63 percent increase in mood complaints among subjects with the lowest levels of folic acid, when compared to subjects with the highest levels of this critical nutrient.¹

With such a clear pattern established, the researchers’ conclusion was an obvious one: If you’re looking for ways to support mental health and give your mood that occasional boost, increasing your serum folate levels could be a big part of the solution.

So how can you do that? Filling up on folate-rich foods like lentils, leafy greens, orange juice, and bananas is a good start—but to make sure you’re getting enough of this B vitamin, taking a high quality folic acid supplement is the safest way to go. And you won’t find a higher quality folic acid supplement than VRP’s Active Folate.

This daily supplement delivers 800 mcg of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF) in each capsule—a natural, active form of folic acid that’s been shown to be seven times more bioavailable than your run-of-the-mill folate supplement. Unlike other products, Active Folate is able to cross the stubborn blood-brain barrier and requires no metabolic conversion prior to absorption, which means it can go to work on your cells—and support your mood—as soon as you start taking it. Now that’s something you can be happy about.

Reference:

1. Beydoun MA, Shroff MR, Beydoun HA, Zonderman AB. Serum Folate, Vitamin B-12, and Homocysteine and Their Association With Depressive Symptoms Among U.S. Adults. Psychosom Med. 2010 Sep 14. Published Online Ahead of Print.