When a research team found that people who took folic acid were less likely to attempt suicide, they initially thought it was an unimportant side finding. This is because many pregnant women take folic acid, and the suicide rate during pregnancy is known to be low. On closer inspection, however, this effect was also found in men, and the connection was confirmed in further studies.
In one large study, folic acid ranked among antidepressants, anxiolytics, and antipsychotics—drugs known to lower the risk of suicide: People prescribed folic acid had 44 percent fewer suicide attempts and suicides, a reports US research team in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. The risk also appeared to decrease with duration of use: each month that folic acid was prescribed was associated with an additional 5 percent reduction in suicide attempts. This was not observed with vitamin B12, which was used as a control.
The group had looked at health insurance data from 866,586 people for associations between the intake of vitamins such as folic acid or vitamin B12 and suicide attempts over a period of two years. It is difficult to separate a possible effect from other factors such as other medications, income, a health-conscious attitude or illnesses such as depression. The scientists circumvented this by comparing the people with themselves before and after the prescription of a drug.
Prof. Robert Gibbons of the University of Chicago said: “There are no real side effects, folic acid is not expensive and you can get it without a prescription. This could save tens of thousands of lives.”
Which: DOI 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.2990