Efficacy and safety of folic acid on homocysteine and cardiovascular surrogate biomarkers in hyperhomocysteinemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs
Zhi-ping Long, Chang-wen Wang, Fan-fan Sun, Shi-bo Xu, Jun-zhen Yan, Cheng Zeng · 2026
Read Efficacy and safety of folic acid on homocysteine and cardiovascular surrogate biomarkers in hyperhomocysteinemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs by Zhi-ping Long, Chang-wen Wang, Fan-fan Sun, Shi-bo Xu, Jun-zhen Yan, Cheng Zeng (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13463647.txt.
Description
Zhi-ping Long and colleagues pooled trial evidence in 2026 on folic acid for adults with high homocysteine, a blood marker tied to heart risk. Folic acid should lower that marker, but how far it moves blood pressure and cholesterol, and at what dose, stayed unsettled. The team screened four databases to October 2024 and combined 36 randomised trials of folic acid alone against placebo or usual care.
Homocysteine fell in a dose-linked way, most at 5 to 15 milligrams daily and after six months or more, while folate levels rose and blood pressure and cholesterol shifted modestly. Yet results varied widely and leaned on small studies, so true effects may be smaller than pooled figures suggest. No heart events appeared at doses up to 10 milligrams daily, but events rose at 15 milligrams, and no trial tracked hard outcomes like heart attack or stroke.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Zhi-ping Long, Chang-wen Wang, Fan-fan Sun, Shi-bo Xu, Jun-zhen Yan, Cheng Zeng |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 85 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |