The doctors were interested in studying how folic acid affects laryngeal leukoplakia because they had already discovered that people with this type of cancer had lower blood levels of folic acid than those people who did not have the cancer (this cancer results in precancerous lesions in the larynx, or voice box). What they found was that supplementing with folic acid stopped the precancerous spots from turning into cancer, and in some patients it disappeared completely. The study involved 43 people with laryngeal leukoplakia. The patients all had blood tests and were found to have low blood levels of folic acid. They were given folic acid for six months. The patients all took much more folic acid than is normal – five milligrams every eight hours. Their throat cancer was checked every 30 days, and at the end of the study the doctors found that in 12 of the patients the laryngeal leukoplakia disappeared, and in 19 of the patients the laryngeal leukoplakia shrank. The others had no change for better or worse. The patients were then studied for a year, and in three of the patients the laryngeal leukoplakia came back. Although the researchers are pleased, they say that more studies need to be done to find out why the folic acid worked as it did. They plan a larger, longer study of folic acid supplements in people with laryngeal leukoplakia.  

Folic Acid, sometimes known as folate, is a B-vitamin (folate is a natural form of folic acid that is found in nutritional supplements). The US Daily value is 400mcg per day for most people, and 800 mcg for pregnant women. It is a very safe vitamin. Like other B-vitamins, folic acid is water soluble, so the body does not store what it does not use. In foods, it is often found in dark green leafy vegetables and beans. Since 1998 the FDA has required that all grain products that remove B-vitamins during processing must add the folic acid back in, so folic acid is found in breads and cereals. Supplements, including multivitamins and B-complex vitamins, are often the best source of folic acid. These formulas usually contain folic acid in amounts of 400mcg for every day use, and 800mcg in prenatal vitamins.