NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Pretreatment with high doses of folate, water-soluble vitamin B obtained from food, can reduce damage to the heart muscle that is caused when the blood flow is cut off, the results of an animal study suggest.

In the study, published in the current addition of Circulation, rats were treated with folate or placebo. After one week, the rats' left coronary arteries were blocked for 30 minutes. The blood normally carries oxygen to the heart muscle, and a sudden, severe blockage can cause a heart attack or an abnormal heart rhythm, conditions that can be fatal. This was followed by 90 minutes of reperfusion in some animals or no reperfusion in others. Reperfusion is the restoration of the coronary blood flow to the heart muscle.