Metabolic response to folate supplementation in overweight women with polycystic ovary syndrome: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial

Scope: This study was conducted to determine the effects of folate supplementation on metabolic profiles in obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods and results: This randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted among 81 obese women (weight range: 65-110 kg) aged 18-40 year old diagnosed with PCOS. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups receiving: (1) Folate-1: 1 mg/day folate supplements (n = 27); (2) Folate-5: 5 mg/day folate supplements (n = 27), and (3) placebo (n = 27) for 8 weeks. Fasting blood samples were taken at baseline and after 8 weeks' intervention to quantify glucose metabolism and lipid concentrations. Folate supplementation (5 mg), compared with folate-1 and placebo, resulted in reduced plasma homocysteine (p-interaction = 0.009), homeostasis model of assessment-insulin resistance score (p-interaction = 0.01), and total cholesterol/HDL-C ratio (p-interaction = 0.01). Furthermore, we found a significant difference in mean change of serum total cholesterol (p-interaction = 0.01), LDL-(p-interaction = 0.007), and non-HDL-cholesterol levels (p = 0.01) in the folate-5 group compared with folate-1 and placebo. Conclusion: 5 mg/day folate supplementation for 8 weeks among women with PCOS had beneficial effects on metabolic profiles.