
Folate-Deficiency Anemia Puts You at Risk of Heart Failure.
Anemia of all types, including folate-deficiency anemia, is closely associated with an increased risk for heart failure. When you don’t have as many healthy blood cells to deliver oxygen throughout your body, your tissues and organs can become deprived of oxygen. The loss of blood cells also causes blood pressure to drop. These conditions force the heart, which pushes oxygen-carrying blood out to the rest of the body, to work harder at pumping blood in an attempt to increase oxygen levels. Researchers believe that over time this extra work can cause heart muscles to weaken, which can lead to heart failure. Anemia is common in heart failure patients and is one of the best predictors of whether the patients will recover from or survive heart failure.