Folic acid in bread a time bomb

chickalittle

Has anyone seen this article? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/thehealthnews.html?in_article_id=490820&in_page_id=1797]

There was a thread on here a little while ago about the benefits of taking 800mg folic acid to improve memory in people over 50 but this article is suggesting 200mg max a day and that it can actually accelerate brain decline.

I don't know whether to stop taking it now.....

[Deleted User]

Try this thread on the discussion board. It may be seen by Ted, who will come up with some answers

Personally, I only take folic acid as part of a spectrum of vitamin/minerals in a solgar supplement. I don`t believe it should be taken on its own as the B vitamins work in synergy (I am not referring to the youngies here)

myrnahaz

You have to take these studies with a pinch of salt (pardon the pun) - another set of results will soon come along and offer a totally different angle on the issue. If you look at the source of the data, you'll probably find that the sample consisted of people who responded to an advert in the newpaper local to the research labs, so they're not really randomly selected.

I'm not really in favour of being force-fed any kind of supplement. It's bad enough that tap water is laced with fluoride without our bread being tampered with as well. If you really want to keep your mind and body fit and active, then take up an exercise - it's better than any supplement or superfood.

Farway

From this and yesterdays research about food & cancer link it would seem a few bacon butties would finish you of in no time, but I guess by then you would be so bemused you wouldn't know or care

chickalittle

myrnahaz wrote: »

You have to take these studies with a pinch of salt (pardon the pun) - another set of results will soon come along and offer a totally different angle on the issue. If you look at the source of the data, you'll probably find that the sample consisted of people who responded to an advert in the newpaper local to the research labs, so they're not really randomly selected.

I'm not really in favour of being force-fed any kind of supplement. It's bad enough that tap water is laced with fluoride without our bread being tampered with as well. If you really want to keep your mind and body fit and active, then take up an exercise - it's better than any supplement or superfood.

believe me- I exercise! I go to the gym 4-5 x a week and cycle to and from work etc so I consider myself pretty fit.... but I still find my memory is getting worse....

EdInvestor

It's a bit silly to medicate all bread so as to avoid defects in babies, when not a lot of the bread eaters are likely to be pregnant women, and the latter get free folic acid from their GP anyway.

Must say the credibility of nutritional health "advice" these days is getting lower by the day. Few people now seem to take it seriously.

myrnahaz

You have to exercise your brain as well, chicklittle - not just your body.

If it were down to physical exercise then I'd have no hope. lol! If I don't change my ways soon then I'll end up with an active mind in a sluggish body - I'd better get my bike out.

margaretclare

EdInvestor wrote: »

It's a bit silly to medicate all bread so as to avoid defects in babies, when not a lot of the bread eaters are likely to be pregnant women, and the latter get free folic acid from their GP anyway.

By the time a woman knows she is pregnant and goes to her GP it may be too late to correct the effects of folic acid deficiency. These effects occur very very early in the first few weeks following conception. Research had shown that spina bifida - the main effect of folic acid deficiency - occurred much less frequently in populations where more bread was eaten e.g. France IIRC.

Margaret

full-time-mum

I'm not be a silver saver yet (well not quite) but I have been around long enough to realise that you have to look beneath the headlines.

I once paniced as a study showed that long term breastfeeding led to the child becoming obese later. (I feed mine for 2 1/2 and 3 years). A closer look showed that the study was based on less than 100 people, all from the same maternity hospital and all from a similar socio-economic/racial background. The study didn't take the home life/diet into account so was, in fact a load of buncom and media hype.

I believe that most things are OK in moderation and that if you follow a generally healthy diet/lifestyle then you can't go too far wrong....

EdInvestor

margaretclare wrote: »

By the time a woman knows she is pregnant and goes to her GP it may be too late to correct the effects of folic acid deficiency. These effects occur very very early in the first few weeks following conception. Research had shown that spina bifida - the main effect of folic acid deficiency - occurred much less frequently in populations where more bread was eaten e.g. France IIRC.

Margaret

It looks like that has been the case where they have introduced it ( eg US and Canada) but in Europe they are still not doing so, apparently because extra folic acid can mask vit B12 deficiency in the elderly.

Actually I'd have thought many people in the UK (especially the elderly) could do with topping up all their B vitamin levels, given that vitamin B get depleted by alcohol and stress, not to mention depression (I'm sure our gloomy winters don't help).

But it's usually recommended that you take a mult vit B, as if one is depleted, they probably all are: and the B vitamins tend to work in tandem.

Ted_Hutchinson

There is good science based information about folate here at The World's Healthiest foods.

Folic acid is a synthetic form of folate, a B vitamin found in a wide variety of foods including liver and green leafy vegetables.

Folic acid fortification warning

"It is noticeable that the FSA isn't proposing adding it to wholemeal bread because it already contains it. Why doesn't the FSA just tell people to eat more wholemeal bread?"

What I would like to see is the government putting an end to the wholegrain rip-off policy of supermarkets. If it was the law that supermarkets/bakeries had to supply wholegrain products at the same price as the refined denatured equivalents it would be as cheap for people to eat healthily as unhealthily. Tesco Strong White Bread Flour 1.5kg£0.63
T.Strong St/Grnd100% Wholemeal Bread Flour 1.5kg£0.99
The same mark up applies to white rice<>brown rice & white pasta<>wholewheat pasta.

As Tesco's now offer wholemeal sliced bread at the same price as white sliced the practice should be encouraged everywhere. It can be done and should be standard practice, but it would be even better if refined foods, those with the goodness taken out, had an extra tax levy placed on them to discourage their use.

We know that eating junk/refined/unhealthy foods results in extra costs to the NHS that have to be born by the community including those who already pay the extra costs involved in healthy eating. Putting a tax premium on unhealthy foods, so those who choose to eat badly pay the government towards their future extra health care costs, seems the way forward to me.