- Most women don’t take folic acid before they conceive as more than half of pregnancies are unplanned
By
Claire Bates
03:24 EST, 27 June 2012
|
03:35 EST, 27 June 2012
Pregnant woman are recommended to start taking folic acid three months before they conceive
Flour should be fortified with folic acid to prevent birth defects in babies such as spina bifida, according to doctors.
UK governments should legislate to require folic acid to be in ‘flour and flour-based products,’ according to a majority at the British Medical Association’s annual conference.
Consultant David Pring from Yorkshire told the meeting earlier on that most women don’t receive the benefit of taking folic acid three months before they conceive because more than half of pregnancies in the UK are unplanned.
Fortifying flour could therefore reduce the risk of neural tube defects like spina bifida in thousands of pregnant women. The condition causes a baby’s backbone to form incorrectly, often
leading to lower-body paralysis.
Dr Pring said: 'Fifty per cent of
pregnancies are unplanned, that is 300,000 women a year. That is a lot
of women, a lot of pregnancies.
‘If we don't believe in the prophylaxis (preventative medicine)
we should be campaigning for the removal of vitamin D from margarine.'
He urged the conference to adopt a policy that was in line with Food Standards Agency recommendations and the scientific advisory committee on nutrition.
However, Consultant Protap Gupta from Lincolnshire argued against mandatory fortification, saying that it could have adverse health effects on others.
Dr Gupta said: 'What is beneficial for one target group may not be good for the whole population.'
Previous research has suggested the human body might struggle to break down folic acid, which is the synthetic form of a B vitamin found in leafy vegetables.
A paper published by the Institute of Food Research in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2007 found
folic acid is broken down by the liver, whereas natural folates are
broken down in the stomach.
Scientists claim a liver flooded with folic acid may end up
releasing it undigested into the blood.
Excess levels of folic acid in the blood have been linked to
bowel and breast cancer, and could accelerate brain decline in some
elderly people.
The scientists said the full impact of putting folic acid in
food may only become apparent in 20 years’ time.
Adults are recommended to have 0.2mg of folic acid in their daily diet, however pregnant women should be getting twice as much after stopping contraception up to the 12th week of pregnancy.
So far neither this nor the previous government has acted on medical recommendations to fortify flour.
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Stupid idea, my mum has an allergy to folic acid, although quite rare, it is quite severe. She cant eat many vegetables (ones that grow above the ground) as most have large quantities of folic acid. If they start adding it to products then she will be severely limited to what she can eat.
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Why should we have these chemicals forced upon us? We still don’t know the long term effects of the compulsory flouridisation of our drinking water. Also, how do they reach “potentially” pregnant women of whom, don’t eat bread because they are faddy eaters or have coeliac disease? Millions of women throughout the world have healthy babies despite not having folic acid additives. Just because there are a lot of unplanned pregnancies, why should the rest of us suffer and in particular as stated in the article, those at risk from diseases that could be triggered by folic acid?
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This is the flouride deal all over again….DON’T ADD ANYTHING ELSE TO OUR FOOD WATER….I moved to a rural location with a drilled well to the acquefer in order to get away from chemicals in the water….Flouride makes my teeth loose so I even have to buy special toothpaste. Consuming chlorine causes liver cancer – FACT!
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Why don’t they give us a choice? I don’t want to take folic acid – I don’t need to take it so why should I, and many others, be forced to have it because those who might become pregnant should be taking it. Whatever happened to being responsible for your own life decisions. It’s bad enough we have flouride in the water (which has a very negative effect on some people) whether we like it or not without doctors deciding we all need to be dosed up with other substances. What next, statins in our milk? After all there is a policy of giving those to people over the age of 50 on a ‘just in case’ basis – and is also something which can have a very negative impact on a lot of people. We have gluten free, sugar free and fortified options for foodstuffs – this could be just one other option but another ‘whether you like it or not, whether you need it or not, doctors know best’ blanket coverage is NOT the answer.
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