To think it's a disgrace that the UK still doesn't add folic acid to flour?

[LisaSimpsonsbff]

I'm a long-term obsessive user of the conception forums and I was a bit shocked this morning to see two separate posts in which it was clear that posters thought the advice to take folic acid before pregnancy was to help you conceive (and therefore not important if you weren't having problems there) rather than its actual purpose: to lower the risk of birth defects. That made me a bit curious about how many women take it, and I was shocked to find how few it is (fewer than a third): www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/19/folic-acid-less-third-pre-pregnancy-guidelines-spina-bifida. The worst part, I think, is this:
The study also showed strong ethnic variations, with only 17% of Afro-Caribbean women, 20% of south Asian women and 25% of east Asian women taking folic acid, compared with 35% of white Caucasian women.

Just 6% of teenagers under 20 attending the antenatal clinics had taken the supplements, while 40% of older women aged 35 to 39 followed the guidelines.

Presumably a large part of that with the teenagers is the likelihood that their pregnancies were unplanned, but the health inequality here is really awful - it shouldn't be the case that some women and babies are so much more at risk of suffering these problems than others, whether through a lack of knowledge or through being less likely to plan their pregnancies.

I think we could do with a stepped-up public campaign on folic acid, but that obviously doesn't help women with unplanned pregnancies, and realistically no campaign is ever going to get across to everyone.

To me the argument for putting folic acid in flour, as they do in the US, is incredibly clear-cut. And yet the government decided against this: www.ifglobal.org/en/37-temp-news/4768-uk-government-says-no-to-mandatory-fortification-of-flour-with-folic-acid-2. So - and this is a genuine question - am I missing something? What's the argument against?

I seriously can't articulate just how utterly ridiculous I think this idea is.

You keep banging on and on and on about how little known folic acid is. But that is not some big secret conspiracy, it really is extremely common knowledge. And among your cohort of non-takers will be women who choose not to take it, women who are willfully ignorant and women who simply can't be arsed. And this is all not even counting all the men who also have eyes and ears and brains too. You can't possibly argue that the information isn't readily available in literal seconds?

So clearly people just aren't that interested, or they WOULD bother themselves!

So what, you want to force it on everyone instead, and its ok because flours already have some extras in so one more won't matter? And you can't see how much of a bonkers sledgehammer to crack a nut that is?

Women can take folic acid if they plan to conceive, or are just taking risks. Problem solved. Surely, a society that can add folic acid to flour can just as well print info on the importance of folic acid on the back of flour packages.

Unplanned pregnancy is a different problem entirely, and all things possible should be done to reduce it as much as possible.

If most people don't get enough folic acid from their normal food, then most people aren't eating a balanced diet. Which is a problem that also needs adressing.

*f most people don't get enough folic acid from their normal food, then most people aren't eating a balanced diet. Which is a problem that also needs

Do you mean normally or in pregnancy? You basically have to take supplements to meet the pregnancy requirements.

www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/913.aspx?categoryid=54

Thank you bananas - that's a nice thing to say and made me smile

I feel that you are obsessing about the minority of pregnancies that were unplanned and therefore didn't use folic acid. They also didn't stop smoking and drinking which is more detrimental imo.

Not everyone eats flour

Thanks JJ2009. I'm realy glad you replied because I didn't realise I should be taking folic acid to help my jabs to work! If we decide not to TTC, I know to keep taking the supplements now, thanks.

If there really is a lack of awareness in people ttc that they should be taking folic acid before getting pregnant, would an awareness message on packets of the pill or on condom boxes reach some of those people? Along the lines of "stopping contraception to conceive? Start taking folic acid beforehand" or something like that? If you read that on your pill packet every day the message would get through. Like the warnings on cigarette packets these days. Or as someone upthread suggested making it a part of health education at school. I don't think adding folic acid to flour is really the answer, for reasons already gone through above.

Why would I want anything added to my food? I like my food wholesome and natural.

No to folic acid being added to flour. Over a quarter of the population have a MTHFR gene mutation that means they cannot methylate folic acid (a chemical form of folate) to make it bio available so if folic acid is put into food it would a) do no good to them or their tiny babies at all as it would not be processed but would hang around the blood stream and b) actually increase the risk of cancer and cardiovascular events. If the government really are going to fortify flour then they should do it with methylated folate (the natural form) and not the synthetic folic acid. If those with an MTHFR defect are forced to take folic acid then their homocysteine levels will go up putting them at significantly increased risk of heart attack, cancer and dementia. Whilst those in favour of fortification will, quite rightly, be able to point at reduced birth defects - which would undoubtedly be fab - there will be no way of proving how many more cancer deaths and heart attacks and dementia have been caused in the process. And don't get me started on iron... PS Those same 25% of the population, even if TTC, should NOT take folic acid which could poison them and the foetus. They need to take methylated folate. Or, even better, just eat a folate rich diet full of things like spinach, bean sprouts, cauliflower and dahl.

I think the milling process now removes some of the nutrients - stoneground the old fashioned way doesn't. I think it's an attempt to replace the lost nutrients.

Even wholemeal flour? That's depressing.

Perhaps white flour could be taxed and wholemeal/stoneground flour subsidised. #unlikely

The law was brought in just after WW2 when there were a lot of children suffering from malnutrition. Folic acid and iron are still compulsorily added to white flour but there is a let-out for wholemeal flour if the miller can show it has above certain levels of those vitamins and minerals. Unfortunately, some manufacturers (Marks and Spencer, Duchy Organics, Waitrose) choose to fortify even their wholemeal flour. Children need iron, adults losing blood need iron, some long distance runners need iron. Nobody else does as our bodies are very good at re-using the iron we have. More can simply lead to highly active iron ions in the body increasing the risk of diabetes, CVD and dementia. And we wonder why the rates for those conditions are on the rise. And, as mentioned above, folic acid effectively poisons about a quarter of the population (whilst admittedly being good for the other 75%).