From Dec '26 folic acid is to be added into flour but for some people it could cause severe side effects if they take it. Should there be more debate before we change what we eat forever?

[snowbear22]

Chris Wittey on behalf of the WHO has directed that folic acid will be added to all flour in the UK from this December. Dr Clair Craig is running a campaign against this and is attempting to get a parliament to debate it before mandating folic acid in food.

I'm basing this mainly on her interview on this social media clip and I am not a doctor or involved in the NHS, I would love to hear more of the case for Folic acid in food as I'm sure a lot of medical professionals know a lot more about this than me.
These are the arguments for and against:
Pro's:

1. 200 babies a year can possibly be saved from neural tube defect which is mostly spina bifida.
2. The USA added floic acid to the flour supply and has less spina bifida cases.

Dr Clair Craig arguments against:
1.There are groups of people that should avoid using folic acid- people with cancer because it drives cell replication, people with heart stents as it can cause a stent to re-block and people with undiagnosed B12 deficiency ( around 6,000) as it can cause severe neurological damage. It will be in all flours, even gluten free flour.

2.WHO themselves say that the evidence of helping unborn children is not that strong -it was based on one single trial which gave the control, (placibo group) manganese which can be neurotoxic- and 6 of the control group developed neural tube defects and the control group developed none. The study was deemed unethical after that and never replicated and so all policy is based on that one study.

3.Folic acid is a drug, a synthetic chemical, it is a different molecule to folate- vitamine B9 which you would find in real food such as broccolli, it breaks down differently in the body.

4.Mass medication with no consultation is wrong inherently, it is Government overreach, you should not be mandated by government to take something that you do not consent to, and it is a slippery slope and it is unprecidented that a change that affects so many people has not been allowed any debate in Parliament.

YANBU - Not convinced of the overall good to society if it causes harm to some groups and there should definately be more debate before implementation.

YABU- it would save 200 babies a year from spina biifida and it is overall a good thing.

They are. Also home mills.

Depends on the spelling of Claire/Clare, the former is a geophysicist and the latter is a pathologist. I'm inclined to think the OP has spelt the name wrong and it's the latter as she has a self-published book on COVID.

I buy longer vests to wear under tops for this reason. I’m 5ft 8 and all the T-shirts are too short got me!!

Thank you. There seems to be a belief creeping in that everyone has equal knowledge of science and everyone’s suddenly an expert and that just isn’t true. There are some now who don’t believe in sunscreen - and don’t get me started on the flat earthers. “I’ve done my research” usually means “I’ve watched some conspiracy nut on YouTube”.

folic acid isn’t the same as folate which is the naturally occurring source we get in veg. I’ve got a friend who is severely allergic to folic acid and it causes all sorts of horrible side effects including miscarriages and heart problems. She currently gets around it with eating gluten free bread and pasta and cereal. I feel terribly sorry for her having to cut all wheat out of her diet entirely for the rest of her life, it is such a beneficial food apart from this additive the government which the government is choosing to add.

This is scaremongering rubbish.

There is already folic acid in cereals and has been for decades.

300 people a year are born with neural tube defects.

One of them is my sister. She's an amazing human being who has suffered horrific consequences all her life from spina bifida. Despite being in pain every day she's achieved so much, and everyone I know loves her.

She could have been spared a life of pain. The fact that some dodgy quack is railing against this for their own advancement is sickening. It has been well researched and is already done in other countries, and added to cereals for years in our own.

This person should be struck off, anyone peddling such dangerous misinformation which could disable and kill 300 babies a year should be prevented from causing harm.

She'll still be able to eat gluten free, as those products are exempt. Cardiovascular events and miscarriages/fetal disability and death are the reasons why folic acid is being added in the first place - not what an allergy means.

It is not the end of the world to be gluten free in any case.

Anything spouted by pathologist Clare Craig, the noted anti-Covid grifter, should be taken with a very large dose of salt (if not folic acid).

The scaremongering clearly works with some folk who even in this thread have stated in big scary capitals that it's going to be added to ALL flour which isn't true. White and brown, yes. Wholemeal, rye, spelt etc, no.

The research and planning for this legislation was initiated in 2006. There was a government consultation on it in 2019 and as early as 2024, the BBC reported that it was likely to happen. It's extremely disingenuous to say that it is being done without consultation or public knowledge.

I thought it all smacked of covid conspiracy.

@NeverDropYourMooncup slightly off topic but may I ask about your experience with folic acid and mtx. I was prescribed 6 days of it a week, still had huge side effects. Did you mean that even at that dose you still had side effects from the mtx?
I was prescribed folic acid 5mg 6 days a week (vastly, vastly higher than anything added to bread or even given to pregnant women). I did find that it gave me some side effects and have tinkered about with it to make it work well.

Yes. The MTX was stopped after that and I started biologics, which are vastly superior in my opinion; no chucking up, no severe infections whilst still not experiencing significant relief, no constant sense of nausea or a horrible taste that made eating fruit or vegetables deeply unpleasant, that sort of thing.