Why do so many supermarket foods contain folic acid now ?

[iphammer]

Today I went to Sainsbury’s for the weekly shop and for the first time I started looking at the ingredients in some of these foods.

My plan was to buy pizza , pies and a quiche along with a load of other bits which I eventually bought however I didn’t buy the pizza , pies and quiche as I was surprised to see they had folic acid in them. Why does the majority of foods now contain folic acid and why don’t they tell us how much folic acid is in the recipe?

higgidy products is just 1 company out of 100s showing it in there food

looking on the nhs website this is what it says it is quite scary..

Like all medicines, folic acid can cause side effects, although not everyone gets them.
Possible side effects of folic acid include:

• bloating
• farting (flatulence)
• feeling sick (nausea)
• loss of appetite

Who can and cannot take folic acid
Most adults and children over 12 months can take folic acid tablets or liquid on their own.
Multivitamins containing other vitamins combined with folic acid are not recommended for children under 12 years of age.
Folic acid tablets and liquid are not suitable for everyone. For example, they may not be suitable if:

• you've had an allergic reaction to folic acid or another ingredient used in the medicine in the past
• you have vitamin B12 deficiency anaemia or pernicious anaemia (a condition where your immune system attacks your body's healthy cells)

you have a coronary stent

Surely that site is talking about folic acid supplements that would be at higher level than the small amounts in food. I think its being added to flour products

That doesn’t sound scary to me. A sainsburys pizza isn’t going to have you overdosing on folic acid. It’s just in the wheat flour because it’s been shown to be good at population level

Because it stops birth defects in surprise pregnancies like spina bifida. My eldest was a surprise and I was left desperately trying to think what I'd been eating to think if I'd gotten enough in my diet for the baby.

I think it's a good thing. There is not really any concerns about it.

In December it becomes law that wheat flour must be fortified with folic acid. That’s why you’re starting to see it in more products.

The side effects of iron tablets are constipation, stomach pain, nausea - but you wouldn’t worry you’d get them from a cereal fortified with iron.

Prevents neural tube defects in babies.

Because it's in flour. To reduce the likelihood of babies being born with neural tube defects, like spina bifida.

But why do they need to add it to most of the food when some people can’t take folic acid because let’s say they had an allergic reaction to folic acid or another ingredient used in the medicine in the past
you have vitamin B12 deficiency anaemia or pernicious anaemia (a condition where your immune system attacks your body's healthy cells)
you have a coronary stent fitted

food companies aren’t saying how much is being added to there food if you have toast in the morning, a sandwich in the afternoon with a muffin then in the evening have a pizza or a quiche are you already over your daily allowance ?

lots of people are getting more and more sick due to the food we are eating nothing is healthy anymore which is very sad and people saying it’s down to birth defects I don’t believe that one bit. Why make everyone take folic acid when at least 80% don’t need it and those that feel like they do need it can just take a tablet.

It’s become law for larger producers of flour.

the kind of folic acid they have uses isn’t tolerated in everyone and it seems a very blunt instrument. I’m annoyed too. It’s like crappy sweetners to wean us off sugar which wreck my tummy. It’s another pile of stuff I avoid

It's fine. Just as it's fine for cereals to be fortified with vitamins and minerals.

I can't take iron supplements when I really should because I can't find any that don't give me uncontrollable diarrhoea. But fortified foods and multivitamin tablets containing a basic dose all seem fine.

I don't think that fortifying flour and flour based products with folic acid is a problem. It helps reduce the incidence of neural tube defects such as spina bifida in unborn babies, especially for unplanned pregnancies. That can only be good in my book.

if you have toast in the morning, a sandwich in the afternoon with a muffin then in the evening have a pizza or a quiche are you already over your daily allowance

If that's what you're eating you need to vary your diet and the problem would go away.

I'm far from a MN 'protein and veg' orthorexic but even I try to limit bread based meals to once a day.

At the other end of the scale, when I first read about fortifying flour with folic acid to reduce the risk of birth defects I imagined all the MN 'I never eat anything with flour in it so I don't see the point of this' comments.

It's an incredibly successful public health measure, reducing birth defects. People taking pills doesn't happen and then poor babies are born with life limiting issues.

Be happy! Something works for children.

It's added to ordinary foods as a means of preventing neural tube defects in pregnant women who might or might not have had adequate levels of folic acid before they became pregnant.

It has only a benign effect on everyone. The stated side effects are really not an issue.

Your posts are ridiculous.

You are not being poisoned by ordinary foods. Stop with your silly fear mongering.

Folic acid prevents birth defects when a woman already has adequate levels before becoming pregnant.

OP, if you are that worried, buy wholemeal bread, pasta & couscous. Wholemeal products are not included in the new regulation and so will not contain folic acid.

It's pretty easy to avoid.

If you are worried about your health, you really shouldn't be eating so much junk food anyway.Wholemeal is far better for you, having much more dietary fibre.

even wholemeal shop bought food has it in

There are problems with it and this could have been given as a supplement when relevant, not the government allowing another chemical company to sell vast quantities of it, for what, as it makes assumptions those that need it get it from food, perhaps, perhaps not! We have no idea of how it impacts children and potentia harm, the cumulative effect and it is not able to be metabolised efficiently by some with a gene variant. The EU does not allow mass dosing / adding to flour because of its concerns, and generally they are spot on with food additives. One size doesn't fit all for folic acid supplementation.

It couldn't be given as a supplement when relevant. That's the whole point. Accidental or poorly planned pregnancy of the myriad women with bad diets results in thousands of babies born with disabilities. When pregnant is too late. The places that fortify see a drop of 20-60% meaning thousands of healthy babies.

If people don't like it THEY can chnage their diets easily. Eat less crap prepared food. The exact food that caused the issue in the first place. If we all ate nuts and green leafy vegetables, there'd be no issue to solve.

And again. Thousands of healthy babies who would have been born with significant disabilities. I find it hard to object to that.