Proposals to add folic acid to flour

[Dyrne]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48608653

Does anyone else feel a bit uncomfortable about being treated as a potential incubator?

I understand that folic acid is very important for the development of a baby, and spina bifida is horrendous; but I kind of resent being treated as though I have the potential to get pregnant at any second. What’s next? FAS is devastating as well; so are they going to ban selling alcohol to all women of childbearing age?

I know they add some vitamins in already, but why target folic acid specifically? Surely there are a much wider range of people suffering from other vitamin deficiencies, so why not add those in as well? Surely that would help on a much wider scale? Why the specific targeting of women who may or may not get pregnant?

Or am I just being massively over touchy today?

Would this really actually achieve anything? How much bread do i need to eat daily to be taking in enough folic acid?
Nearly all my female friends are on low carb diets anyway and i'm sure i read somewhere that supermarkets were seeing a massive downturn in the amount of bread products being bought at the moment due to this trend....

A proposal that will impact on me in no way what so ever.
But could prevent future children being born with a disability.
Yep..... I’m devastated about this one. I think it’s an outrage

I wonder why we don’t propose doing it with more things? Surely there are illnesses and disorders that can be reduced by adding things into the flour? Why focus on folic acid specifically?

Flour/bread is already fortified with calcium, iron, niacin and thiamine. Some stores include additional vitamins e.g. M&S bread is fortified with Vitamin D.

Presumably there is a cost/benefit analysis regarding how many people are deficient and how serious the consequences of that deficiency are. Some vitamins, eg vitamin C, would probably have a noticeable effect on taste whilst others have too low a RDD for it to be safe to include them e.g. vitamin A.

@TheHodgeoftheHedge the fact that we are now discussing FA and NTDs and that this was on the BBC news are bloody good things in my opinion! Even if you don't eat this bread , you still have this issue at the forefront of your mind right now which may lead to you remembering your FA if you're the or just in general.

*ttc not the

Way I see it taking folic acid when you’re not pregnant is going to have zero ill effects whereas taking it whilst unexpectedly pregnant could stop a lot of baby’s being born with neural defects. It’s hardly being treated like an incubator since men eat bread too. It’s a simple cause/effect medical prevention. So no I don’t have an issue with it.

This is a helpful article...
www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/case-folic-acid-be-added-flour-overwhelming-argues-review/

Just out of interest, those of you who have posted in favour of this, do you also feel similarly about making children's vaccinations mandatory? I mean it's not a huge leap is it? Just musing...

Agreed @GlossyTaco

It's interesting because in the NHS article i posted above, they mention many health campaigns about taking folic acid when trying for a baby. I don't think I've seen any. I happened to know about it and its importance (possibly from too much time on Mumsnet!), but i am honestly not sure many people are...

I think it's a good thing personally. You're supposed to take folic acid for something like 3 months before conceiving - I didn't find out I was pregnant til I was 2 months gone! And I felt sooooo guilty and anxious for not having taken folic acid during that time. It'd also relieve the cost to pregnant women of buying folic acid in addition to regular groceries. In countries where there are long periods of darkness (like Iceland) they put vit D in lots of products (cooking oil, margarine, milk etc). It's a common public health strategy. I don't personally think recognising the potential of women to become pregnant is the same as treating us as potential incubators.

Just out of interest, those of you who have posted in favour of this, do you also feel similarly about making children's vaccinations mandatory? I mean it's not a huge leap is it?

Well this isn't making folic acid mandatory, just difficult to avoid. Personally I wouldn't be in favour of making vaccination mandatory (a little too Orwellian for me) but I would be in favour of making it very inconvenient not to e.g. Australia's "no jab, no play" policy.

do you also feel similarly about making children's vaccinations mandatory?

I think it's different because the people opposing childhood vaccinations have what they think is strong evidence that it'll harm their children. And that the government/ big pharma is engaged in a cover up. There's a massive massive loss of trust between anti vaxxers and the medical community. Compulsory vaccinations doesn't solve that problem, it exacerbates it. If I genuinely believed vaccines could kill my child, and that the government was conspiring to make me do this, and then the government made it illegal not to (or banned my kid from going to school without it) I would immediately conclude that I was right to be afraid and not send my kid to school/ leave the country. Where trust is broken and suspicion is rife, an authoritarian top down approach will never work.

As far as I know, no one thinks that folic acid is a harmful substance/ part of a conspiracy to harm fetuses. But I don't think it should be in all flour based products, just some so people can opt in or out.

Nearly all my female friends are on low carb diets anyway and i'm sure i read somewhere that supermarkets were seeing a massive downturn in the amount of bread products being bought at the moment due to this trend....

Yes, I'm not against fortifying things - but I do think they need to do the research to decide what to fortify, and maybe bread isn't the right choice for the groups they want to target. For example, in Costa Rica, rather than putting flouride in the water, they put it in table salt, because the tap water isn't something that lots of people will be drinking anyway.

Are there any dangers associated with fortifying with folate?

I don't think it can be compared to compulsory vaccination - if there's no downside, it's just trying to boost a population deficiency with a population supplementation. Of course it won't help everyone, but they're looking at a low risk, straightforward way to get a population-level benefit.

Are there any dangers associated with fortifying with folate

Consuming additional folic acid from fortified foods increases the risk of 'masking' megaloblastic (including pernicious) anaemia caused by vitamin B12 deficiency (prevalent in 20% of over 65s ). Simply put - lots of old people may not be diagnosed with a serious problem (I am old, I was diagnosed, I find it worrying that it is being ignored).

Anecdotally - from my perception, more old people than women of childbearing age eat bread.

A lot of bread has added calcium, vitamin d and b vitamins. Most cereals are also fortified with folic acid. If you didn’t jump on your high horse then, why are you doing it now?

glossy it already does... naturally

@Birdsfoottrefoil which of my posts are you referring to?

Btw as a person with a neurotube defect I welcome this
As a woman who has had a baby stillborn with a severe neural tube defect, I also welcome it.

Sorry I can't get upset about this. I'm on folic acid supplement atm as dr found a deficiency in my blood sample. When I commented that I wasn't concerned as I'm
Not ttc and I'm on contraception I was admonished that no one should have a folic deficiency as there are other related health issues and it's not only important for pregnant women, that's just the most known issue. Defo not the same as refusing alcohol for child bearing age women

What @metoooo said

Had I ever chosen to get pregnant I would have realised far too late that I was deficient. I have pernicious anaemia... it doesn't always show until you are in your 30s/40s!

And it isn't a new idea. Bread is already mandatorily fortified with other B vitamins, iron anc calcium!

Spartacus I think so... it also has links to further rissues with ectopic pregnancies too!

But I am never sure which way to leap woth any food fortifications as they can all cause issues in some people. It's a weirdly swings and roundabouts issue...

Are there any dangers associated with fortifying with folate

According to Harvard Medical School there may be a link between too much folate and breast and prostate cancer.

www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/Folic_acid_Too_much_of_a_good_thing

Actually Spartacus is right and I hadn't thought of that but I'm imagining the amount in bread isn't the same as in 5mg folic Tablets?

@JonnyPocketRocket (And to the PP who suggested you just need to add a bit of palm oil to bread to keep it fresh and "decent", give over. You do know about palm oil, right?)

If you are referring to my post mentioning palm oil, you have misunderstood or misread what I wrote. I don't want all that crap added to my food, not soya flour, chickpea flour and especially not palm oil.