Folic Acid Warning - cancer tie?

Folic acid fortification warning - BBC News
2007.10.30
"...The latest study follows a letter to the Food Standards Agency from Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer of England, requesting further expert consideration of two recent studies linking folic acid to bowel cancer ...Folic acid is a synthetic form of folate, a B vitamin found in a wide variety of foods including liver and green leafy vegetables...But while folates are broken down in the gut, the latest research shows that folic acid is metabolised in the liver... "With doses of half the amount being proposed for fortification in the UK, the liver becomes saturated and unmetabolised folic acid floats around the blood stream..."This can cause problems for people being treated for leukaemia and arthritis, women being treated for ectopic pregnancies, men with a family history of bowel cancer, people with blocked arteries being treated with a stent and elderly people with poor vitamin B status...

It has already been shown that folic acid fortification can cause harm to some people.

For example, studies have confirmed that unmetabolised folic acid accelerates cognitive decline in the elderly with low levels of vitamin B12.

Similarly, dietary folates have a protective effect against cancer, but folic acid supplementation may increase the incidence of bowel cancer.

It may also increase the incidence of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

However, since the 1980s a consensus formed that folic acid is metabolised in the small intestine in a similar way to naturally-occuring folates.

Dr Astley said: "We challenge the underlying scientific premise behind this consensus.

"This has important implications for the use of folic acid in fortification, because even at low doses it could lead to over consumption of folic acid with its inherent risks.""

Well, this isn't the usual Folic hip hip hooray crowd is it. Time to find out whether folic acid is metabolized in the small intestine or not. More research now please.

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