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"Pure Opinions"
More on the Folic Acid Debate
 Spinach is very high in folate
Folic acid is a synthetic form of folate, a Vitamin B found naturally in many foods including green leafy vegetable, whole grains, and legumes (peas, beans).
As discussed in a previous blog, the government are proposing to 'fortify' commercial bread with the addition of folic acid. One of the reasons to do this, is that low folic acid in the diet causes birth defects such as spina bifada.
However adding folic acid to bread is not a simple solution to this problem as research now shows. Folic acid is the subject of Issue 21 of Cancer Research Update, the American Institute for Cancer Research's newsletter:
"Shortly after folate was identified in the 1940s, folic acid was given to children with leukemia. Surprisingly, their cancer worsened. The discovery led to a folate-blocking chemotherapy still used today. Then in the 1980s and 1990s a steady stream of studies linked high folate levels to decreased risk of colorectal cancer."
These two pieces of research seem to contradict each other but what scientists have discovered is that it is all about timing. If you give folic acid to patients in the very early stages of cancer, it can be very beneficial.
But if folic acid is taken when cancer cells are present, it is extremely dangerous. As Dr Young-In Kim, MD, an Associate Professor in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto, has recently written “giving folic acid to cancer cells is like putting oil on the fire” - it actively fertilizes and aids in the multiplication of cancer cells.
In 2007 Dr Joel Mason, Associate Professor at Tufts University, discovered a correlation between the introduction of the American government's folic acid fortification programme and increased rates of colorectal cancer.
Dr Kim and other experts agree that more research on folic acid fortification needs to be undertaken before any definite conclusions can be drawn. But clearly it is a risky business and one soon to find it's way here.
The good news is that the same concerns are not held for the natural forms of folate. All evidence suggests that a diet rich is natural folates is beneficial.
Posted by Robert Glensor on 6th July, 2009 | Comments | Trackbacks
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