Researchers urge compulsory folic acid in flour

PanARMENIAN.Net - A "statistical error" that resulted in an upper limit being set for daily folic acid intake may have contributed to hundreds of children being born with common birth defects, scientists say, according to BreakingNews.ie.

The London-based researchers looked at anencephaly - where a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull - and spina bifida - where the bones of the spine do not form properly around part of the baby's spinal cord.

They believe around 3,000 cases of babies being born with the two defects could have been prevented in the UK in the last 20 years if the British Government had approved a plan to make folic acid a compulsory ingredient in flour.

A new study, published in the journal Public Health Reviews, found the upper limit of 1mg a day to be based on "flawed analysis".

The researchers are now calling on the Government to approve fortification of flour with folic acid - which is a B vitamin - based on their findings.

White flour is already fortified with iron, calcium and other B vitamins (niacin and thiamin) in the UK.

The 1mg a day limit was adopted after the findings from the US Institute of Medicine (now known as the National Academy of Medicine or NAM) suggested those with vitamin B12 deficiency are at an increased risk of damage to the central and peripheral nervous system when consuming higher doses of folic acid.

This, according to study leader Professor Nicholas Wald, has been seen as a barrier to introducing fortification of folic acid in the UK.

But Prof. Wald and his team in London concluded there is no need for the 1mg a day upper limit as high doses of folic acid do not lead to neurological damage.

The researchers said this "flawed" NAM analysis from 1998 was a result of "misinterpreted data from 23 studies that they considered".