THE VITAL VITAMIN...
As the government finally announces that folic acid is to be added to flour to reduce the risk of birth defects, SP takes a closer look at this vital vitamin...
W
hite and brown flour is now to be fortified with folic acid, the government has announced.
Folic acid (also known as vitamin B9, vitamin Bc or folacin) is important for all people since it helps the body to make healthy new cells.
It has long been acknowledged that folic acid helps the body to make healthy red blood cells and the vitamin is usually absorbed through eating green vegetables, such as broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
While it’s an important vitamin for everyone, folic acid is especially important for pregnant women, who need a significantly higher dose.
That’s because a lack of folic acid is linked to neural tube defects, which can cause potentially life- threatening conditions such as spina bifida in babies
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scottishpharmacist.com
The vitamin’s importance in the development of unborn children was first suggested in the late 1960s, when researchers found folate deficiencies could contribute to neural tube defects. Since 1992, the Department of Health has recommended that women, who are planning a pregnancy, or who are in the early stages of pregnancy, should take a 400mcg supplement of folic acid and should continue with this until at least the twelfth week of pregnancy.
Folate is actually a B vitamin, which is naturally found in nuts, liver and dark green, leafy vegetables, such as spinach. (Folic acid refers to the synthetic form of the vitamin). The body needs folic acid to form new cells and genetic material, and this is thought to be the reason why the vitamin is so important for the healthy development of an unborn baby.
If women have enough folate in their bodies before they become pregnant, this vitamin can
decrease the risk of birth defects of the baby’s brain (anencephaly) or of the spine (spina bifida).
Experts claim that the inclusion of folic acid in white and brown flour could cut the number of cases of spina bifida in the United Kingdom by about 200 a year – about 20 per cent of the average annual total.
To date, about 80 countries – including the United States, Canada and Australia – add folic acid to flour and some British breakfast cereal manufacturers already add it to their products.
Despite the addition of folic acid to flour – for which a date is still to be decided – the government has said that women would still be advised to take folic acid tablets when trying to get pregnant.
Wholemeal flour will be exempt from the rules to give those, who want to avoid the supplement, an option.
FOLIC ACID IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT FOR PREGNANT WOMEN
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