Folic acid advice has had little impact on birth defects
Recommendations for women planning a pregnancy to take folic acid supplements have had no impact on the number of babies born with neural tube defects, says an international team of researchers.
Recommendations on use of folic acid consumption have had no detectable impact on the incidence of neural tube defects, according to an international study.
Upon reading these headlines and summaries, wouldn't you, as a pregnant woman taking folic acid supplements on the recommendation of your doctor, begin to think that you had been misled and might as well throw away your remaining pills? Doesn't it sound as if the relationship between folic acid deficiency and birth defects has been disproved? Not so!Reading further, what the study shows is not that the recommendations are wrong, but that not enough people are following them. Birth defects haven't diminished because too many women are still not getting enough folic acid. When folic acid is added to fortified foods, such as enriched flour, birth defects do decrease. Whether or not it is ethical to sneak supplements into people's diets this way is another matter. What concerns me is that people will scan the headlines, not reading the stories, and come away with a subliminal impression that folic acid makes no difference in their baby's health.
(An aside relating to food fortification: I attended an otherwise excellent baking class given by the folks at King Arthur Flour. In explaining the benefits of their flour, the speaker emphasized that it is pure flour, with absolutely no chemicals added. What she meant was that the flour is not bleached nor bromated, but that's not what she said. When I questioned the breadth of her statement, asking "Isn't your flour enriched?" (I knew it was), she replied, "Of course. But there are no chemicals added.")
