results.2,8


the .S. Food and Dru Administration has reuired that uncooked cereal rains and our products be ortied ith olic acid. 8


hile insucient olate can result in atiue, depression, conusion, anemia, reduced immune unction, loss o intestinal illi, and an increase in inections,2,5,6


conditions that ould hae otherise beneted rom real ood olate. Furthermore, ery lare amounts o olic acid in its pharmacoloical oxidied (PA) orm may be noxious to the nerous systemand hae prooked seiures in patients otherise under control on anticonulsant therapy.2


Folic acid is placed in certain rened rain products to help ortiy the itamin content. oeer, as the renin process tends to reduce ber, protein, and natural B itamin leels, it ould seem iser to consume oods that hae not been as rened.


Excessive Folic Acid is Becoming a Health Concern


A 2010 report states, The more e learn about olic acid, the more it’s clear that iin it to eeryone has ery real risks, says olic acid researcher Daid Smith, PhD, a proessor o pharmacoloy at the niersity o Oxord in Enlandthe risk experts orry about most: colon cancer. ast year, health ocials in Chile reported that hospitaliation rates or colon cancer amon men and omen ae 45 and older more than doubled in their country since ortication as introduced in 2000. n 2007, oel Mason, MD, director o the Vitamins and Carcinoenesis aboratory at the Tuts niersity School o Medicine, described a study o the nited States and Canada suestin that rates o colon cancer rose - olloin years o steady decline - in the late 1990s (around the time our ood as bein ortied).14


The same report also states, Other research links hih doses to lun and prostate cancers. n one study conducted in Noray, hich doesn’t ortiy oods, supplementation ith 800 mc o olic acid (plus B12 and B6) daily or more than 3 years raised the risk o deelopin lun cancer by 21 percent. Another, in hich men took either olic acid or a placebo, shoed those consumin 1,000 mc o olic acid daily had more than tice the risk o prostate cancer. And a ne orry recently came to liht hen scientists discoered the lier has limited ability to metabolie olic acid into olate  hich means any excess continues circulatin in the bloodstream. nlike olate, olic acid isn’t ound in nature, so e don’t kno the eect o the excess, says Smith. ndeed, many scientists hae ron increasinly concerned about mountin research  includin a study published last inter in the ournal o the American Medical Association  suestin that all the extra olic acid miht increase your odds o deelopin cancer.14


THE ORIGINAL INTERNIST NE 2016


consumption o olic acid may actually interere ith olate metabolism2


Certain scientists beliee that excessie this could be expected to orsen


totally clear hat daners lon-term consumption o olic acid ill cause.2,8


it is not


deriaties act to inhibit certain enymes, includin those associated ith nucleotide biosynthesis.8


Also, in itro studies do sho that PA n spite o this,


A maor placebo controlled trial ound that men ho took olic acid ere about three times as likely to deelop prostate cancer as men ho did not.15


suested that olates in ood helped reduce the risk or prostate cancer.


That same trial


At least one study inolin breast cancer as een less conclusie, but had ndins that hinted that reduction in olic acid consumption may possibly reduce the risk.16 hile hiher dietary olate intake may be associated ith a loer risk o breast cancer,17


case ith olic acid. One study, or cancer suriors, ound that Folic acid supplement use as associated ith hiher risk o death, only amon suriors reportin lo-uality diets.18


Some studies shoed a hiher risk o breast cancer in populations exposed to hih olate intake post ortication, especially hen olic acid is used. The results support the need to be cautious and to limit the exposure o omen to hih intakes o olic acid, especially in countries ith mandatory ood ortication.19 hae mandatory ortication.)


A study inolin 38,772 omen in the SA ho took synthetic multi-itamin ormulas ound that, on aerae, omen died seeral years earlier than those ho did not take them, and olic acid as identied as a possible reason.20


ood itamins and minerals are essential to human health and promote loneity.


Foods ortied ith olic acid may cause serious neuroloical problems in patients decient in itamin B12.12


to be more bioaailable than natural sources, it also seems to be much less sae.15


the eects o lielon consumption o oods ortied ith olic acid, it ould seem to be better not to take additional olic acid in the orm o nutritional supplements or most people


Researchers R. yer and S. Tomar rihtly concluded, A number o studies hae shon that hih intakes o olic acid, the chemically synthesied orm, but not natural olates, can cause aderse eects in some indiiduals such as the maskin o the hematoloical maniestations o itamin B12 deciency, leukemia, arthritis, boel cancer, and ectopic prenancies.22


that ood orms ere preerred or prenant omen.22 They also concluded


researcher’s ie is that toxicity plays a role and it may be that excessiely hih intakes o olic acid increase that risk.


n 2016, ohns opkins said that it appears that too much olic acid can possibly cause (or at least contribute to) autism.23


hile causes or autism can be debated, this


(Continued on page 61) 59


No, this is not to say that olic acid uniormly causes neuroloical problems or increases cancer rates or eeryone,21


but since it ill take a lon time to determine


as truly sae in the presence o untreated cobalamin deciency.12


Furthermore, no olic acid dose can be considered Althouh synthetic olic acid is considered


Synthetic itamins are danerous. et, 100 the same is not the


(Countries like the SA


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