Folic acid delay 'unreasonable'

DIRECTOR OF the Boyne Research Institute (BRI), Dr Julianne Byrne, has said that she finds the apparent delay in the introduction of mandatory folic acid fortification “unreasonable”, because the weight of scientific evidence shows that it protects against most cases of neural tube defects (NTD).

The BRI, based in Drogheda, has called for the mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid as a way to help protect against birth defects.

The group, which studies links between folic acid and the risk of having a child with a NTD such as spina bifida, made the call on the basis of its own and other international studies.

But the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has said that before proceeding with mandatory fortification, it must evaluate new evidence that folic acid levels in the diet here are 30 per cent higher than previously thought. It also wants to examine evidence that the estimated incidence of NTDs in Ireland has fallen.

Adequate folic acid intake before and during early pregnancy has been linked with reduced incidence of NTDs. Mandatory fortification of flour is in place in many countries, including in the US. In 2006, the National Committee on Folic Acid Food Fortification recommended that flour here be fortified with 120 micrograms of folic acid per 100g of flour.

“We are really lined up with the Government’s fortification programme, we want it to happen because in our data and in other people’s data there are increases in serum folate related to taking fortified, enriched foods,” said Dr Byrne.

She also questioned the validity of reported links between folic acid supplementation and colorectal cancer.

Alan Reilly, deputy chief executive of the FSAI, said decisions about how to proceed with fortification here would be made on “rock-solid ground”.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times