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Folic Acid: Folic Acid Food Fortification
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In 2004, the Minister for Health and Children set up a National Committee on Folic Acid Food Fortification and requested the Food Safety Authority of Ireland to act as the Secretariat to the Committee. The Committee was tasked with reviewing options for the fortification of foods with folic acid in view of the relatively high level of NTDs in Ireland. In carrying out this work the Committee addressed the broader aspects of implementing this policy including the technical issues regarding fortification, addressing risk and examining other reported health benefits that are linked to fortification. As part of the work of this Committee, a public consultation was conducted on possible options for the fortification of foods with folic acid. This consultation finished on 24th June 2005. Following analysis of all submissions, the Committee made a policy recommendation to the Minister for Health on 18th July, 2006.
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In light of the PHS recommendations on folic acid intake, FDA began to consider the merits of food fortification. It could enhance efforts to help Americans choose good foods rather than rely on supplements. Supplements, in this case... were not likely to be effective. According to concerned nutrition experts, supplements would have discriminated against the poorest women in our society, a group of women who may be at the highest risk for neural tube defects, with the least resources for coping with the birth of a child with spina bifida. Finally, and most importantly, fortification was felt to be the best way to insure that women of child-bearing age received supplementation in the months leading up pregnancy and in the critical window when a woman might not know that she was pregnant, but the neural tube was being established.
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The Minister for Health and Children has set up an Implementation Group to move forward the recommendations from the National Committee on Folic Acid Food Fortification. One of the key recommendations from the Committee’s report was that an Implementation Group should be established to oversee the operational issues associated with a policy of mandatory fortification of bread on the Irish market.
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Countries that do not have a mandatory folic acid food fortification program have higher rates of folic acid deficiency. For example, a population based study inIran (where there is no fortification) showed an age-adjusted prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia (Hcy³15 micromol/L)of 73.1% in men and 41.07% in women (aged 25-64 y).
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Folic Acid Food Fortification