Folic acid holdup frustrates doctors

Delaying plans to add folic acid to all bread will add about $10 million in health costs in the next three years and result in the equivalent of a classroom full of unborn babies being aborted, paediatricians say.

Under a deal with Australia due to come into effect in September, manufacturers would have been compelled to add the vitamin to all bread products to curb the incidence of birth defects.

However, under pressure from the food industry, the Government wants to put the scheme on hold for three years so it can evaluate the risks and benefits.

Rotorua paediatrician Johan Morreau, chairman of child health at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, said doctors were "intensely frustrated" by the holdup. "What should have been a public health decision has become the subject of a political bun-fight. There is no scientific basis to justify the delay."

Readding folate, which was removed from wheat during milling, would cut the incidence of spina bifida by about 80 per cent and of total birth defects by 40 per cent, he said.

In 2004, the most recent year for which data is available, 16 babies were born with spina bifida and 29 pregnancies were terminated after scans showed the condition.

In 1997, it was estimated that each child born with spina bifida cost the health system $400,000.

Dr Morreau said though folate occurred naturally in other foods, the average New Zealander's diet was deficient in the vitamin.

"Bread is cheaper than fruit and people are more likely to eat it."

He accused the food industry of running a vested interest campaign, "distorting facts about effectiveness, benefits and risks".

"It's a good decision, soundly based, and endorsed by the World Health Organisation, the result of 20 years research and is already done in 57 countries."

However, Association of Bakers president Laurie Powell applauded the Government to preserve people's right to choose. "Over the past four years, the baking industry has repeatedly offered to significantly extend the range of breads fortified with folic acid on a voluntary basis and to support a targeted advertising campaign with on-pack messages."

Food Safety Minister Kate Wilkinson said public submissions on folic acid and a proposal to defer mandatory fortification till May 2012 opened tomorrow. "The proposal aims to give us more time to evaluate the risks and benefits of the standard and to take into account the wishes of New Zealanders."

Submissions close on August 12.

FOLATE FACTS

WHAT IS FOLATE?

Folate or folic acid is a B vitamin needed by adults and children to make normal red blood cells.

If women have a diet low in folate at the time of conception and in early pregnancy, their unborn child is at risk of the nervous system not developing properly.

The most common type of neural tube defect is spina bifida, in which the spinal cord remains unfused.

Low folate intake during pregnancy is also a factor in some congenital heart defects.

FOLATE-RICH FOODS

Orange juice, dark green, leafy vegetables (e.g. spinach, broccoli, asparagus and romaine lettuce), beans, lentils, grains, citrus fruit, kiwifruit and strawberries.

HOW MUCH FOLATE DO YOU NEED?

Pregnant women need 400-1000 micrograms of folate each day.

The average Kiwi woman gets only about 200 micrograms of folate each day. Folic acid fortification in bread would add another 140 micrograms.

- RUTH HILL/Dominion Post