From 13th December 2026, synthetic folic acid (a chemical, not a natural substance) will be added to all non-wholemeal white and brown flour in the UK. This includes standard white bread, brown bread and other baked products like baguettes, rolls, pizza bases, cakes and biscuits. The stated aim is to increase blood folic acid levels in pregnant women in order to reduce the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs). So why medicate the whole population instead of recommending supplements to those women who wish to take them? Especially as no proper assessment of the harms of folic acid has been carried out. To find out more about the mass-medication of folic acid and what you can do about it, please read on …
History of UK food fortification
The 1875 Food and Drugs Act stated that nothing should be be added to flour and that flour should be pure! However, in the 1940s, war rationing and changes in milling to remove the nutritious parts of wheat grain, heralded the fortification of nutrient-deficient foods with iron, calcium and thiamine (B1). A later 1981 Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) concluded that mandatory fortification was no longer justified. That advice has been ignored and mandatory fortification continues.
The current change in the law comes via an amendment to the Bread and Flour Regulations Act (1998). It was not debated in Parliament, nor did it undergo full scientific Impact Assessment.
For the greater good?
The UK Government promotes mass-medication of folic acid in wheat flour as a beneficial cost-free public health win for the greater good of the population. Yet every one of its claims falls apart when examined under the lens of science.
*The claim that folic acid is a B vitamin is incorrect. The actual B vitamin is called folate and is found in foods like leafy greens and liver. Folic acid is not a vitamin at all but a synthetic compound or drug not found in nature. It has to undergo a more complex conversion process in the body to be of use. A sizeable percentage of the population with MTHFR variants has difficulty converting folic acid to a usable form. This results in unused folic acid circulating in the blood which in turn has been linked to accelerated growth of existing pre-cancerous lesions. If you are told that folic acid is natural and occurs in nature, you are being deceived. Introducing folate is therefore mass-medication.
*The claim that folic acid “helps prevent neural tube defects” is based upon a 1991 trial showing that high-dose supplementation benefitted women with a previous affected pregnancy. What the government has done is to apply this high-dose clinical result to low-dose mass dosing of the whole nation through bread without proper scientific assessment whether this is the right thing to do.
*A damning Hungarian trial by Czeizel and Dudas published in the Lancet in 1997 found that every category of fetal death was higher in the group where mothers were taking folic acid. Terathanasia (death of the malformed) was proposed as the mechanism by which folic acid reduced the number of babies born with neural tube defects by killing the affected embryos before birth. The government is aware of these trial results but has ignored them. You can read more about this trial on the Heath Advisory and Recovery Team (HART) website.
*The decline in neural tube defects began before folic acid existed. Spina bifida fell by 82% between 1972 and 1991 in England and Wales. The recommendation for pregnant women to take folic acid began in 1992, after the decline had occurred. After 1992, the rate of decline slowed.
*The safety of mass-medicating the population comes into question when you consider the list of categories of people the NHS states should avoid taking folic acid supplementation. These include:
- People with cancer or colorectal adenomas (benign tumours which may develop into cancer): Folic acid can fuel cancer. Some research indicates a doubling of prostate cancer risk in men and concerns about immune response in women.
- People with B12 deficiency: By masking this deficiency, folic acid allows neurological damage to progress undetected as blood markers look normal. The elderly are most at risk and they may be the some of the highest bread consumers.
- People with stents and cardiovascular disease: Such patients can’t avoid exposure without abandoning a staple food.
-People with kidney disease: Folic acid metabolism and accumulation are impaired in kidney disease.
*Additionally some people produce antibodies that attach to the folate receptor. Think of folate as a parcel and the folate receptor as a doorway. Antibodies may block the doorway interfere with its function. How will mass-medication of folate affect these people?
No Informed Consent
There has been no Informed Consent in the mass-medication with synthetic folic acid. It has been presented as a fait accompli. The majority of the population - men, infants and children - won’t receive any benefit at all but may incur significant harm if you consider the amount of folate already added to the breakfast cereals, bread and pizza beloved by kids. They will be exposed to this their whole lifetime. Other people with high-carb diets made up of breakfast cereals, toast, wraps, pasta, crackers and pizza will also receive a much higher dose of synthetic folic acid. These are the very people who are likely to be most inflamed and at risk for cancers (now on the rise). Additionally, these are the most addictive foods in the supermarket. The government knows what it’s doing.
The government justifies the mass medication by stating that nearly half of all pregnancies are unplanned. Their answer is to medicate every man, woman, child and elderly person in the land. The statistics quoted on the HART website are: treat roughly 440 women to prevent one neural tube defect. However, the number needed to cause harm is 1 in 50 women suffering a lost pregnancy. Therefore, the harm factor is about nine times greater than the benefit. Has anyone looked at safety studies for mass-medicating a whole nation? Are they likely to?
There are inherent dangers in treating everyone with a “one-size-fits-all” approach. If we are all receiving the same dose of folate, how does this affect the health of infants, children, carnivores, vegans and vegetarians? Not to mention biochemical individuality and response to drugs.
Neither food-loving France or Italy requires folic acid to be added to ordinary flour or bread by law. It seems the British government is more intent on following the US model of mass-fortification of foods. And we know how healthy the US food pyramid is!
What can you do?
1.Sign the parliamentary petition organised by the Health Advisory and Recovery Team (HART) to stop folic acid from being added to flour. This is on the hartgroup.org website.
2.If any of you have one of the NHS listed medical contraindications, write to your MP and get them to ask questions in parliament. Advice, articles and templates are on the HART website.
3.Watch the interview with Dr Clare Craig from HART with Dr Liz Evans from UK Medical Freedom Alliance online to educate yourself and your friends. This interview is also available on the UK Column website.
4.Consider making your own bread so you know exactly what goes in it. I make all my bread with almond flour and ground psyllium husks (an egg free adaptation of the recipe Dr Berg calls “the healthiest bread in the world”).
If you would like help with nutrition or a chronic condition, please get in touch with the Good Health Clinic on goodhealthclinic@outlook.com to request a free 30 minute Enquiry Call or book an appointment. Please note that an Enquiry call is not a consultation but an exploratory call to see if this is a clinical approach you wish to pursue.To your very good health,
Suzanne Jeffery (Nutritional Medicine Consultant)
M.A.(Oxon), BSc.(NMed), PGCE, GNC, BSEM, MNNA, CNHC
The Good Health Clinic at The Business Centre, 2, Cattedown Road, Plymouth PL4 0EG
Tel no: 07836 552936/ Answer phone: 01752 774755
Disclaimer:
All advice given out by Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic is for general guidance and informational purposes only. All advice relating to other health professionals’ advice is for general guidance and information purposes only. Readers are encouraged to confirm the information provided with other sources. Patients and consumers should review the information carefully with their professional health care provider. The information is not intended to replace medical advice offered by other practitioners and physicians. Suzanne Jeffery and the Good Health Clinic will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages arising therefrom.