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Britain to add folate to bread
United Press International reported that British food regulators say folic acid should be added to all packaged white bread. Folic acid is a source of folate, a B-vitamin needed for the rapid cell division and growth that takes place during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, when women are advised to take a supplement of 400 micrograms a day. The Food Standards Agency's action marks the first compulsory fortification of food since WWII, when the addition of calcium, iron, vitamin B1 and B3 to flour was mandatory.
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Vitamin E Safety Confirmed by New JAMA Study.
Several studies have pointed to increased risk of death from vitamin E, although such studies have used purified or synthetic vitamin E and involved diseased persons. This new study in JAMA fills several information gaps.
For the abstract of the latest vitamin E study, Vitamin E in the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer. The Womens Health Study: A Randomized Controlled Trial, by I-Min Lee, MBBS, ScD; Nancy R. Cook, ScD; J. Michael Gaziano, MD; David Gordon, MA; Paul M Ridker, MD; JoAnn E. Manson, MD, DrPH; Charles H. Hennekens, MD, DrPH; Julie E. Buring, ScD, published in the Journal of the Americal Medical Association (JAMA) 2005; 294: 56-65, please click here.
This 10-year study, the longest trial period ever for a study on vitamin E supplements, undertaken on approximately 40,000 healthy women (free of major diseases) over the age of 45 shows:
Vitamins E (alpha-tocopherol only) supplements does not increase death rates in healthy persons
Those women taking the high dose vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol only) supplements did have a significantly lower risk of death and also a much lower risk of heart attack and stroke if they were over the age of 65.
However, although the study included the use of natural vitamin E, the form used was the purified alpha-tocopherol form, rather than the full complex of natural vitamin E which contains 8 forms, alpha-, beta-, delta- and gamma-tocopherol, and alpha-, beta-, delta- and gamma-tocotrienol. For a layperson's view on natural vitamin E, read Dr Andreas Papas' account.
A considerable body of recent research demonstrates the importance particularly of gamma-tocopherol (the most abundant form in foods) and points to substantial intakes of alpha-tocopherol actually reducing the body's absorption of gamma-tocopherol.
Therefore, long-term studies on full spectrum natural vitamin E, including mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols, are much needed and are likely to show even greater beneficial effects.
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