March 2004
S.F. Gate
Flour enriched with the vitamin folate to prevent birth
defects may also be preventing tens of thousands of deaths
in the United States from heart attack and stroke, according
to a provocative new government study released Friday in San
Francisco.
Using a computer analysis of death certificates, researchers
at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
detected a sudden drop in mortality rates from heart attack
and stroke that coincides with the required addition of
folate to the nation's food supply beginning in 1996.
Folate was added to grain products after studies showed
conclusively that the vitamin helps prevent spina bifida, a
disabling birth defect. The vitamin, also known as folic
acid, is found in dark-green leafy vegetables, fruits, dried
beans and peas. A member of the B-family of vitamins, it is
also widely sold as a nutritional supplement.
The FDA policy requires that a tiny amount of folate be
added to flour products, enough that a single serving
provides 10 percent of the recommended daily value for folic
acid in the U.S. diet.
Since the requirement took effect, spina bifida cases have
fallen 20 percent.
Now, the new analysis estimates that 48,000 fewer deaths
from heart attack and stroke each year also may be
attributable to the policy, CDC epidemiologist Quanhe Yang
said at an American Heart Association conference in San
Francisco.
"The key issue is timing. Why did this happen just after
fortification?'' Yang said in a telephone interview prior to
his presentation. Main article here:
tinyurl.com29g3sOpen ↗ www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/03/06/MNGU05FM9P1.DTL