I'm glad I make my own bread.

[Muscroj]

I agree, which is why I think adding it to some, but not all bread is a good idea, with clear labeling so that people can make a choice.

The fact is that people buying sliced loaf are already buying a bread substitute with a host of unnecessary added ingredients, I think that if someone isn't bothered about consuming E472e then they're not going to be worried about added folic acid.

[contadina]

I have a cousin who was born with and died of spina bifida. My aunt wasn't a alcoholic single mother on limited means with no clue of dietary needs either, she was a farmer's wife who prepared proper meals with homegrown produce.

I hate the idea of foods being fortified with anything, which is why I never eat breakfast cereal, but am warming to Muscroj's idea of adding it to eat plastic white bread. I'll continue to make my own unfortified stuff and take folic acid separately. I eat really healthily, but still couldn't reach the required amount of folic acid every day without taking a supplement.

[Green Aura]

Of course you can get your daily requirement without supplements! Otherwise spina bifida and other defiency-related problems would have been the norm for every generation up to the onset of Kelloggs!

http://dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov ... folate.asp

According to this table, it should be quite simple without resorting to fortified breakfast cereals.

[contadina]

Otherwise spina bifida and other defiency-related problems would have been the norm for every generation up to the onset of Kelloggs!

Spina bifida has been around for centuries. Aristotle was believed to have suffered from it. Suggestions that folic acid could prevent neural diseases, such as spina bifida, however, were not made until the late 1980's. In the US initial drops were slow, and it wasn't until it was added to grains, flours and breads in 1998 that figures began to drop. In less than 10 years spina bifida rates have dropped by more than half. I'd still rather take a supplement whilst it's possible for me to conceive but you can't refute the success rates.

[Muscroj]

According to this table, it should be quite simple without resorting to fortified breakfast cereals.

I'd disagree with that, from the chart I've taken out all the items that were already fortified with FA (it's an american chart & so cereals/rice & bread are already fortified) & I've taken out the items that I don't eat on a regular basis, like melon or spinach & I'm left with the items below. IF I eat ALL of them in one day I am still only getting 57% of the recommended daily intake of FA.
Of course folic acid will be in other foods as well, I'm sure mushrooms, onions & peppers that I eat daily will have small amounts, but not enough to make up the shortfall. When you tot it up it's surprising how little you do consume even in a balanced diet.

Food Micrograms (μg) % DV^
Green peas, frozen, boiled, ½ cup 50 15
Broccoli, raw, 2 spears (each 5 inches long) 45 10
Lettuce, Romaine, shredded, ½ cup 40 10
Orange juice, chilled, includes concentrate, ¾ cup35 10
Egg, whole, raw, fresh, 1 large 25 6
Banana, raw, 1 medium 20 6

Otherwise spina bifida and other defiency-related problems would have been the norm for every generation up to the onset of Kelloggs!

Also, it is not suggesting that EVERY woman who eats below the recommended amount will give birth to a child with neural tube defects, however it decreases the chances, so fortifying staple food products will decrease the problem within the overall population.

[MKG]

From Confused of Milton Keynes ...

Just a point or two.

Not all of the people who would be eating the artificially enhanced bread would be women - statistics tell me that probably only half of them would be.

And then, if it was so difficult to maintain folic acid levels by eating a purely natural diet, how on earth did we get into a position to be even discussing it?

No great axe to grind - merely observations.

Mike

[Odsox]

Not all of the people who would be eating the artificially enhanced bread would be women - statistics tell me that probably only half of them would be.

If you count the female population who are between 15 and 40, it is about 19%.
Or 81% who are in no need of folic acid.

[Millymollymandy]

I've never even heard of folic acid!

[Squirrel46]

Getting back to bread basics, who's heard of the Chorleywood process?
Most of the bread in this country is made using this process; it started in the sixties, and is as good a reason as any to make your own!
I made some bread recently with strong white flour direct from a local windmill; it wasn't white! So even flour in our supermarket's bread flour is adulterated?

[grahamhobbs]

Commercial bread sure is adulterated, bleached and 'improved', blown up with so much steam and air that if you squage(?) a loaf down its the size of a walnut. It is not bread!

Anyone you who is concerned about their health and the taste of real food should make their own bread using good, preferably (or at least most of the time) organic wholemeal flour. It is no trouble at all and you do not need a machine or lots of time.

[Millymollymandy]

French bread flour is white. It doesn't come in many other colours unfortunately.

[grahamhobbs]

French bread has seemed to be going down hill for a long time now. But I think there might be a bit of a revival of traditional baguettes, using sourdough starters and producing bread with proper large holes and a creamy white colour - and some real flavour, even though yes its still white bread. Pain complet is usually a bit sad unfortunately.

[Millymollymandy]

Oh I agree with you but I hate the holey bread as you're paying for a crust you can't get your teeth through and a big hole in the middle!

Anyway I was referring to the bread flour that you can buy. There is a choice of white, white with grains, or at Carrefour, grey (that's their version of brown). So I buy Belgian bread flour from the garden centre which is the right colour.

[Odsox]

So I buy Belgian bread flour from the garden centre which is the right colour.

Only because they mix it with potting compost.

[Millymollymandy]

so that's what the earthy flavour is!