Folic acid – now in our bread – increases prostate cancer risk, new study finds

URO TODAY: Vitamin B(12) and (in cohort studies) folate are associated with increased prostate cancer risk, according to a new study. READ MORE>

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NZ government abandons plans to make folate compulsory in bread

STRAIGHT FURROW: Australia will go it alone next month when it begins the mandatory fortification of bread-making flour with synthetic folate, considered a possible prostate cancer risk by some researchers. READ MORE>

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Folic acid delay angers those who support adding it to NZ bread

JULY 19: TVNZ: Campaigners against adding folic acid to bread in NZ have drawn a counter-attack from folate supporters, who say the dangers – including prostate cancer risk – have been exaggerated. READ MORE>

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Prostate cancer suspect folic acid won’t be added to our bread after all

JULY 19: SUNDAY STAR-TIMES: The NZ government’s plan to put folic acid – a suspected prostate cancer risk – in the country’s bread will be abandoned at tomorrow’s meeting of Cabinet, the paper predicts. READ MORE>

“The Key government will announce this week that it is throwing out the former government’s policy.

“Cabinet is expected to formalise the government’s position when it meets tomorrow, effectively putting the controversial issue on the back burner for three years and, crucially, beyond the next election.”

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Otago scientist challenged on conference report that folic acid will be cleared of cancer link

JULY 16: DOMINION POST: A UK scientist and one from Norway have challenged Otago University professor Murray Skeaff’s report from a Prague conference that a study due out soon  will clear folic acid of its potential links to prostate cancer.

They  say he omitted to mention a Norwegian study presented to the meeting – which found an overall increased risk of cancer in two trials (including deaths) – and point out the Prague conference on Homocysteine Metabolism last month voted by majority to oppose mandatory fortification of foods with folic acid.  READ MORE>

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FOLIC ACID and PROSTATE CANCER: NZ government must tread carefully with mass medication, says newspaper

JULY 16: DOMINION POST: Any decision to mass-medicate a population cannot be taken lightly, says the paper in an editorial today. First, there are safety concerns: two peer-reviewed US studies have linked excessive folate to higher rates of prostate cancer in men and inflammatory bowel disease in children. There has also been concern that in elderly people, high levels of folic acid might mask low levels of B12, which can lead to neurological damage. READ MORE>

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Australia lets NZ off the hook over joint rule to introduce folic acid to bread

JULY 15: DOMINION POST:  New Zealand has effectively been given the green light to axe rules forcing bakers to add folic acid to bread from September. The office of Australian parliamentary secretary for health Mark Butler told Wellington’s Dominion Post newspaper it was New Zealand’s call whether to proceed with the trans-Tasman standard, agreed in 2007. READ MORE>

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