I saw this article about folate today and thought it was interesting.

[MoKayD]

The headline reads: Upper limit for intake of folate is invalid

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

[fbirder]

I've been an advocate of folic acid being added to flour for years. I really cannot see why it's so bad. Nobody weeps, wails and gnashes their teeth at the addition of folic acid to Cornflakes (50 mcg per small bowl).

Here’s what I wrote about this two years ago...

There's a lot of misconceptions about folate masking B12 deficiency. So I thought I'd clear up some of them.

Yes, it is true that high levels of folate in the blood can mask one of the symptoms of B12 deficiency. That is macrocytic anaemia. But we all know that macrocytic anaemia isn't the only symptom. Indeed, we should all know that many sufferers of PA don't actually have macrocytic anaemia.

And high folate isn't the only thing that can mask macrocytic anaemia. Iron deficiency anaemia can do exactly the same.

So, how does one get folate levels high enough to mask macrocytic anaemia? Well, the easiest way is by consuming large amounts of folate supplements - often at the behest of clickbait websites that warn of the dire consequences of 'methylation'.

The second easiest is through your diet. In the UK recommended amounts are 200 ug per day, rising to 700 ug for newly pregnant women. So how much will people get from fortified bread? In Australia they add sufficient to flour so that they get 135 ug per 100g of bread. Warburtons medium sliced bread comes in at 40 g per slice. So that's 14 ug of folic acid per slice. To get half of your recommended amount you'd need to eat 7 slices per day if you're a man and 25 if you're a pregnant woman. And that's just to get to half of the recommended amount. I've seen people advocating 5000 ug a day - that's 360 slices of bread!

But what about other dietary sources? Well, if fortified bread shouldn't be allowed nor should Black Eyed Peas (1 slice per 1/2 Tbsp) or Spinach (1 slice per 20 g).