Comments on: Synthetic Folic Acid May Cause Cancer http://www.AcupunctureNutrition.com/2007/11/02/synthetic-folic-acid-may-cause-cancer/ Functional Nutrition, Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine services Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:14:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: admin http://www.AcupunctureNutrition.com/2007/11/02/synthetic-folic-acid-may-cause-cancer/#comment-3506 admin Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:49:21 +0000 http://www.georgemandler.com/2007/11/02/synthetic-folic-acid-may-cause-cancer/#comment-3506 Hello Doc, Thank you for replying. Yep the data most certainly is conflicting. Remember all those Vitamin E studies that were conflicting until we realized they were poor studies because you need to give Vitamin E, not to mention the fact that there are 8 molecules of E....anyway I digress. I do believe when we see conflicting studies it is because we are only touching part of the elephant. We don't know the whole picture. And thinking of whole my recommendation would be to get folate from whole foods or at least supplements derived from whole foods. I do not believe that synthetic supplements should be used long term. Short term fine, but long term use I think we are being guinea pigs. There are many co-factors that go along with vitamins that we don't get from a synthetic supplement. I also wonder if these large non-physiological bolus of synthetics can throw the body out of balance. I'm sure it does, as we've seen it with too much Riboflavin causing cataracts, Zinc causing high cholestrol (b/c of copper competition) etc. Folic acid has its place no doubt. It has unequivocally reduced NTDs. But that is because the Mom to be has a lousy diet to begin with! Definitely not one size fits all which is the beauty of a system such as Chinese Medicine that can differentiate based on patterns rather than named diseases. I would also add that very few MDs know about supplements, let alone nutrition. I work with many MDs so I know they received about 6 hours of nutrition in school. There are more that are becoming aware because of the work of Jeff Bland PhD and the Institute for Functional Medicine. In Health, George Mandler Hello Doc,
Thank you for replying. Yep the data most certainly is conflicting. Remember all those Vitamin E studies that were conflicting until we realized they were poor studies because you need to give Vitamin E, not to mention the fact that there are 8 molecules of E….anyway I digress. I do believe when we see conflicting studies it is because we are only touching part of the elephant. We don’t know the whole picture. And thinking of whole my recommendation would be to get folate from whole foods or at least supplements derived from whole foods. I do not believe that synthetic supplements should be used long term. Short term fine, but long term use I think we are being guinea pigs. There are many co-factors that go along with vitamins that we don’t get from a synthetic supplement. I also wonder if these large non-physiological bolus of synthetics can throw the body out of balance. I’m sure it does, as we’ve seen it with too much Riboflavin causing cataracts, Zinc causing high cholestrol (b/c of copper competition) etc.

Folic acid has its place no doubt. It has unequivocally reduced NTDs. But that is because the Mom to be has a lousy diet to begin with! Definitely not one size fits all which is the beauty of a system such as Chinese Medicine that can differentiate based on patterns rather than named diseases.

I would also add that very few MDs know about supplements, let alone nutrition. I work with many MDs so I know they received about 6 hours of nutrition in school. There are more that are becoming aware because of the work of Jeff Bland PhD and the Institute for Functional Medicine.

In Health,
George Mandler

]]> By: doc http://www.AcupunctureNutrition.com/2007/11/02/synthetic-folic-acid-may-cause-cancer/#comment-3504 doc Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:15:26 +0000 http://www.georgemandler.com/2007/11/02/synthetic-folic-acid-may-cause-cancer/#comment-3504 Studies about folic acid supplements in colon cancer have yielded conflicting results. Nurses heart study showed it is helpful. Cole and colleagues have documented quite the opposite. Similarly, data suggests folic acid may lower risk of colon cancer in UC patients Of course, folic acid is beneficial during pregnancy and recently has been shown to reduce incidence of strokes. As someone said, folic acid may not be "one size fits all", and folic acid supplements should only be undertaken in consultaion with the physician. Studies about folic acid supplements in colon cancer have yielded conflicting results. Nurses heart study showed it is helpful. Cole and colleagues have documented quite the opposite. Similarly, data suggests folic acid may lower risk of colon cancer in UC patients
Of course, folic acid is beneficial during pregnancy and recently has been shown to reduce incidence of strokes.
As someone said, folic acid may not be “one size fits all”, and folic acid supplements should only be undertaken in consultaion with the physician.

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