Nutrition Action Health Letter
May 6, 2008
Women who consume more folate, a B vitamin, may have a higher risk of breast cancer.
Researchers analyzed blood samples taken from more than 1,700 U.S. women when they entered the Women's Health Study in 1993. Ten years later, those with the highest blood folate levels had about a 70 percent higher risk of breast tumors that respond to estrogen or progesterone than those with the lowest folate levels.
However, the trend wasn't clear cutthat is, each increase in blood levels wasn't linked to an increase in risk.
What to do: Until more studies are done, play it safe. If you take a multivitamin:
* Watch your cereals. Stay away from breakfast cereals, energy bars, and other foods that are fortified with 100 percent of the Daily Value for folic acid-400 micrograms. (Folic acid is the form of folate that's added to supplements and fortified foods.) That includes All-Bran Buds, Kashi Heart to Heart, Multigrain Cheerios, Product 19, Total, and Special K. If you typically eat more than one serving (usually ½ cup to 1 cup), watch out for cereals that have 25 or 50 percent of the DV for folic acid.
* Go whole grain. White pasta and white rice are fortified with 100 to 130 meg of folic acid per cup. Two slices of white bread have around 70 meg. Whole-grain bread and pasta and brown rice aren't fortified (though whole-grain cereals often are).
* Don't worry about naturally occurring folate. The folate in orange juice, vegetables, beans, and other foods isn't absorbed as well as the folic acid in fortified foods, so it's not a problem.
Just keep in mind that folate helps prevent spina bifida and other neural tube birth defects. So if you are-or could becomepregnant, get at least 400 meg a day of folic acid from a multivitamin or your food.
Amer. J. Clin. Nutr. 87: 734, 2008.
(C) 2008 Nutrition Action Health Letter. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
