- The popularity of low-carbohydrate regimes like the Atkins
diet could trigger a sharp resurgence in devastating birth defects and
childhood cancers, scientists warn.
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- Bread, pasta, breakfast cereals and orange juice - which
are largely shunned in low-carb regimes - are key sources of folic acid,
a micronutrient essential to the neurological development of fetuses.
-
- Since 1998, all white flour, white pasta and cornmeal
in Canada have been fortified with folic acid.
-
- As a result, the number of children born with neural
tube defects has fallen by half. The incidence of neuroblastoma, a common
childhood cancer, is down 60 per cent.
-
- "Fortification is one of the greatest success stories
in the history of medicine but, with so many people on low-carb diets,
there is a real danger that those gains will be lost," said Gideon
Koren, director of the Motherisk program at the Toronto Hospital for Sick
Children.
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- Folate, or vitamin B-9, is found in leafy green vegetables
like spinach, fruits like oranges, and in legumes like lentils and kidney
beans.
-
- The synthetic version, folic acid, is found in commercially
prepared baked goods and pasta and can be purchased in supplements.
-
- The recommended daily dose is four micrograms. A woman
would have to eat about eight slices of white bread daily to reach that
minimal level. Because almost half of all pregnancies are unplanned, supplements
are recommended for all women of childbearing age.
-
- Dr. Koren said in an interview that while he applauds
efforts by people to maintain a healthy weight, women should avoid fad
diets during their reproductive years because they will miss out on essential
micronutrients, including folic acid, vitamin D and vitamin A.
-
- "Low-carb diets are a striking example of how you
can do something really bad for your child's health while trying to do
good for your own health," he said.
-
- Dr. Koren and a number of other scientists are planning
to ask Health Canada to issue a formal warning to women about the risks
of low-carb diets.
-
- A recent survey revealed that one in every nine adults
in North America is currently on a low-carbohydrate regime like the Atkins
or South Beach diets and that twice as many again are planning to go that
route in the next two years.
-
- If they follow through with the diet plans, that would
mean that as many as 75 million adults could be on low-carb diets in the
United States and Canada by 2006.
-
- The survey revealed that almost 40 per cent of people
on low-carb diets had stopped drinking orange juice. An even larger number
are likely to have abandoned bread. Canadian flour sales dropped almost
10 per cent in the last year.
-
- The numbers have caught the eye of health groups and
scientists.
-
- "We're really beginning to worry about the popularity
of low-carb diets but, at this point, we just don't know what the impact
is going to be," said Nancy Green, medical director at the March of
Dimes, a charitable group that works to prevent birth defects.
-
- She said folic acid fortification has had such a dramatic
impact that it follows that if people shun foods that are fortified, rates
of birth defects could jump again.
-
- The problem could largely be avoided if all women of
childbearing age took a daily multivitamin that contains folic acid, she
added.
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- Fewer than 300 children with neural tube defects are
now born annually in Canada, down from more than 800 a year 15 years ago.
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- © 2004 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights
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