Low-fat spreads are an effective vehicle for supplementing the diet with folic acid, according to a new study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The aim of the study, sponsored by Unilever and led by K Pentieva at the Northern Ireland Centre for Diet and Health, University of Ulster was to explore the feasibility of low-fat spreads as vehicles for folic acid (FA) fortification by determining the level of absorption of folic acid from a fortified spread.
Folic acid is a form of vitamin B which is particularly recommended for pregnant women in order to reduce the risk of birth defects such as spina bifida but is also believed to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
A double blind, crossover study was performed on 13 male volunteers aged between 18 and 44 to test each of the following treatments administered at 1-weekly intervals: 20 g low-fat (40 per cent) spread fortified with 200 g folic acid and a placebo tablet; 20 g low-fat placebo spread and a 200 g folic acid tablet; 20 g low-fat placebo spread and a placebo tablet.
Main outcome measures were plasma total folate concentrations, measured before and up to 10 hours after each treatment.
The scientists found that plasma folate concentrations were significantly increased compared with baseline values one hour after administration of the folic acid tablet, and one and a half hours after the folic acid spread. They also found that they remained significantly higher than the baseline values for up to seven hours after both treatments.
The maximum plasma folate response was established between one and three hours after consumption in response to both folic acid spread and folic acid tablet, and no significant difference in maximum response was found between the two treatments. The acute absorption of folic acid from fortified spread relative to that from the tablet, calculated on the basis of area under the plasma folate response curve, was 67 per cent.
The scientists therefore concluded that the absorption of folic acid from fortified low-fat spread, although lower than from a tablet, is effective, suggesting that low-fat spreads, typically associated with fat-soluble vitamin fortification, may also be considered feasible as vehicles for folic acid fortification.
Last month scientists in the Netherlands called for more bioavailable fortification of foods with the vitamin following a study revealing that the average person was only consuming a third of the country's daily recommended intake of 300 grams and that two thirds of this intake was in the less easily absorbed B11 form of the vitamin.
In countries such as the US and Canada fortification of foods with folic acid is strongly encouraged, and in the case of cereals made compulsory, by the government, with scientific follow-ups showing positive benefits of such initiatives. Yet European countries remain reticent to follow in their tracks, claiming that not enough is known about the potential adverse effects.