Adding the vitamin folic acid to flour to protect pregnant women does not make any difference to cancer risk, British researchers said today.
Women are encouraged to take folic acid in the early stages of pregnancy to prevent spina bifida and other neural tube defects.
More than 50 countries, including the USA, add it to flour with the aim of ensuring all pregnant women enjoy its protection.
Now researchers at Oxford University, UK, have examined a range of studies of the vitamin, seeking to establish any link with cancer.
All the studies were randomised controlled – meaning folic acid was compared with fake vitamin supplements.
Some 13 of these studies have been conducted involving 50,000 people, they report in The Lancet.
Some 1,900 of the volunteers who took the vitamin contracted cancer compared with 1,800 of those given placebo.
The researchers said the difference is not significant.
The findings suggest the vitamin neither causes cancer nor prevents it.
Researcher Robert Clarke said: "The study provides reassurance about the safety of folic acid intake, either from supplements or through fortification, when taken for up to 5 years."
He added: "It remains to be seen whether any beneficial or harmful effects on cancer incidence will eventually emerge with even longer treatment or follow up."
Lancet 25 January 2013 [abstract]
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