Originally published April 9 2015
Is synthetic folic acid toxic to your body? Research suggests 'yes'
by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
(NaturalNews) One of the major pitfalls that many people encounter, often unknowingly, when trying to adopt a cleaner, healthier lifestyle is the synthetic vitamin deception. A great many of those inexpensive, mass-produced nutritional supplements you see lining the shelves at drug stores and big box retailers contain synthesized versions of real nutrients that aren't bioavailable or even healthy -- or in the case of folic acid, are entirely detrimental to one's health.
Folic acid is one of the few "vitamins" that conventional medicine actually endorses as necessary for health. Pregnant women are typically advised to take folic acid supplements in order to prevent birth defects, and many conventional food products, including uncooked grains and processed flours, are required to contain added folic acid as part of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fortification guidelines.
But is folic acid really healthy? A cohort of scientific research says "no." People who regularly consume folic acid, according to several prominent physicians, could be damaging their bodies' ability to take in and metabolize real folate, which is found naturally in foods like leafy green vegetables and citrus fruits. And a lack of real folate, as evidenced in the scientific literature, can lead to chronic fatigue, depression, cognitive abnormalities, reduced immune function, damaged gut flora and much more.
Taking synthetic folic acid can actually block metabolism of real folate for years at a time
Dr. Robert Thiel, Ph.D., a prominent naturopath and scientist, has been studying the effects of both folic acid and folate on the human body for many years. Throughout his extensive research, he's learned that the human body simply cannot process folic acid very well, because it's not the same thing as folate. And consuming too much folic acid, even at government-recommended amounts, can actually kill you.
Unlike natural folate, folic acid is completely synthetic. It doesn't exist anywhere in nature; it isn't in a form that the body can use for anything beneficial; and science suggests that its entire chemical makeup, including its crystalline structure, damages the body's ability to use real folate.
In the comprehensive book Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease (9th ed.), multiple cited studies outline how the human body is unable to convert synthetic folic acid, or pteroylglutamic acid (PGA), into usable folate, resulting in the absorption of unreduced PGA. This absorption of unreduced PGA, according to one study out of Ireland, "may interfere with folate metabolism for a period of years."
Synthetic folic acid inhibits enzymatic function, including those that compose DNA and RNA
The absorption of unreduced PGA into the bloodstream also inhibits the activity of certain enzymes in the body, including those associated with nucleotide biosynthesis. This obstruction to the proper development and maintenance of both DNA and RNA is accompanied by a similar negative effect on the cardiovascular system which, contrary to mainstream media claims, does not benefit from exposure to folic acid.
A 2006 review published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reveals that folate intake has been shown to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease. But this does not apply to folic acid, which is absorbed through a completely different pathway, resulting in an accumulation of a foreign substance in the body (much like how toxic heavy metals are stored in fat tissue, as the body doesn't know what to do with them).
Synthetic folic acid feeds the growth of cancer cells, studies show
Furthermore, science has unveiled that excessive consumption of folic acid directly interferes with folate metabolism, effectively damaging the nervous system. People who take folic acid in accordance with government guidelines (and unwittingly through a laced food supply) are also significantly more prone to developing cancer.
Health authorities in Chile reported several years back that hospitalization rates for colon cancer among men and women age 45 years and older more than doubled after the country instituted food fortification measures in 2000. Similar increases in colon cancer were also observed in the U.S. immediately following fortification guidelines that came to be in the late 1990s.
"The more we learn about folic acid, the more it's clear that giving it to everyone has very real risks," said Dr. David Smith, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacology at the University of Oxford in England and folic acid researcher. "Unlike folate, folic acid isn't found in nature, so we don't know the effect of the excess."
Just like artificial water fluoridation, synthetic folic acid is a toxic impostor of the real thing
You can think of folic acid as the food supply equivalent of synthetic fluoride. Just like how many municipal water supplies throughout the U.S. are quietly laced with toxic fluoride (which amounts to mass medication), the food supply is also laced (even more quietly) with toxic folic acid, and most people aren't even aware of it.
Both substances are synthetic impostors of the real thing -- hexafluorosilicic acid and the various other fluoride chemicals added to public water supplies are synthetic imitations of natural fluorine, or calcium fluoride, which is a true mineral. Likewise, folic acid is a synthetic impostor of natural folate, a real nutrient found naturally in food.
"We all need the natural folate found in leafy greens, orange juice, and other foods, and diets high in these foods are perfectly healthy," wrote health and science journalist Laura Beil. "Many researchers, though, believe that folic acid may be both friend and foe. When cells in the body are healthy, folate helps shepherd along the normal replication of DNA."
"But when cells are malignant or in danger of becoming so -- and as many as half of adults older than 60 could already have precancerous colon polyps, while most middle-aged men have precancerous cells in their prostates -- animal studies suggest excess folate in the form of folic acid may act like gas on the fire."
Sources:
http://www.doctorsresearch.com
https://www.bulletproofexec.com
http://www.bionews.org.uk
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