In my last blog I wrote about the implementation of Mandatory Folic Acid Fortification and began speaking of the effects it has. Now I will continue to write about the negative implications it has.

Many countries have begun to seriously question the entire concept of Mandatory Folic Acid Fortification (MFF). Ireland put the whole matter on hold in 2006 after finding that target populations were obtaining sufficient folate from their diets under a regime of voluntary folic acid fortification (VFF). In August 2009, New Zealand deferred MFF until at least 2012 pending a review of emerging scientific feedback. Some 87% of the NZ population were opposed to the introduction of MFF. The UK has followed a similar strategy. The USA, which has had MFF in place for 10 years, is currently reviewing its stance, in the light of the strong correlation between MFF and increased levels colorectal cancers.

The implementation of the process is particularly flawed. The legislated range of folic acid addition of 2 – 3 mg/kg of flour is difficult to achieve, verify and guarantee reliably. The other problem is that folic acid denatures over time and at varying rates depending upon product moisture content, ambient storage conditions and reactions with and between the various flour mix ingredients. Several months out from manufacture it is virtually impossible for any responsible manufacturer to guarantee either the folic acid content or quality.

The legal requirement is an unrealistic and unachievable nonsense which should not have been imposed on the flour millers, blenders and baking industry, especially as this is not the most effective and safest way to ensure folic acid fortification. Non-conformances are inevitable. Public and Product Liability Insurers are also reluctant to insure against future liability risks associated with this poorly thought out and inequitable legislation. This is a legal, health and financial minefield that invites civil disobedience on the part of flour millers and blenders and should compel public outrage.

MFF also restricts Consumer freedom of choice. Apart from organic flours technically no flours are exempt. Boutique gluten free flours like ours fall into a grey legal area.

MFF and its likely consequent side effects and negative publicity is something that Soy Products (Sales) Pty Ltd does not want to be involved in or held responsible for. We wholeheartedly support the well informed stance adopted by Mr. Mark Laucke, the current President of the Flour Millers Council of Australia.

It is our view that folic acid should be prescribed only for those sectors of the population who require it, namely women intending to become pregnant and pregnant women and that the dosage should be properly regulated and monitored to meet their specific needs. Suitable supplements are already commercially available. This is more easily, cheaply and reliably controlled and would be more effective and safer for the whole community including the expectant mothers.

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Soy Products (Sales) Pty Ltd, both in its own right, and through its position of thought leadership and unique F.G. Robert’s brand product range, actively encourages proper nutrition and always takes a thoughtful and well informed look at any public health improvement initiatives prior to adopting and/or supporting them. However, it believes there are some very serious doubts about the safety and efficacy of the Mandatory Folic Acid Fortification effective of September 2009.

While it is undeniable that optimised folic acid nutrition is vital in the case of child bearing women, as folic acid availability can reduce the risks of neural tube defects in babies including spina bifida, there are also serious risks that the enforced consumption of folic acid may impose adverse health risks upon the wider population.

Scientific modelling indicates that the synthetic form of folate to be used is poorly metabolised and may result in circulating folic acid around the body via the bloodstream. The consequences of which are poorly understood and potentially dangerous.

There is some evidence that folic acid may accelerate various cancers including leukaemia, colorectal, prostrate, breast and pancreatic cancers. Folic acid may also mask Vitamin B12 deficiency which may have serious neurological consequences, particularly in the elderly, if undetected and untreated.

Medical Scientists have also linked folic acid with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Anaemia, Asthma, Autism, Heart attacks, Ectopic pregnancies and Type1 Diabetes and shown that it interferes with the drug treatments in such disorders as Epilepsy, Rheumatoid arthritis, Psoriasis and Malaria.

There are a number of other serious concerns including the practicality of implementation. Firstly the prescribed dosage is higher than the recommended daily intake for most people but will fall short of that required for the target population of pregnant and pre-conceptive women: i.e. the latter will therefore require additional supplementation. This begs the question of why not to supplement this group’s whole folic acid requirement rather than impose MFF on the entire community.

The other problem with mandatory fortification is that it leads to consumers presuming or assuming that their nutritional requirements for folate are being fully met by their diet. The consequence of this is often a net decline in dietary folate levels in targeted population groups. The question also arises as to whether bread is the best or most appropriate form of supplementation as there can be wide variations in the amount of bread consumed by different individuals: some people will obviously overdose while others will not get enough.

In my next blog I will continue to write about the implications of the Mandatory Folic Acid Fortification.

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In my last two blogs I have written about the importance of establishing good eating habits in children and I will now finish this topic by writing about my own experiences with my child.

I recall a few experiences from my own son’s upbringing. Adam was a large, robust, placid and jovial child, with an almost insatiable appetite and curiosity – a real boy. At about nine months, he began to cry which was unusual for him. Previously, he had smiled, laughed and chuckled his way through life, even teething. After a couple of days we realised that he was hungry and that his mother’s breast milk could no longer keep up with his requirements. We began to introduce a variety of solid foods and within a month he had weaned himself.

One incident that particularly comes to mind is that of a fruit salad that I made on a Sunday afternoon during this period. The fruit salad contained passion fruit, banana, mango, pineapple, orange, pawpaw, kiwi fruit and water melon: things he had not previously tried. There was a fair amount of associated juice which we put in his bottle and handed to him. It was an interesting experience to watch the various pleasurable expressions flit across his face as he tried and decided he liked this new, tangy drink. He very quickly downed the whole bottle and very eloquently presented the bottle for an immediate refill. Even though he couldn’t yet speak there was no mistaking his meaning.

At 11 months he walked the length of a motel room in Sydney and very soon after that we had him sitting up in his high chair adjacent to the table and between us eating a small well sliced up version of whatever it was we were having: he slid naturally and painlessly into eating a wide variety of foods and it was OK because he was eating with Mum and Dad and eating what they were eating. He quickly accepted that that was the way it was.

We had to adjust our mealtimes a little to suit him and his bedtime routines: the warm bath, the toilet and story reading to have him asleep by 7.30 P.M.: “before they switched the dark on” as he termed it. A little later he was to take great pride in joining me for a “bubble beer”. I would have a beer and he would have a small ginger ale and later a small quantity of beer heavily diluted with lemonade. It was fun and he liked doing and sharing things with his Dad.

Sadly, many Dads are not there to share their meals with their kids and I feel that both the absent parents and the kids miss out on the bonding and other important aspects of this process. It also takes a lot of the pressure off the mother.

There are some children who are born sensitive, delicate and timid who may be picky eaters with a range of food intolerance issues but in the vast majority of cases such children are created by poor parenting and role models. Unfortunately, most people are poorly prepared and trained to assume the role of parents: one of the most important and influential roles in our lives.

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In my last blog I introduced the need to establish good eating habits in the young. This week I will continue to write about importance of this and methods parents should be using to feed their children.

Young children should be actively discouraged from eating just white bread, yoghourt, jelly, ice cream and the like with very little fruit and vegetables. A diet comprised of these processed, sugary foods does not allow their muscles to develop properly, causing them to be prone to deficiency issues and perhaps to premature gout and arthritic problems.

This is also the time to start gently and patiently teaching young children to use their cutlery and eating utensils properly. It is also important to make this whole eating process as enjoyable and leisurely as possible and to avoid bad experiences. Above all, young children should never be bribed with lollies to get them to eat and should never be given lollies, dessert or any other alternatives if they have declined to eat the main meal provided. It is a fundamental mistake to enable a child to consistently reject the food provided and teaches the child bad and demanding habits, which once established can be difficult to break.

It is better and kinder all round, to be firm and insistent than to let a tyrant child rule the roost. No child is going to starve itself and most quickly run out of puff when faced by a resolute parent. A slightly hungry child is more likely to eat what s/he is given and it is always better if the child knows the limits and boundaries.

Sometimes – even though it might seem unsightly and messy to us as adults – it may be important to let children touch, play with, smell and kiss their food as part of the process of getting used to it. However, allowing a child to spit or throw food and smear walls and furniture etc with food should never be tolerated as this is just plain bad and unacceptable behaviour.

In my next blog I will continue to write about the importance of establishing good eating habits in the young through my own personal experiences with my son.

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Very few adults and parents seem to recognise or appreciate the fact that young children need to be taught to eat properly. Similarly, parents and adults don’t seem to recognise that all too often the child’s food and dietary choices and eating habits reflect and replicate the poor choices and habits of their parents.

All children require regular routines and in particular, regular mealtimes. It is also necessary that the parents or person feeding a young child are not stressed and impatient at mealtimes as this communicates itself to the child and may upset the mealtime routine.

As early as possible, young children need to progress from pureed foods to tougher, more textured foods – these need to be introduced progressively – in order to develop their chewing and swallowing skills; as well as their facial, jaw and neck muscles. This is also critical because of the link between learning to chew etc. and the development of proper speech patterns, which are difficult without proper muscular development. Initially all foods will need to be finely sliced and cut up to enable the young child to manage.

Great care needs to taken in making sure the child does not have too much food in his/her mouth at a time and that the pieces of food are not too large and that they are well chewed prior to swallowing. Children should be actively discouraged from putting their fingers in their mouths when they are learning to eat. It is especially critical for the child to learn to avoid both swallowing improperly chewed food and eating too quickly.

As the child’s muscles strengthen and chewing ability increases the food particle sizes/portions should be progressively increased. These early lessons lay the foundations for the eating habits of a lifetime so if they are rushed and not gently inculcated the child may be placed at a severe disadvantage for the rest of its life. This may also make life very difficult, traumatic and frustrating for the parents, who may have to go back to and address all these fundamental eating issues. It is better to get the eating habits right the first time. It may also traumatise the child making him/her difficult to manage.

This is also the time to gently, patiently and persistently introduce children to small amounts of a wide a variety of foods (as wide as possible) to familiarise them with these foods. At the same time the parent or feeding guardian should be on the lookout for food intolerances and allergies, and should not impose or force foods that obviously upset a child. There is often a fine line and it may be difficult to decide between a genuine case and a try on.

In my next blog I will continue to write about teaching good eating habits in the young.

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I have long been concerned about the nutritional adequacy of the diets of most of our senior citizens whether resident in their own homes or in various forms of care. Very often, when left to their own devices many older people cannot be bothered to prepare proper meals and many of them fall into a toast and tea or coffee regime: they do what is easiest without recognising or realising the longer term consequences of this behaviour. They often become seriously under nourished. Many do not maintain an adequate intake of fluids,  particularly water, sometimes due to fear of incontinence or of inability to get to the toilet in time, even when they have dementia. Dehydration may cause brain shrinkage, headaches, memory loss and an inability to think clearly and logically. It can also cause serious kidney malfunction.

As we age, we often become less active physically and stress levels should diminish all of which reduces our energy intake requirements. A situation which, in combination with a declining digestive system, amplifies the requirement to maintain a nutritionally adequate and balanced diet. This also maintains the immune system, body warmth, energy levels, mental activity and the body’s natural healing and repair functions. Almost conversely, it becomes more critical that as the food quantity diminishes the need for appropriate fundamental quality and adequate nutritional balance increases. To avoid doing the elderly a grave disservice we need to better understand and provide for their nutritional needs taking into account the issues that also arise from their aging metabolisms.

I also believe that it is important for the elderly to remain as physically active as possible in order to maintain bone and muscular strength as well as their balance and blood circulation. Sadly, there are many older men in nursing homes, and elsewhere, who appear to be losing weight and muscle tone through being inadequately fed: quantity and quality wise. There are also increasing numbers of elderly women with open, ulcerated sores on their shins that will not heal: due often to the combined lack of an adequate diet and physical activity regime causing poor blood circulation. They all require quality sources of protein and vegetables in their diets not snacks, convenience foods, bread, cakes and biscuits etc.

The maintenance of good nutritional status in this group is critical. The elderly have the right to enjoy healthy, productive and fulfilling lives. Better nutrition will ensure greater independence for longer, better quality of life, higher immunity, lower mortality and less need to progress to higher, more expensive forms of care.

All human beings need to eat their body weight in quality food per month if they are to maintain body weight and good health. This requirement is inescapable. If there is insufficient food the outcome is loss of weight, malnutrition and a declining immune system leading to poorer quality of life, ill health and reduced life expectancy.

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Last week I mentioned in High Sodium Levels Linked to Cancer, how Dr. Max Gerson provided us all with valuable information about the health benefits of eating high proportions of fresh fruit and vegetables, instead of foods high in acidity and sodium. This week I will build on this by looking at several long lived populations from history. By studying the diets of these long lived populations, the benefits of reducing foods with high proportions of acid and sodium from our diets are evident. Three long lived populations we should study the diet’s of are: the Hunzas in the Himalayas, Peruvian natives living in the high Andes and the Okinawans of Northern Japan.

Both lots of mountain dwellers lived into active, healthy old age (110 -120 years) on an essentially alkaline diet of fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables watered by glacier induced mineral rich irrigation water. Both the Hunzas and the Peruvian natives in the high Andes, consumed alcohol and animal proteins and fats, milk etc sparingly. The Okinawans also live into healthy old age on a traditional diet of mineral rich seafood and seaweed, tofu, miso, rice, fruit and vegetables. Similarly, their traditional diet is also more alkaline than the typical Western diet.

Quite obviously in Western communities, the combination of constipation, excess acidity and sodium levels, lack of exercise and the consumption of energy dense, mass produced and often over-processed and nutritionally deficient convenience foods high in fat, salt and sugar is proving to be a disaster. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, macular degenerative eye diseases, Coeliac Disease, asthma, osteoporosis, obesity and declining life expectancy, under our regime, are all on the rise: a very sad reflection and commentary upon our dietary and lifestyle choices. A situation, which despite our knowledge, we appear reluctant to address.

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In last week’s post, The Dangers of Acidity and Sodium, I wrote about the diet of the Western world containing too many highly processed foods with high proportions of acidity and sodium levels – leading to health serious health problems. I also wrote about Dr. Max Gerson’s discovery of high sodium intake being the cause of his recurrent severe migraines. Read on to find more about Gerson and his cancer treatment clinic.

Dr. Max Gerson believed that an excessive intake of sodium, caused the sodium to replace and displace the potassium in the human body, modifying body chemistry significantly and undesirably. In clinical trials, he found that body cells rich in potassium were highly oxygenated or aerobic – the anti-cancer condition. Whereas body cells rich in sodium become increasingly anaerobic or deprived of oxygen: a situation he believed to be cancer inducing. Gerson’s treatments involved treating people with water and seasonal fresh raw fruit and vegetable juices.

Towards the end of his life, Dr. Max Gerson complained increasingly of the declining nutritional quality of many of the fruits and vegetables he was using, also a sad indictment of our farming practices and another reason underlying our seemingly increasing poor health. His treatments involved a major cleansing regime and progressively reversed the sodium-potassium imbalance with patients often excreting 10g per day of sodium via their urine over quite extended periods.

Gerson’s cancer treatment clinic used treatments that were slow, gentle and effective. The treatments often adapted to treating a particular form of cancer, taking up to two or more years. They worked with the body’s natural healing systems, strengthened the immune system and were relatively non invasive compared to mainstream, Western, allopathic medicine. Many patients, over the years, have left his clinic free of cancer, diabetes, arthritis and the many other symptoms of an affluent lifestyle: the Gerson treatments often addressing multiple ailments simultaneously.

Sadly, Gerson’s treatments were beyond the reach of most patients financially. However, they do provide important clues as to what constitutes a more ideal long term diet for the human race; something we continue to ignore at our peril.

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Firstly, I’d like to start this post by wishing all my readers Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. I hope you all enjoyed the festive season as much as I did.

Unfortunately, too large a proportion of most people’s diets is acidic. Bread, pasta, dairy products, meat, tea, coffee, sugar, soft drinks and alcohol are all acid forming in the human digestive system. This often neutralises high dietary intakes of calcium and can lead to malabsorption of nutrients, and deficiency diseases. In the longer term this can lead to serious rheumatic, arthritic, dental and osteoporosis issues, like the rising incidence of hip fractures. I also believe this acidity plays a role in and is one of the factors behind the rising incidence of cancers of various types, especially in conjunction with constipation and excessive sodium intake.

Most people eat too high a proportion of the above listed foods and insufficient fresh fruit and vegetables. Fresh fruit and vegetables tend to be more liquid, alkaline and rich in potassium and dietary fibre than most processed foods. It is my belief that fruit and vegetables should constitute at least two thirds of the diet with all the above acid forming foods being eaten sparingly rather than forming the major portion of the diet, as they do in many instances.

Sodium is another especially critical issue when consumed to excess. In the early 1920’s Dr. Max Gerson, a young veterinary student in Vienna, suffered from severe migraine headaches for which no-one could find a cause. By careful observation of his own eating habits, Gerson eventually related these severe headaches to the consumption of milk and bacon, both of which he found contained very high levels of sodium which he suspected constituted the major cause of his headaches. At the time and to this day milk was treated with caustic soda or sodium hydroxide to neutralize the acidity produced by fertilizers and the process of pasteurising the milk. At the time, bacon was also being cured with very high levels of salt or sodium chloride.

After making these discoveries, Gerson transferred to study medicine and later went on to establish a world famous cancer treatment clinic in Mexico, still being run by his daughter, Paula.

In next week’s post I will continue writing about Dr. Gerson, his cancer treatment clinic

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Joan reported that she has had severe asthma her entire life. “My memories of childhood were the loneliness of being awake in the night with asthma, unable to lie down because that made it worse, unable to sleep and not wanting to call my parents because there was little they could do.”

She had asked her doctor to test her for food allergies, but the doctor declined, saying that since she was allergic to so many things, it would not make a difference to eliminate certain foods.

She took matters into her own hands. She went gluten free 16 months ago because of neurological symptoms and recognising the health effects of gluten free diets. But the unexpected result was that her asthmatic symptoms disappeared. She has been without symptoms – or asthma medication – for more than a year, even during spring and autumn, when pollen is significant.

This lady writes, “My theory is that there is a cumulative effect on your body. My gluten intolerance was stressing my body – causing a heightened response to all allergens. Once the stress was removed, the other allergens have not been able to trigger the allergic reaction.”

Is her theory right? Does it matter? What does matter is that because of her gluten free diet, she now leads a normal life. No more asthma.

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