Inertia on folic acid has caused unnecessary deaths.
I commend this author on her heroism in stating that some 350,000 deaths due to cardiovascular disease could have been prevented in the past decade if physicians would’ve started recommending and industry fortifying with folic acid. Of course, this number would need to be extraplated back an additional 3 decades because first hints that folic acid could prevent neural tube defects begin in the late 50′s. The morale?? While waiting on the sidelines to recommend a potentially beneficial vitamin like folic acid, which, incidently, has never been linked to one single death at 400 mcg, millions were dying. How many nutrients are in the same situation now that folic acid was in 40+ yrs ago?
bmj.com Ellis 326 (7398): 1054-c –