r/ConservativeKiwi • u/0penedeyez Koha Collector • Jun 07 '23
Zee Bugs š NZ Govt. mandates folic acid in bread making
The Government announced its decision to mandate the fortification of non-organic wheat flour used for bread making with folic acid.
By mid-August 2023, flour millers must comply.
Harvard study on benefits/risks of adding folic acid fortification:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/womens-health/the-ups-and-downs-of-folic-acid-fortification?
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Jun 08 '23
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/folic-acid
Looks like it's a mixed bag. Definitely not all great, but at least it has been studied to hell and back. Organic flour might be the way to go for those worried about it.
Given there are possible side effects of getting too much, I wish they would just help pregnant women get the right amount rather than putting it in a staple food that everyone eats.
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u/wildtunafish Pam the good time stealer Jun 08 '23
I wish they would just help pregnant women get the right amount rather than putting it in a staple food that everyone eats.
By the time most women know they are pregnant, they are past the window where folic acid is needed, in the first 4 weeks and before conception.
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u/DieHardDurh Jun 08 '23
Lithium in the water next
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u/dpollen Jun 08 '23
Maybe, but unlike fluoride, lithium isn't an industrial waste product i don't think? So the economic incentive is different.
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u/bmwhocking New Guy Jun 08 '23
Fun reminder that folic acid is mostly needed in the first 4-6 weeks post conception. When women mostly donāt know they are pregnant.
To those saying, just take it.
Just over half of NZās pregnancies are not planned.
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u/SchlauFuchs Jun 08 '23
Forcing everyone to take a substance because the target group (female, 17-30, not on contraception) is not voluntarily taking some food supplement pills. Same logic as adding Fluoride to the drinking water because a bunch of low lives too poor or too lazy to brush their teeth in the hope that some of that water touches their teeth at least occasionally, but they usually drink pops from morning to night.
Mass medication is always a mistake, unethical at best, useless, expensive and with unwanted consequences as there is no dose control and will impact on people with lower tolerance. Cui Bono: those selling the substances the government makes us swallow.
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u/bmwhocking New Guy Jun 08 '23
So, contraception can fail. Contraception failing is what causes the overwhelming majority of unplanned pregnancies.
Ensuring folic acid prevents a horrible swathe of infant deformities, again, useful when around half of pregnant women donāt know they were pregnant.
We also add iodine to salt.
Fluoride to water (saves the health system a ton of money).
If your unhappy about it, you can go live elsewhere in the OECD, only almost all countries on that list do the same thing because it works & is effective.
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u/SchlauFuchs Jun 08 '23
Fluoride to water (saves the health system a ton of money).
It costs a shitload of money due to the added fluorsilicic acid being one of the worst acids known to us, the facility easily costs 100k yearly for every installation; 95% of the fluoride never enters anyone's body but ends nature due to leaky pipes, in wastewater when flushed down the toilet or appliances and finally in streams and oceans.
Of that 5% or so that enter a body do barely touch the teeth but is ingested and excreted, on the way through is an agent of osteoporosis, cancer and IQ deficits, dental and bone fluorosis. This is all well documented. The target group mainly drinks sugary beverage instead of tap water so it is a complete waste.
It does not even barely save anyone a ton of money besides the aluminum and fertilizer industry that would have to throw it away as special waste because it is a terrible environmental toxin.
Fluoridation is done in maybe four nations in the world. Some countries have banned it due to unethical, dangerous.
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u/bmwhocking New Guy Jun 09 '23
And yet the very educated people in the ministry of health who have slightly more medical knowledge than this entire subā¦ think itās a dam good idea.
Should add; at some level almost every molecule has a toxicity rating & can be cancer causing.
The public health trick is; if you statically cause one person cancer but significantly improve 1000 peopleās teeth & thus life expectancy, is it a good trade.
Most would say it.
Thatās basically how public health & drug approvals work:
Are the potential positives for the population large enough to significantly out-way any potential negatives.
Then they brief Gpās on those rare negatives, hoping to catch them in the few people while watching the vast majority of the population benefit.
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u/bmwhocking New Guy Jun 09 '23
And yet the very educated people in the ministry of health who have slightly more medical knowledge than this entire subā¦ think itās a dam good idea.
Should add; at some level almost every molecule has a toxicity rating & can be cancer causing.
The public health trick is; if you statically cause one person cancer but significantly improve 1000 peopleās teeth & thus life expectancy, is it a good trade.
Most would say it.
Thatās basically how public health & drug approvals work:
Are the potential positives for the population large enough to significantly out-way any potential negatives.
Then they brief Gpās on those rare negatives, hoping to catch them in the few people while watching the vast majority of the population benefit.
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u/dpollen Jun 08 '23
People are better off avoiding bread anyway. š¤· Force medicating the masses without any consent or concern for dosage... Yay!
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u/lefrenchkiwi New Guy Jun 08 '23
Do you also avoid iodised salt or does your tinfoil not stretch that far? Seeing as weāve been adding iodine to table salt in this country since 1924ā¦.
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u/dpollen Jun 08 '23
I do actually.
If you want to eat empty calories like bread, rice and cereals and then be force medicated to make up for your poor dietary choices... Then be my guest.
I prefer to manage my own nutrient intake by eating iodine rich foods and using unadulterated salts. Crazy. I know. š
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u/lefrenchkiwi New Guy Jun 08 '23
Hereās a hint, if you buy bread, itās had iodine added since 2009.
Adding nutrients to staple foods is far from a new concept.
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u/Philosurfy Jun 08 '23
1) Govt forcefully putting some stuff into bread.
2) Govt forcefully removing, say, alcohol from alcoholic beverages.
3) Govt forcefully removing all "risky" fun from average people's lives.
And why not? Once the "mummy government" is on the roll, there will be no stopping...
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u/wildtunafish Pam the good time stealer Jun 08 '23
If you're truely worried about the slippery slope, NZ started adding iodine to salt in 1924, so its a very slight slope and we aren't moving very fast down it..
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u/madetocallyouout Jun 08 '23
I already take folic acid...mandating it just seems uneccessary. And why just breads? Why not mandate it in a whole bunch of stuff? Why not send out mandatory folic acid tablets? What if you don't eat bread? Should we have a Folic Acid passport? Surely taking it is your civic duty.