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Folic acid follies

Since 1998, flour, bread, cereal, pasta, rice and other grain products have been fortified with folic acid to end folate deficiency in child-bearing women, a deficiency that results in spina bifida.   But folic acid may carry  a double-edged sword, since both healthy cells AND cancer cells use folate to make new cells.  Too much of a good thing may be bad, and a slight increase in colorectal cancer may be attributable to fortification.  We don’t want those hidden rogue cells feasting, do we, particularly those breast, colon, and prostate cancer bad guys?  The key may be to stay well below 1,000 mcg/day.  If you take a multi with RDA 400 mcg, eat a roll with 60 mcg, and eat cereal with 100 mcg, you’ve gotten 660 mcg, close to the top of acceptable!  Don’t take more than one multi and eat as few “fortified” processed foods as you can, particularly if you’re a cancer survivor.
Ovarian cancer is not the diagnosis you want to hear either, so you might want to consider adding some supplements to your multi and fish oil.  Ginkgo supplements cut ovarian cancer risk by as much as 60% in some studies.  And a recent study showed that women who drank one or more cups of green tea a day had a 54% reduction in ovarian cancer. 
Other studies have linked green tea to lower rates of oral, esophageal, stomach, liver, colon, skin, lung, prostate and breast cancer.  My new favorite energy drink, XS Peach Tea, has 90 mg of ECGC, the compound in tea that stops cancer cells from growing.  ECGC’s structure is actually very similar to methotrexate, a drug that kills cancer cells.  Couldn’t hurt to add teatime to your regime.

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