Abstract
Background: The Institute of Medicine set a tolerable upper intake level (UL) for usual daily total folic acid intake (1,000 µg). Less than 3% of US adults currently exceed the UL.Objective: The objective of this study was to determine if folic acid fortification of corn masa flour would increase the percentage of the US population who exceed the UL.Design: We used dietary intake data from NHANES 2001–2008 to estimate the percentage of adults and children who would exceed the UL if corn masa flour were fortified at 140 µg of folic acid/100 g.Results: In 2001–2008, 2.5% of the US adult population (aged≥19 years) exceeded the UL, which could increase to 2.6% if fortification of corn masa flour occurred. With corn masa flour fortification, percentage point increases were small and not statistically significant for US adults exceeding the UL regardless of supplement use, sex, race/ethnicity, or age. Children aged 1–8 years, specifically supplement users, were the most likely to exceed their age-specific UL. With fortification of corn masa flour, there were no statistically significant increases in the percentage of US children who were exceeding their age-specific UL, and the percentage point increases were small.Conclusions: Our results suggest that fortification of corn masa flour would not significantly increase the percentage of individuals who would exceed the UL. Supplement use was the main factor related to exceeding the UL with or without fortification of corn masa flour and within all strata of sex, race/ethnicity, and age group.
Highlights
In 1998, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) set a tolerable upper intake level (UL) for usual daily intake of synthetic folic acid of 1,000 mg for adults aged]19 years of age [1]
The UL, which is ‘the highest level of daily nutrient intake that is likely to pose no risk of adverse health effects in almost all individuals in the specified life stage group’ is defined as the absolute value of actual usual intake of folic acid obtained from fortified foods and from vitamin supplements and is expressed as mg of folic acid/day [1]; intake of metabolically distinct naturally occurring food folate is not included in the UL
We found that fortification of corn masa flour would not increase the percentage of individuals exceeding the UL for total folic acid
Summary
In 1998, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) set a tolerable upper intake level (UL) for usual daily intake of synthetic folic acid of 1,000 mg for adults aged]19 years of age [1]. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine if folic acid fortification of corn masa flour would increase the percentage of the US population who exceed the UL. Results: In 2001Á2008, 2.5% of the US adult population (aged]19 years) exceeded the UL, which could increase to 2.6% if fortification of corn masa flour occurred. With corn masa flour fortification, percentage point increases were small and not statistically significant for US adults exceeding the UL regardless of supplement use, sex, race/ethnicity, or age. Supplement use was the main factor related to exceeding the UL with or without fortification of corn masa flour and within all strata of sex, race/ethnicity, and age group
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