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Are low-carb diets causing birth defects?

Posted on Jan 5th 2007 2:03PM by Adams Briscoe

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements

A new study based on a national survey that was conducted from 1999 to 2004 is being released and is bringing to light an alarming fact: folate levels in women are dropping. The essential B vitamin (which also includes folic acid) is one that doctors have been encouraging women who may get pregnant consume.

Fortified breads, like the ones found in cereals, contain folic acid which prevent birth defects. During the 1990s the government began fortification campaigns to encourage young women to get more folate in their diet. It started to work, but the first decline in women's levels is now occurring.

The birth defects that come from this deficiency are known as neural tube defects. In other words, it has to do with the spine and brain. Now, doctors aren't concluding that fad diets which try to avoid carbohydrates are causing this, but the Food and Drug Administration started requiring breads be fortified about 10 years ago. So if women are avoiding breads and enriched flour which have been backed by folic acid, then they might not be getting enough folate in their system.

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Tags: baby, birth, carb, defects, diet, diets, low, low-carb

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

starwxrwx 1-05-2007 @ 8:33PM

Aren't folates under some sort of ban/overregulation in the US? I was told they are no longer allowed to sell Vegemite in the US because of the folate content...

Linda 1-22-2007 @ 1:29PM

The problem with this study is that no one is considering the higher intake of NATURAL folate that comes with the average low-carber's diet. The best natural sources of folate are also staples in most low-carb diets....things like spinach, romaine, broccoli, avocado, asparagus and peanuts. I actually added up the amount of micrograms of natural folate that I have eaten in the past three days and it actually EXCEEDS the amount that I ingested in an average day prior to adjusting my diet to low-carb.

For example, for breakfast today I had a scrambled egg (25 mcg) with 2 spears of asparagus (40 mcg). For a snack I had about 1 ounce of dry-roasted peanuts (40 mcg). For lunch I have a salad, which is composed of 1 cup romaine lettuce (80 mcg), 1 cup of raw spinach (60 mcg), 1 avocado (90 mcg), 1 hard boiled egg (25 mcg) and some sliced cucumber dressed with vinegar and oil. So far I will have consumed 360 mcg of folate, not including any more snacks, my dinner or my multivitamin. The recommended daily value of folate is 400 mcg. The carb count for my day so far? Total carbs are about 28, less fiber (13) giving me a net carb of 15 so far today....sure beats that 50 carb bread-heavy sandwich just to get that unnatural source of folate!

The proper way to follow a low-carb lifestyle is to include these types of vegetables in your diet...all low-carb diet books that I have read have STRESSED the importance of including these in the low-carb lifestyle diet, even in the Phase I of the plans, including Atkins and South Beach. They also stress the importance of using a good multivitamin.

Unfortunately, it is a common misconception that low-carb diets mean only meat and fats, and that is simply NOT true. Many vegetables and legumes are an integral part of a low-carb way of eating.