By the way, folic acid is linked to lower strokes and heart attacks. So it isn't just for preggers!

This makes me angry. The title reads, "Low-carb diet could hurt fetuses" when they mean to say "Low FOLATE diet could hurt fetuses."

>>"A woman would have to eat about eight slices of white bread daily to reach that minimal level."

So basically, they're saying that white bread is a poor source of folate. What difference does it make whether you choose to have folate artificially added to junk food, or taken as a supplement... if you actually need it?

Unfortunately not all low-carbers are nutritionally savvy. There are some who still think that low-carb means no fruits or vegetables. There are some who chose not to take supplements (some people have the notion that we should be able to get all our RDA from the food that we eat).

Be that as it may, for folks who are trying to lose a lot of weight or stick at induction level carbohydrates and do not take supplements with folate, I do believe that a shortage of folate could legitimately occur.

When I monitor my food on fitday (and I do about 20-30 net carbs), I am always consistently low on folate and vitamin C even though I eat a lot of vegetables. It certainly is a legitimate nutritional concern and low folate has specifically been linked to birth defects, so it is no small matter.

We are truly omnivores, meaning that we need both meats and produce in order to have a healthy balance in our diet (I'm sure that vegetarians may differ, but this is my belief) and a non-weight-loss program like maintenance indicates a more realistic balance of fruits, veggies, meats, etc.

I believe that oranges are one of the highest sources of folate, and although they are certainly not forbidden on an Atkins Maintenance diet, for example, that balances a healthy amount of fruits and vegetables with good sources of fats and protein, they are often avoided during more restrictive phases of low-carbing.

In fact, the Atkins website specifically indicates that if you are pregnant or nursing that you should be on maintenance (more than 40 carbs).

I think with 40 net carbs I could probably get in about the necessary folate, but it would have to be with a very high quality of nutrient dense produce.

What they are saying here in this article is that for someone who is following a low-carb diet, if they are getting all their nutrition from their diet alone, they could be short on folate, and that could lead to birth defects if, for example, they did not know that they were pregnant and they were not otherwise supplementing. Prenatal and even preconception nutrition can certainly affect the risk of birth defects as a lot of basic development may take place with the fetus in the first trimester and often before a woman's pregnancy is confirmed.

This is the key:

Quote:

The problem could largely be avoided if all women of childbearing age took a daily multivitamin that contains folic acid, she added.

There are 2 things really wrong with lc diets

1 you are not suffering, we really should suffer for the sin of being overweight.
2 you are in control there is nothing worse to the control freaks we call gps, patronising gits most of them (well mine have been). what they really want is an excuse to control our lives.

All I can say is tough I am eating a much better and healthy diet than ever before and am loosing weight,thats all that counts.

According to Fitday
1 cup of Freshly squeezed orange juice has

19% folate and over 100 calories

1 cup of broccoli has 16% folate and under 25 calories

1 cup of spinach has 15% folate and just under 7 calories

I eat anywhere from 3-6 cups of spinach a day.

Today I am making a big salad, so that means 6 cups of spinach.

Under 40 calories and 1.44g carbs.

On maintenance to get that type of folate from orange juice I would need to drink about 5 cups of juice and take in about 560 calories and take in 126.48g of carbs

Eating the fruit itself would give you 10% folate in 1 med orange. Less folate than a cup of broccoli or spianch.

I salute your hearty appetite for spinach, but I think bvtaylor is right. Probably most americans weren't getting enough folate until they started supplementing flour with it. Even then, they might not be getting enough.

There probably aren't a lot of LC'ers eating 6 cups of spinach or brocolli every day.

Like bvtaylor, I noticed there are some areas where my LC diet has some gaping holes. Thus the vitamins. However, once I get onto maintenance I'll be able to fill some of those holes.

The other problem is that nutrition labels these days are incredibly sparse! They used to list the vitamins and minerals on them, but they don't any longer. So it might be that some of my foods have more nutrients than I give them credit for.

Good point Bea, if you would have written the article, I'm sure, the point would have been clear. But basically you walk away from this artcile thinking, oh I need to stay away from LC diets and eat more white bread

There arent many drinking 5 cups of OJ and 8 slices of white bread a day either. I think eating a variety of foods like eggs, spinach, mixed greens, strawberries and raspberries that are all high in folate and other good stuff is better for you than taking a synthetic form of it.

The article unfairly targets low carb diets when clearly they state that you would need 8 slices of white bread to get the needed amount, so obviously the average american diet is lacking in folate.

I also find that low carbers, from what I have experienced tend to eat more fruits and veggies, especially in the form of leafy greens than the average american diet. I certainly know I am eating way more veggies than I have ever eaten in my life. That would probably mean that those on low carb diets are getting more folate and from natural sources instead of fortified white flour.

All that had to be said was folate is important and you should take a multivitamin to make sure you are getting enough. And eat fruits and veggies.

I don't know guys,. On only30 carbs and 1300+ calories (my 2 week average) I managed 80% folate. I know this is still 20% deficient, but keep in mind 1300 calories and 30 carbs is pretty darn low. On a maintenance diet I would easily meet RDA.

2 cups of romaine lettuce have 40% folate.

I make this breakfast quiche, it's delicious... 3 carbs and 270 calories. I throw a ton of veggies in it, and it is 30% folate per slice.

I guess my point is I think it is unfair to specifically target LC diets as being nutritionally deficient, when the fact of the matter is any restrictive diet plan (whether it be fat, calories, carbs, or all three) is going to cause nutritional deficiencies. Low fat is no better... without adequate dietary fat you are missing out on EFAs and more. Furthermore, it is also unfair to target LC as a catalyst behind encouraging people to do stupid crash diets (i.e. staying on induction without supplements while pregnant to avoid weight gain). The LC movement is no worse than the low fat movement in this respect (Hi, slimfast, and other all sugar-no fat diets, I'm looking in your direction...)

Lets admit the truth. When you are fat, the only way to change this is to temporarily induce a famine on yourself. The details are more complex than that, but basically in order to lose weight you must some how cause your body to look to itself for fuel. This is starvation. Starvation causes nutritional deficiencies. LC is no different than LF or low calorie in this regard.

At least with LC the option for a dietary supplement is available, but without adequate dietary fat calories there is really no way to change that without eating more calories from fat.