Folic acid slashes neuroblastoma figures

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Folic acid slashes neuroblastoma figures

 

 

 

 

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26/09/03 - Folic acid food fortification has more than halved the incidence in

Canada of the deadly childhood cancer neuroblastoma, report researchers from The

Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) and the University of Toronto.

 

Folic acid has already been shown to prevent neural tube defects but this is the

first evidence to show a strong link between the vitamin and neuroblastoma,

write the researchers in this month’s Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

 

" Our research indicates that this is the first paediatric cancer that can be

prevented through maternal diet, " said Dr Gideon Koren, the study's principal

investigator, a senior scientist in the HSC Research Institute, and a professor

at the University of Toronto.

Neuroblastoma is the second most common paediatric tumour and the most prevalent

solid tumour that occurs outside of the brain in children under the age of five.

It affects one in every 6,000 to 7,000 children in North America and because it

develops in utero, neuroblastoma is the most commonly diagnosed malignant tumour

of infancy.

Oncologists at the Sick Kids hospital had noticed a decline in new neuroblastoma

diagnoses. The researchers looked at the incidence of neuroblastoma in Ontario,

using the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) registry, (which contains

information on 95 per cent of all paediatric cancers in Ontario) before and

after the mandatory folic acid food fortification programme, begun in 1997 to

help prevent neural tube defects.

The incidence of neuroblastoma dropped from 1.57 cases per 10,000 births before,

to 0.62 cases per 10,000 births after folic acid fortification, representing a

reduction of 60 per cent.

" This study shows the benefit of a population-based approach to studying

childhood cancer, as we can look at trends and possible prevention strategies, "

said Dr Mark Greenberg, a senior staff oncologist at Sick Kids and a professor

of Paediatrics and Surgery at the University of Toronto.

The research team also looked at the effect maternal folic acid intake had on

infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and hepablastoma, two childhood cancers

that also have embryonal origins. However, no decline in these cancers was noted

after the folic acid food fortification programme was introduced.

" We need to investigate further the role of metabolism in the formation and

prevention of neuroblastoma and other cancers that develop in utero. We will

also look at whether folic acid has an impact on neuroblastoma after the cancer

has already developed, " added Dr Koren.

The US and Chile have also introduced mandatory fortification of flour with

folic acid, but despite the success of the initiatives demonstrated by recent

studies, European governments still resist pressure to follow the move. The UK's

Food Standards Agency last year decided against fortification on the grounds

that not enough was known about the potential adverse effects in the older

population.

Source: Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, vol 74, issue 3 , pp 288-294

 

 

 

 

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