According to a news source, the Canadian Journal of Public Health has published research showing that folic-acid fortified foods often contain, on average, 50 percent more of the vitamin than listed on product labels. Some foods apparently contain 377 percent of the folic acid declared. The federal government reportedly adopted a folic-acid fortification program in the late 1990s affecting products ranging from breads, cookies, crackers, and pastas to desserts and ready-to-eat cereals. The incidence of certain birth defects in Canada has dropped by more than half since then, and the program is also credited with reducing heart defects and neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer.

Some in Canada have reportedly called for adding folic acid to other foods, but caution has been urged in light of the new research because too much folic acid can mask vitamin B12 deficiency, a problem for seniors with anemia. Excess levels can also apparently interfere with drugs used for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and malaria. See The Globe and Mail, July 27, 2009.

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For decades, manufacturers, distributors and retailers at every link in the food chain have come to Shook, Hardy & Bacon to partner with a legal team that understands the issues they face in today's evolving food production industry. Shook attorneys work with some of the world's largest food, beverage and agribusiness companies to establish preventative measures, conduct internal audits, develop public relations strategies, and advance tort reform initiatives.

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