Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of mandatory folic acid fortification on people with MTHFR gene variants.

The Government’s policy to mandate the fortification of non-wholemeal wheat flour with folic acid is aimed at reducing the incidence of neural tube defects (NTDs) in pregnancy. This policy is based on robust assessment of the evidence by the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) and has included two public consultations.

The SACN’s assessment included consideration of individuals with a specific MTHFR gene variant that reduces their ability to process folate from their diet resulting in lower levels of folate in their blood. The two public consultations invited feedback from a wide range of stakeholders, which included individuals concerned about MTHFR gene variants.

An increased intake of folic acid will raise blood folate levels, which reduces the risk of an NTD-affected pregnancy. Therefore, mandatory folic acid fortification is likely to be beneficial to individuals with the specific MTHFR gene variant.

The Government is exploring options to evaluate the policy, which will assess health impacts across different population groups.