6. Food Consumption Patterns For Women Aged 16-44 Years For Respondents With Low and High Quintile Intakes of Folic Acid
6.2 Major contributors to folic acid intakes
For the population groups outlined in Figure 8 above, the percentage contribution of various food groups to estimated dietary folic acid intakes was examined to determine whether respondents with low Baseline folic acid intakes (Quintile 1) have different major
contributors to folic acid intakes in comparison to respondents with high Baseline folic acid intakes (Quintile 5). It is important to note that the percent contribution of each food group is based on total folic acid intakes for all consumers in the population groups assessed.
Therefore, the folic acid intakes differ for Quintile 1 and Quintile 5 and for Baseline and Mandatory Fortification.
6.2.1 Australia
For those respondents with low Baseline folic acid intakes (Quintile 1), breads were the major contributor to folic acid intakes for both Baseline (48 àg folic acid /day or 89%) and Mandatory Fortification (128 àg folic acid /day or 85%) scenarios. For those with high folic acid intakes (Quintile 5) breakfast cereals and yeast extracts were the major contributors for Baseline (breakfast cereals 155 àg folic acid /day or 56% total; yeast extracts 89àg folic acid /day or 32% total; bread 19 àg folic acid /day or 7% total) and mandatory fortification (breakfast cereals 41% total; yeast extracts 24% total; bread 110 àg folic acid /day or 29%
total)33. For both groups in Australia the relative contribution from ‘other foods’ increased under the mandatory fortification scenario and that for bread decreased slightly because other bread products, such as croissants and English muffins, were also assumed to contain fortified flour. Refer Figure 10a and b below and Table A6.2a in Appendix 6 for further details.
Figure 10: Contribution of various foods to folic acid intakes for Australian women aged 16- 44 years, for low and high consumers of folic acid
a. Baseline
33The intake of folic acid in micrograms for each food group are derived manually, for the purposes of illustration here, using the percent contribution of the food group to total folic acid intakes and the mean folic acid intakes for the population group of interest. However, the calculation of the percent contribution in DIAMOND uses the total folic acid intake from all foods from all respondents and the total folic acid intake from all respondents from the food group in question. The total folic acid intakes differ for each sub-population group and each scenario.
b. Mandatory Fortification
6.2.2 New Zealand
Unlike the Australian women, there were no consumers of foods containing folic acid in the low folic acid intake group of women of child bearing age in New Zealand in the day 1 records due to the fact that fewer fortified foods are currently available in New Zealand.
For Mandatory Fortification, the major contributor to folic acid intakes for those with low folic acid intakes was breads. No other foods contributed to folic acid intakes for this group, thereby highlighted the importance of breads to folic acid intakes for women who currently have low intakes of folic acid. For those with high folic acid intakes, the major contributors to folic acid intakes for the Baseline scenario were breakfast cereals (58% total folic acid intakes), yeast extracts (38% total folic acid intakes) whereas for Mandatory Fortification the major contributors were breads, followed by breakfast cereals and yeast extracts ( 41%, 35%
and 23% of folic acid intakes, respectively)34. Refer to Figure 11a and b below and Table A6.2 b in Appendix 6 for further details.
34The intake of folic acid in micrograms for each food group are derived manually, for the purposes of illustration here, using the percent contribution of the food group to total folic acid intakes and the mean folic acid intakes for the population group of interest. However, to calculation the percent contribution initially, DIAMOND uses the total folic acid intake from all foods from all respondents and the total folic acid intake
Figure 11: Contribution of various foods to folic acid intakes for New Zealand women aged 16-44 years, for low and high consumers of folic acid
a. Baseline
Note: The percent contribution of various foods to folic acid intakes is derived using Day 1 of the NNS only. For Day 1 of the NNS, the respondents in Quintile 1 (low folic acid intakes) did not have folic acid intakes greater than zero, therefore no contributing foods are presented.
b. Mandatory Fortification
6.2.3 Summary
For all population groups assessed, the major contributing foods to folic acid intakes were different between those with low folic acid intakes (Quintile 1) and those with high folic acid intakes (Quintile 5). Mandatory fortification of wheat flour for bread making in Australia and bread in New Zealand would effectively target women with low folic intakes without overly increasing intakes for women who currently have higher folic acid intakes in relation to increasing total folic acid intakes. Educational messages could highlight that fortified breakfast cereals and yeast extracts are also good sources of folic acid that are currently available.