A team of researchers from University of Toronto studied female rats, grouped them on control diet and folic acid supplementation diet prior to breeding for three weeks and continued until pregnancy and lactation.
Their babies or pups were fed a control or folic acid supplementation diet at weaning and were injected with chemical that causes colorectal cancer after five to six weeks.
The study revealed that those pups from the control diet have a three-time risk of having colorectal cancer than those having folic acid supplementation.
"This study provides important insights into the critical role of timing of folic acid intervention in colorectal cancer development and progression. Folic acid may prevent 'new' cancers in the colorectum," said Karen K. Sie, a graduate medical student at the University of Toronto told BigNewsNetwork.com.
It was earlier proven that folic acid supplementation decreases neural tube defects and some childhood cancers but too much folic acid may increase one's risk of developing colorectal cancer. The new study shows that prenatal, not postnatal, folic acid supplementation may protect babies from having colorectal cancer.
