Well, hopefully not. But today, I learned that some researchers question the wisdom of adding a nutrient called folic acid to flour, as we do in the United States. Folic acid is a form of vitamin B that is essential for preventing very serious birth defects. It’s also suspected to prevent colon cancer. But confusingly, some researchers also seem to be concerned that too much folate given throughout life creates its own cancer risk, and that giving it to pregnant women (as is currently recommended) creates cancer hazards for the fetus.

Why? Because of something called epigenetics – a field that is very hot right now. Epigenetics is the study of modifications that can silence or activate our genes. It’s increasingly clear that when epigenetic processes go awry, cancer can result. In fact, last October, the FDA approved the first-ever drug intended to treat cancer by resetting faulty epigenetic processes.

So what does this have to do with folate? It turns out the nutrient provides an abundant supply of chemicals that the body uses to make epigenetic modifications. So there is a concern that too much folate could accelerate the epigenetic processes that lead to cancer, said Jean-Pierre Issa, an epigenetics researcher at Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center. “People in epigenetics are particularly worried about the massive doses of folate pregnant women take,” he said, because those doses are presumably passed on to the fetus.

Researchers have tried to study this issue by looking at colon biopsies taken from adults, some of whom had taken three years of folate supplements. The study didn’t find that the supplements accelerated epigenetic marking on the genes examined in the study. But, Issa cautioned, “We don’t know what decades of folate would do, and we don’t know what it will do to a fetus.”

So far, the idea that folate might actually harm you is pure speculation. So nobody should avoid flour, and pregnant women should definitely continue taking their folate supplements. But it’s definitely a space to watch for the future. And it’s yet another case where the science behind single nutrients is irritatingly complex.