Scientists are urging the United Kingdom to make it mandatory for food producers to fortify flour with folic acid in an effort to prevent babies from being born with birth defects.
The country’s failure to develop and implement such legislation stems from erroneous analysis, and should be highlighted, Reuters reports. Scientists are telling Britain to follow over 80 countries that have such measures in place, such as the United States, stating that there is no need for a maximum limit on folate intake because there is no risk for overdosing.
In contrast, too little folic acid can cause pregnant women to give birth to babies with severe birth defects like anencephaly and spina bifida. These neural tube defects affect one in 500-1,000 pregnancies in the UK yearly.
Folic acid is a synthetic form of vitamin B folate, which is naturally found in foods like broccoli, asparagus and other dark, leafy vegetables. Folic acid can be taken as pills, or can be added to food ingredients like flour and cereals.
In countries with mandatory folic acid fortification, incidences of neural tube defects have drpped by as much as 50%, according to researchers at Queen Mary University of London and the School of Advanced Study at University of London.
Nicholas Wald of Queen Mary’s Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, said,
Failing to fortify flour with folic acid to prevent neural tube defects is like having a polio vaccine and not using it.
Wald added that on average, two women in Britain terminate pregnancies daily because of neural tube defects, and two women give birth to a child with such conditions every week.
Joan Morris, also from Queen Mary’s Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, said, “It’s a completely avoidable tragedy.”
“With the upper limit removed there is no scientific or medical reason for delaying the introduction of mandatory folic acid fortification,” Wald said.
The study was published in Public Health Reviews.
