TO FORTIFY or not to fortify? That is the question being debated in Britain as the Food Standards Agency examines whether folic acid should be routinely added to wheat flour.
In 1998, the US began adding folic acid to all grain products, cutting birth defects such as spina bifida by 19 per cent. In 2000, Britain’s Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy suggested Britain follow suit, but no decision has yet been made.
The benefits during pregnancy are clear. According to Andrew Russell, executive director of the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, “hundreds of terminations and…
