Birth defects drop

Nutrition Action Healthletter, July-August, 2004

Neural tube birth defects (NTDs) like spina bifida (open spine) and anencephaly (no brain) occur in early pregnancy, often before a woman knows she is pregnant. Now researchers have more evidence that folic acid (folate) can prevent many NTDs.

In 1998, the government started requiring the food industry to add folic acid to the flour used in most bread, cereal, pasta, and other foods. NTDs fell from roughly 4,000 per year in 19951996 to roughly 3,000 in 1999-2000.

What to do: If you're capable of becoming pregnant, take a multivitamin with 400 mcg of folic acid.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 53: 362, 2004.