United Kingdom researchers have shone light on the health issues associated with unfortified flour, according to BBC News. Joan Morris, PhD, of the Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine at Queen Mary University of London, led the study.
Archives of Disease in Childhood published the study.
Here are five insights:
1. The researchers believe flour needs to be fortified with folic acid.
2. If flour was fortified, about 2,000 birth defects may have been avoided since 1998 in the United Kingdom.
3. Spine bifida is a birth defect associated with unfortified flour. The Department of Health in England urged women to take folic acid supplements before becoming pregnant.
4. Dr. Morris concluded fortifying flour with folic acid could only be beneficial. This process can decrease the number of neural tube defects by about 70 percent.
5. The United States implemented the policy to fortify flour with folic acid in 1998.
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