I have read an article published on BBC news website which discussed about the bread should be fortified with folic acid to reduce birth defects such as spina bifida. Spina bifida here is a developmental birth defect involving the neural tube (incomplete closure of the embryonic neural tube results in an incompletely formed spinal cord). Researchers in UK has found that folic acid cuts the risk of neural tube defects, which affect hundreds of pregnancies a year. However, this folic acid could harm some elderly patients, as it could cause a deficiency in B12 vitamin. Folic acid is a substance that could find in vegetables like broccoli, peas, chickpeas, brown rice and fruit.
Besides, women are urged to eat extra folic acid when trying to get pregnant as it is important for the development of the spine in the first stages of pregnancy. In my opinion, it may be useful to increase the amount of folic acid in people's diet through fortification. It will be even better if the products with the fortified folic acid to be labelled so that the consumers in different ages could choose the products that bring benefits to them. I enjoyed reading this article because i gained new knowledge after reading it.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6665109.stm
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