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Article: FOLIC ACID PREVENTS BIRTH DEFECTS.
- Article from:
- Medical Update
- Article date:
- August 1, 2000
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Benjamin Franklin Literary & Medical Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Since January 1998 the Food and Drug Administration has required that folic acid be added to cereals, breads, pastas, and other foods labeled "enriched." Key researchers, however, estimate that the current level of fortification will prevent only about 5 to 20 percent of folic acid-preventable birth defects of the brain and spinal cord. Dr. Godfrey P. Oakley, Jr., professor of epidemiology at Emory University in Atlanta is at the forefront of a crusade to implement a fully protective folic acid-fortification program (see "A Flaming Failure" SatEvePost Sept./Oct. 1999). The following editorial, written by Dr. Oakley, appeared in the November 11, 1999, New England Journal ...