“Fortifying grains with folic acid has been a tremendously successful intervention in promoting healthier pregnancies and preventing birth defects, leading to a one-third decline in neural tube defects,” said American Academy of Pediatrics President Benard Dreyer, MD, in a release.
Because corn tortillas are a staple food for the nation’s Latino population, the Latino advocacy group National Council of La Raza lauded the FDA’s decision.
“Latinos are disproportionately affected by spina bifida and other neural tube defects. The scientific evidence that the major cause of this disparity is the absence of fortification of corn flour products is convincing,” stated Charles Kamasaki, senior cabinet advisor at NCLR.
In 2012, La Raza and the AAP, along with the March of Dimes and other organizations, filed a joint petition calling for just such a regulatory change. The FDA worked with the petitioners throughout the review process.
In 1996, the FDA began allowing wheat and many types of flour manufacturers to fortify their products with folic acid. The intention was to increase folic acid levels across the general population of the U.S. Subsequently, neural tube defects dropped by 27 percent.
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