The policy of adding folic acid to grain foods -- including cereals, breads, pasta and flour -- instituted just 3 years ago by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) appears to be a success.

Blood samples taken after folic acid supplementation show a 38% higher level of folate than samples taken before folic acid fortification; 96% of the people who had blood drawn after supplementation had acceptable folate levels. Among the people who had blood drawn before fortification, 87% had acceptable folate levels.

The government decided to mandate folic acid fortification as part of an effort to reduce the number of children born with neural tube defects, a type of birth defect that affects the brain and spinal cord and includes spina bifida.

Results of earlier studies demonstrated that folic acid supplementation before pregnancy and during the first weeks of pregnancy could reduce the risk of these defects.

The neural tubes close at about week 3 or 4 of pregnancy, so many women don't even know they are pregnant at that early stage. Initially, the government campaigned to simply have women of childbearing age routinely take folic acid supplements but compliance was very low. That's when the FDA decided to order mandatory fortification, she said.

Annual Meeting Of The Federation Of American Societies For Experimental Biology In Orlando, FL April 1, 2001