BACKGROUND In some patients with vitamin B-12 deficiency mistakenly treated with folic acid, anemia resolved but neurologic complications became worse (masking). Fortification of enriched cereal grains with folic acid has raised concerns that people who consume large quantities of cereal grains, particularly the elderly, may be at increased risk of masking. It is unclear, however, what proporti...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of the 1998 US Food and Drug Administration folic acid fortification policy on disparities in folate status in the United States. METHODS We use repeated cross-sectional data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), a nationally representative sample of over 14 000 participants ages 25 and older. ...

OBJECTIVES Despite mandatory fortification of milk and margarine, most Canadians have inadequate vitamin D intake and consequently poor vitamin D status, especially in the winter. Increasing vitamin D fortification is one possible strategy to address this inadequacy. The purpose of our study was to examine the modelled effect of increased vitamin D fortification on the prevalence of inadequacy ...

BACKGROUND Micronutrient deficiency is a common public health problem in developing countries, especially for infants and children in the first two years of life. As this is an important time window for child development, micronutrient fortified complementary feeding after 6 months of age, for example with milk or cereals products, in combination with continued breastfeeding, is recommended. Th...

In May 2002, the Food Standards Agency in the United Kingdom decided against endorsing the recommendation of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy that universal folic acid fortification of flour be introduced to prevent neural tube defects, but the agency also indicated a willingness to reconsider the decision in the light of further evidence. In coming to its decision,...

Folate deficiency is a global health problem affecting many people in the developing and developed world. Current interventions (industrial food fortification and supplementation by folic acid pills) are effective if they can be used but might not be possible in less developed countries. Recent advances demonstrate that folate biofortification of food crops is now a feasible complementary strat...

BACKGROUND Flour fortification with folic acid is one of the main strategies for improving folate status in women of childbearing age. No interventional trial on the efficacy of folic acid fortification has been conducted so far in Iran. OBJECTIVES To study the effects of flour fortification with folic acid on any reduction in neural tube defects (NTDs) and folate status of women of childbear...

BACKGROUND The addition of folic acid to all enriched cereal-grain foods, mandated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was initiated in January 1998. Although this program was designed such that typical folate intakes would be increased by approximately 100 micro g/d and that the risk of intakes > 1000 micro g/d (the FDA's safe upper limit of daily intake) would be minimal, its actual ef...

Micronutrient deficiency conditions are a major global public health problem. While the private sector has an important role in addressing this problem, the main responsibility lies with national governments, in cooperation with international agencies and donors. Mandatory fortification of basic foods provides a basic necessary intake for the majority and needs to be supported by provision of e...

Many neural tube defects can be prevented if women take folic acid around the time of conception. However, the majority of women do not take folic acid at the critical time, so the US government required that food be fortified with folic acid effective January 1, 1998. Whether the amount being added was sufficient to prevent all folate-related neural tube defects has been hotly debated. Mosley ...