The role of folic acid in preventing life-threatening birth defects like spina bifida and anencephaly has been widely recognized. In a new development, researchers suggest fortifying table salts with folic acid as a novel dietary strategy to further protect against these birth defects.
As per the WHO recommendation, from the moment a woman begins trying to conceive until 12 weeks of gestation, she needs to take 400 micrograms of folic acid each day. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests all women of reproductive age who could get pregnant should take the folic acid supplement in addition to consuming food with folate from a varied diet for prevention of birth defects.
To ensure women receive adequate folic acid through diet, the World Health Assembly endorsed a resolution advocating for folic acid fortification in food in May 2023. While about 65 countries, including the United States, have incorporated folic acid through mandatory staple grain fortification, more than 100 countries still have not implemented it due to limited capacity or lack of political will.
Despite these efforts, estimates show that around 260,000 births worldwide (about 20 per every 10,000 births) are still affected by spina bifida and anencephaly, resulting in a significant number of stillbirths, elective pregnancy terminations, and infant and child fatalities.
In a recent study published in the JAMA Network Open, researchers suggest a simple and cheaper solution to the issue through the use of fortified table salt.
“We proved that folic acid can get into the blood through salt. Hopefully, countries that have not already implemented fortification programs can now look at their infrastructures and realize that salt fortification is cheap and it’s really easy to add in the amount of folic acid needed to save lives. It might just turn the salt a little yellow, but the participants did not mind and we know it works. What we need now is action,” Jogi Pattisapu, the study’s…
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