Posted on 03/30/2026 1:38:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Fifteen years after she lost her first baby to a rare and devastating birth defect, Andrea Lopez takes comfort in knowing that other Latina mothers might finally avoid the same pain. n January, California became the first state to require food makers to add folic acid, a crucial vitamin, to corn masa flour used to make tortillas and other traditional foods widely used in her community.
It’s a long-delayed move aimed at reducing Hispanic infants’ disproportionately high rates of serious conditions called neural tube defects, which claimed Lopez’s son, Gabriel Cude, when he was 10 days old. “It’s such a small effort for such a tremendous impact,” said Lopez, 44, who lives in Bakersfield and is now a lawyer with two young daughters. “There is very little that I wouldn’t do to spare anybody this heartache.”
A similar law takes effect in Alabama in June, and legislation is pending or being considered in Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and Oregon. Four more states — Texas, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — have expressed “active interest” in the issue, according to the Food Fortification Initiative, an advocacy group that focuses on addressing micronutrient deficiencies.
(Excerpt) Read more at ksbw.com ...
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great. i much prefer corn to flour myself precisely because of lack of enrichment or synethics.
follow the money. who is banking off this change?
it’s one thing to offer the option, it’s another to force it in everything. horrible!
Stay out of my food. Go do good somewhere else. Maybe some endangered herrings?
Exactly how hard is it to walk into the grocery and buy folic acid? In 30 years they will be suing the tortilla makers for some (real or perceived) adverse affect.
I buy bulk dried chicken peas. A 50 pound bag lasts me two years. Seasoned just right, they are a great Yuenging Lager companion. One handful is enough folic acid for a week. Kids love them, too.
Or these heroic Latina mothers can just go to the grocery store and use their SNAP card to buy a bottle of Folic acid supplements
Doesn’t the addition of folic acid seriously alter the taste of the tortillas? That has been one concern I’ve read about.
Natural sources of folate (Vitamin
) include dark green leafy vegetables (spinach, asparagus, broccoli), legumes (lentils, chickpeas, black-eyed peas), citrus fruits, nuts, seeds, and liver. These nutrient-dense foods provide folate, which is distinct from synthetic folic acid found in fortified grain products like bread and cereal.
Garbanzo beans (chick peas) have Folate.
People who eat a healthy diet have no issues getting adequate folate.
It’s abundant.
Natural sources of folate (Vitamin
) include dark green leafy vegetables (spinach, asparagus, broccoli), legumes (lentils, chickpeas, black-eyed peas), citrus fruits, nuts, seeds, and liver. These nutrient-dense foods provide folate, which is distinct from synthetic folic acid found in fortified grain products like bread and cerea
I don’t think SNAP is allowed to be used on vitamins.
It’s water soluble, so it shouldn’t cause harm.
You think that nothing water soluble can be harmful?
In Europe, they don't add Folic Acid to pasta. Talk to people who eat pasta in Italy how different they feel than eating it here in the U.S.
Potassium cyanide is water soluble. It’s been known to cause harm
Used to be common in American diet. But not in 2026.
“Potassium cyanide is water soluble. It’s been known to cause harm”
Really ? I heard that in proper doses it is a permanent cure for TDS
Oh, how did the ancient inhabitants of north and mesomerica ever manage to survive for millennia without some government agent telling them what additives to put in their tortillas??
Corn Tortillas could use flavor. I hate the taste of them.
This is aimed at pregnant women. The entire population is not pregnant. Stop playing with our food. Give the pregnant women a supplement.
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