Folic acid in flour 'could cut birth defects by 70%'

THE number of children with devastating birth defects could be cut by 70% if the Government allowed folic acid to be added to flour, medical experts have said.

Research published yesterday found half of Irish people carry gene variations which increase the risk of birth defects such as spina bifida. The research, carried out by Irish and US teams and published in the British Medical Journal, found variant genes, carried by one or both parents, can increase the risk of having a baby with neural tube defects, which affect the development of the spine.

Around 70 babies are born here every year with neural tube defects of which spina bifida is the most common. Researcher Dr Peadar Kirke said this could be cut by as much as 70% if bread and other flour products were fortified with folic acid. "Every year 70 babies are born here with neural tube defects but if the Government approved a vigorous health campaign aimed at women of child-bearing age, and fortified flour, then up to 50 of those children would be born normal, healthy babies," Dr Kirke, of the Health Research Board in Dublin, said.