Fortified Bread

THERE WOULD BE NO CHANGE IN THE TASTE OF THE daily bread, but the addition of folic acid, a valuable B vitamin, to flour, breads and baked goods, as recommended by an advisory panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, could prevent a lot of misery. Just a smidgen of B, the group reports, could reduce the risk of neural-tube birth defects.

About 2,500 babies are born in the U.S. each year with most of the brain missing or the spinal column incompletely closed. Reflecting recent studies, many doctors advise that women planning pregnancy consume 0.4 mg of folic acid daily -- about double their average intake -- by eating more leafy green vegetables, citrus fruits, beans and fortified cereals or by taking vitamin pills. But many pregnancies are unplanned, and women do not realize that they are expecting until it is too late for supplements to do much good. Before approving the recommendation, the FDA must weigh whether the B-fortified food would have harmful side effects.