Perspectives on adding folic acid to flour to prevent spinal bifida | Letters
by Letters from on (#40W5D)
Dr JK Anand, Chris Page and Pam Lunn reflect on the UK government's decision
Of course the planned fortification of flour with folic acid will help - where the cause of spina bifida is nutritional deficiency of folic acid (All UK flour to be given folic acid additive, 15 October). However, it can not conceivably prevent the defect where it is due to genetic factors - two defective genes from two parents coming together.
In some parts of the world consanguineous marriages are commoner than in others. An academic paper in the Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition (Vol 32, No 2, June 2014) by Nazish Jabeen and Sajid Malik from a university in Pakistan is useful reading. The practice has nothing to do with religion. It is purely "custom and practice".
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