The Scottish government is debating whether to add folic acid to flour. This is due to concern about a rise in birth defects.
Folic acid is a B vitamin (B9). It is sometimes, especially when used as a food additive, called folate. Vitamin B9 is essential for numerous bodily functions, including the repair of damaged DNA. Research has shown folic acid is important for women who are pregnant, for helps protect the unborn child against a number of congenital malformations. These include malformations of the spine, skull, and brain, such as spina bifida.
Dietary sources of folic acid include green, leafy vegetables, brown rice, granary bread, and breakfast cereals fortified with folic acid. Due to variations in diet, in the U.K. it is recommended that women who are pregnant take supplements.
Because not all women eat the right foods or take supplements, some countries have elected to supplement flour — the basis of staple foods like bread — with folic acid. At present, 76 countries worldwide require mandatory folic acid fortification of at least one major cereal grain. Fortification, at times, has raised a debate over whether governments should act for good of the population’s health or if such measures impinge on individual liberty.
With the Scottish issue, the government Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition has called for the mandatory fortification of flour. This has led to Scotland to give serious consideration to the issue. The matter will be debated by the Scottish legislature.
While Scotland appears to moving in the direction of fortifying flour with folic acid, the British government shows no indication of legislating the same for other parts of the U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has a mix of devolved government and a centralized state. Scotland has its own parliament, with the greatest autonomy over issues affecting the country. Northern Ireland and Wales have assemblies, with weaker powers. England has no devolved national government at all, with all governing decisions made by the U.K. parliament. As it stands, white flour is already fortified with iron, calcium and some vitamins.
