Triumph and/or Tragedy: The Present Food and Drug Administration Program of Enriching Grains With Folic Acid

Brent and Oakley comment on the report by Bot et al regarding the survival and severity of neural tube defects (NTDs) during the period that the FDA mandated folic acid fortification of grains. According to them, the investigators' conclusions are biologically plausible, in which they conclude that folic acid fortification "may play a role in reducing the severity of NTDs" in addition to the prior publications that indicate that folic acid prevents the occurrence of NTDs.