Folic acid will be added to non-wholemeal wheat flour across the UK, the government has announced, saying the addition is aimed at reducing spinal conditions in babies. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said 80 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, have already been adding folic acid to staple food products. A shortage of folate (vitamin B9) in the early stages of pregnancy—often before a woman knows she is pregnant—can lead to neural tube defects in the foetus, resulting in spinal conditions such as spina bifida or anencephaly. British food manufacturers have already been adding the manmade vitamin B9 to breakfast cereals voluntarily, and women who could become pregnant or are planning a pregnancy have been “strongly” recommended to take a 400-microgram folic acid tablet every day before pregnancy and until they are 12 weeks pregnant. But the government wants to increase folic acid intake as “around 50 percent of …