Are the corn masa products you eat fortified with folic acid?
Because too many babies in the Latino community suffer from birth defects like spina bifida, UnidosUS and its partners submitted a citizen petition asking the FDA to require a warning label on unfortified corn masa flour and products.
The warning would alert consumers when corn masa flour, tortilla chips, tamales, or other corn masa products do not contain adequate folic acid. A lack of folic acid can increase the risk of a serious birth defect if a woman becomes pregnant.
“A warning label is a simple way to tell consumers of the risks posed by products that lack adequate levels of added folic acid—and to push food companies to fortify foods to protect people,” according to UnidosUS.
Here’s how you can speak up.
Submit a model comment created by Salud America! to address the UnidosUS petition!
Why We Need a Warning Label on Unfortified Corn Masa Products
Dear FDA,
I write to support the UnidosUS citizen petition asking the FDA to require warning labels for all unfortified corn masa flour and products made with corn masa as a labeled ingredient to prevent birth defects, especially among Latinos.
Corn masa flour and products made with corn masa flour are commonly used ingredients for Latino households.
The FDA already allows folic acid to be added voluntarily to corn masa flour. Fortification of foods with folic acid is a safe, well-established public health tool and has been used in enriched wheat flour for decades.
But the staple foods eaten by millions of Latinos are too often left unfortified.
Serious birth defects, called neural tube defects (NTDs), which affect the brain and spine, develop very early during pregnancy, often before women know they are pregnant. Data shows that nearly half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintentional and that adequate folic acid intake is, therefore, essential in the diet well before the onset of pregnancy.
Latinas continue to have lower folic acid intake than their peers, putting their pregnancies at higher risk of NTDs, such as spina bifida, according to the UnidosUS petition.
A warning label on unfortified corn masa flour and products could help.
As stated in the petition, the label, should be required on the front of packages of corn masa flour and products made with corn masa in a visually distinctive box in English and Spanish. This label would also allow consumers to make informed decisions when it comes to purchasing and consuming specific food products.
Until all corn masa flour products are fortified with folic acid, requiring warning labels on unfortified products is a strategic and tailored approach to improving nutrition and birth outcomes in a historically underserved community.
This targeted intervention has the potential to significantly reduce the unacceptable burden of NTDs among Latino families, and we urge the FDA to promptly begin a rulemaking to require the warning label.
What Is Folic Acid & Why Is It Important?
Folic acid is a synthetic form of folate.
Getting 400 mcg of folic acid each day helps prevent some serious birth defects, called neural tube defects (NTDs), which affect the brain and spine. The most common NTDs are spina bifida, anencephaly, and encephalocele.
Some women in the U.S. do not get enough folic acid to prevent NTDs, research shows.
Latinas, in particular, are more likely to have a child born with an NTD than are non-Hispanic White and Black women, according to the CDC.
Sources of folic acid can include fortified foods.
These foods include some flours, breads, pastas, rice, and breakfast cereal. The CDC reports that these products are labeled as “enriched.”
However, staple ingredients in Latino households, such as corn masa flour and corn masa products like tortillas, corn chips, pupusas, and tamales, remain unfortified, perpetuating a health equity gap.
Why Are Changes Needed?
Latinas face several barriers when it comes to meeting the proper folic acid recommendations.
The CDC reports that Latina women have lower levels of folate in their blood, compared to non-Hispanic White women. Latina women are less likely to get folic acid from fortified foods or take a multivitamin containing folic acid. In addition to dietary reasons, lower folic acid intake can come from less access to preconception counseling, reproductive and prenatal health care, and health care coverage; lower education and income levels; and cultural and language barriers.
With this in mind, the FDA allowed folic acid to be added voluntarily to corn masa flour, which is used to make many staple dishes within the Latino culture, including corn tortillas, tortilla chips, tamales, gorditas, and more.
However, voluntary fortification has not been widespread in the food industry.
“Most corn masa flour and corn masa products … remain unfortified seven years later, perpetuating a health equity gap and posing a serious but preventable risk to Latino infants of an increased incidence of serious birth defects,” according to UnidosUS. “Studies show that 0% of corn tortillas and just 14% of corn masa flour were fortified with folic acid.”
Latinas are also more likely to have an MTHFR C677T gene variant.
“The MTHFR gene provides instructions for your body to make the MTHFR protein. This protein helps your body process folate. Your body needs folate to make DNA and modify proteins,” according to the CDC.
What Is the Citizen Petition All About?
In response to the lack of folic acid fortification of corn masa products, UnidosUS submitted its citizen petition to the FDA on April 30, 2024, requesting the warning label on corn masa flour and related products.
The petition argues that the food industry could help prevent hundreds of NTDs each year by fortifying corn masa flour and corn masa products with folic acid.
“UnidosUS urges the FDA to use its authority to make this simple change to protect maternal and child health,” according to the petition. “More than half of Hispanic women of reproductive age report consuming corn masa flour and corn masa flour products. Adding this commonly consumed food to the list of fortified staples could significantly improve folic acid intake and reduce NTDs among this population.”
The March of Dimes, Spina Bifida Association of America, Healthy Food America, MomsRising, and other organizations signed the petition.
You too, can submit a comment and speak up for the health of Latinos!
The post Tell FDA: To Help Prevent Birth Defects, Add a Warning Label on Unfortified Corn Masa Flour appeared first on Salud America.
Recommend0 recommendationsPublished in Fuerza por la Salud