<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
For anyone who may care, 'vitamin enrichment' formulas for processed grains
like white rice and corn grits are going to change in the US.  The very
'sensitive' may wish to be cautious as this phases in, because the new
formulations will be 'something new' in their diet (and from what food
source?).  BTW, 'enrichment' of white rice is accomplished by adding the
vitamins to starch (in the US I have seen both rice starch and corn
starch used, check with the manufacturer if concerned) and powdering the
rice with it.  That's why you don't rinse white rice before cooking it.
 
   MONEY & INVESTING UPDATE
 
To Reduce Birth Defects, FDA Orders
Folic Acid Added to Grain Products
 
   By LAURIE McGINLEY, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
 
   WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration is requiring that
   enriched breads, flour, pasta and other grains be fortified with folic
   acid to reduce the risk of spina bifida and other birth defects.
 
   The new rules, issued Thursday, require manufacturers to add between
   0.43 milligram and 1.4 milligrams of the nutrient to each pound of
   their products, beginning no later than January 1998. The goal, said
   FDA Commissioner David Kessler, is to make it easier for women of
   childbearing age to consume 0.4 milligram of folic acid each day --
   the amount needed to reduce the risk of birth defects.
 
   To help prevent defects, folic acid must be consumed in the six weeks
   before and after conception, studies show. About 2,500 babies are born
   each year with neural tube and other spinal-column defects; about half
   are thought to be related to inadequate consumption of folic acid by
   the mother. Dr. Kessler declined to estimate how many birth defects
   the new requirement might prevent, but Jennifer Howse, president of
   the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, called the new
   requirement "a critical step forward" for mothers and children.
 
   Under the new regulation, foods that must be fortified include
   enriched bread, rolls and buns; enriched flour, corn grits and corn
   meal; enriched farina and rice; and enriched macaroni and noodle
   products. Breakfast-cereal makers aren't required to add folic acid,
   but the new rule lets them add up to 0.4 milligram per serving.
   Manufacturers of fortified foods will be permitted to note on labels
   that their products contain folic acid, which helps reduce birth
   defects.
 
   Dr. Kessler said that the cost to manufacturers would be "minimal"
   because folic acid is relatively cheap and the companies are being
   given a long lead time to comply and change their product labels.
 
   Women of child-bearing age also are advised to take multivitamins
   containing folic acid and to eat a well-balanced diet with leafy green
   vegetables.
 
   FDA officials said they set the required fortification level such that
   the average person won't consume more than one milligram of folic acid
   a day. Higher levels can mask symptoms of pernicious anemia, a form of
   vitamin B-12 deficiency that primarily affects older people and can
   lead to severe nerve damage.
     _________________________________________________________________
 
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