Translations:Folate/63/en

Before folic acid fortification, about 4,100 pregnancies were affected by a neural tube defect each year in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in 2015 that since the addition of folic acid in grain-based foods as mandated by the FDA, the rate of neural tube defects dropped by 35%. This translates to an annual saving in total direct costs of approximately $508 million for the NTD-affected births that were prevented.