By JONEL ALECCIA and AMY TAXIN<\/p>\n
Fifteen years after she lost her first baby to a rare and devastating birth defect, Andrea Lopez takes comfort in knowing that other Latina mothers might finally avoid the same pain.<\/p>\n
In January, California became the first state to require food makers to add folic acid, a crucial vitamin, to corn masa flour used to make tortillas and other traditional foods widely used in her community.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a long-delayed move aimed at reducing Hispanic infants\u2019 disproportionately high rates of serious conditions called neural tube defects, which claimed Lopez\u2019s son, Gabriel Cude, when he was 10 days old.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a small effort for such a tremendous impact,\u201d said Lopez, 44, who lives in Bakersfield and is now a lawyer with two young daughters. \u201cThere is very little that I wouldn\u2019t do to spare anybody this heartache.\u201d<\/p>\n
A similar law takes effect in Alabama in June, and legislation is pending or being considered in Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and Oregon. Four more states \u2014 Texas, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania \u2014 have expressed \u201cactive interest\u201d in the issue, according to the Food Fortification Initiative, an advocacy group that focuses on addressing micronutrient deficiencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll women and children in the United States should have access to folic acid and have healthy babies,\u201d said Scott Montgomery, the group\u2019s director.<\/p>\n
Corn masa was excluded from a national mandate<\/p>\n
For nearly 30 years, folic acid, a key B vitamin, has been required to be added to enriched wheat and white breads, cereals and pastas in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Decades of research show the 1998 requirement cut rates of serious defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly by about 30%<\/a>, preventing about 1,300 cases a year. It is regarded as one of the top public health triumphs of the 20th century.<\/p>\n But corn masa flour, a staple used in Latino diets, was left out of the original fortification requirement \u2014 and rates of conditions such as spina bifida and anencephaly in that community have remained stubbornly high.<\/p>\n In 2016, federal regulators allowed, but did not require, folic acid to be added to corn masa products. By 2023, only about 1 in 7 corn masa flour products and no corn tortillas contained folic acid, a review found<\/a>.<\/p>\n Higher rates of birth defects among Hispanic moms<\/p>\n Nationwide, Hispanic women have the highest rates of having those defects during pregnancy. In California, the rate among Hispanic mothers is twice as high<\/a> as for white or Black women, state data show.<\/p>\n California\u2019s new law \u2014 and the state\u2019s huge buying power \u2014 could help expand its adoption nationwide, said state Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, who sponsored the legislation passed in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to be the first oftentimes to get the ball rolling,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, I\u2019m glad other states have taken up that mantle.\u201d<\/p>\n California\u2019s action and pressure from advocates have already spurred changes.<\/p>\n Gruma Corp., the parent company of Mission Foods and Azteca Milling, has been involved in the fortification issue for nearly two decades. Azteca began selling some \u2014 but not all \u2014 varieties of Maseca, its largest brand of corn masa flour, with folic acid in 2016.<\/p>\n As of this year, 97% of the company\u2019s retail sales in the U.S. include folic acid. The rest are expected to be fortified before July, Gruma said in a statement.<\/p>\n Mission Foods began fortification in 2024. It now adds folic acid to all of its branded and private label corn tortillas in the U.S.<\/p>\n