Costs and benefits of folic acid fortification in the United States: economic analysis, regulatory action, and public health

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Publication Type Manuscript
School or College School of Medicine
Department Family and Preventive Medicine
Program Demography Certificate
Creator Waitzman, Norman J.
Other Author Grosse, Scott D.; Romano, Patrick S.
Title Costs and benefits of folic acid fortification in the United States: economic analysis, regulatory action, and public health
Date 2004-10-14
Description The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required that as of January 1, 1998, manufacturers of enriched cereal- grain products fortify their products with folic acid to reduce the number of pregnancies affected by a neural tube defect (NTD). Prior to adoption of the regulation in 1996, three economic evaluations projected the net economic benefits or cost savings of folic acid fortification. The expected percentage decline in NTDs in these three studies was between 2.6% and 10.5%. Birth defects surveillance data indicate that since fortification there has been a 20% to 30% decline in births with either spina bifida or anencephaly. We estimate that folic acid fortification is associated with an economic benefit of $425 million per year in the United States and constitutes a major public health success that has resulted from regulatory action
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
First Page 1
Last Page 19
Subject Nutrition; Gestation; Maturnity; Birth defects
Subject LCSH Birth defects; Folic acid; Nutrition
Language eng
Bibliographic Citation Grosse, S.D., Waitzman, N.J., Romano, P.S. & Mulinare, J.M. (2004). The Costs and Benefits of Folic Acid Fortification in the United States: Economic Analysis, Regulatory Action, and Public Health. Utah Demography Research Network, Oct. 22, 2004, 1-19
Series Utah Demography Research Network
Rights Management (c) University of Utah
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 55,496 Bytes
Identifier ir-main,1017
ARK ark:/87278/s6gx4vrw
Setname ir_uspace
ID 703404
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6gx4vrw
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