By Ben Spencer and Sean Poulter for the Daily Mail
Published: 00:01 BST, 13 June 2019 | Updated: 07:53 BST, 13 June 2019
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Folic acid will be added to flour to save babies from devastating medical conditions, ministers said yesterday.
The announcement is a major victory for campaigners and scientists who – backed by the Daily Mail – have been calling for the change for over a decade.
Folic acid, which is also known as vitamin B9, is essential to healthy development during early pregnancy and a deficiency can lead to neural tube defects in the foetus such as spina bifida.
Women who are trying to become pregnant are advised to take a daily supplement of 400 micrograms of folic acid before they conceive and during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
But many women
