Consumption of Cereal Flour in a Malaysian Population: Flour Fortification to Prevent Neural Tube Defect May Be Feasible in a Rice-Eating Country.

To assess the feasibility of fortifying flour with folic acid as a strategy to prevent neural tube defects in Malaysia, a country where the staple food is rice, we used 24-hour recall to study all cereal flour intake in women of reproductive age. Eighty-eight percent took at least a half portion of cereal flour and 85% took at least one whole portion. Vitamin supplements were taken by 36% but few knew whether the supplement contained folic acid. Cereal flour consumption is frequent and folic acid fortification of flour is feasible. Subgroups of the population not consuming flour need to be identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]