Thursday, 8 July 2021, 3:32 pm The New Zealand College of Public Health Medicine welcomes today’s announcement that the addition of the B vitamin, folic acid, to non-organic bread-making wheat flour has been approved. This is an important opportunity to address a preventable health risk”, says Dr Miller. In New Zealand, diets usually contain low levels of folic acid. Supplementation of folic acid intake during the early stages of pregnancy is important to reduce the risks of neural tube defects in the developing baby. These neural tube defects can lead to miscarriages, stillbirths or to serious birth defects, such as spina bifida and anencephaly.