Are Tortillas the Key to Healthier Babies? Check out how This Latin Dish can Change Things

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There may be a better reason to consume more tortillas, as the nation is one step closer to the US Food and Drug Administration's approval of having tortillas fortified with folic acid, a B vitamin that is crucial to the development of the fetus during the early stages of pregnancy, NPR reports.

The March of Dimes first petitioned the FDA to allow folic acid to be added in corn flour masa—the main ingredient in creating tortillas, corn chips, and the like—back in 2012, and as part of the review, the FDA required a study to find out if folic acid would stay stable in corn masa flour. In October, the petitioners submitted the results of the study and are hopeful for a favorable response.

According to AJC, the most babies born with neural tube defects as a result of folic acid deficiency correspond to Hispanic women. In fact, Latina women are 20% more likely to have a child with a neural tube defect compared to their non-Latina counterparts. While researchers cannot identify the reason behind the discrepancy just yet, they believe that there may be genetic factors that predispose the children of some Latina women to neural tube defects.

"Part of the reason was that these groups just weren't consuming the same level of wheat flour products. Instead, they were consuming corn masa flour products, because that was the staple grain in that diet," senior vice president of public policy and government affairs at the March of Dimes, Cynthia Pellegrini explained.

Having enough folic acid is critical during the first few weeks of pregnancy, as it enables the proper closure of the baby's neural tube. WebMD reports that without enough folic acid, problems such as spina bifida or anencephaly (the incomplete development of the brain) may occur.

"Most women, by the time they know they're pregnant, they've already passed that critical window," the University of Texas at Austin biochemistry professor Dean Appling said. If the FDA approves the call to fortify corn masa flour with folic acid and mandate it, the fortification may prevent 40 to 120 cases of neural tube defects among babies born to Latina women every year.

The FDA's concern is that the alkaline treatment of corn masa flour called nixtamalization may affect the stability of folic acid, but according to the Michael Dunn, the Brigham Young University food scientist who led the study, the study results suggest that fortified masa flour shows no loss of folic acid even after three months of storage.

"I’m quite confident that once they receive the results from this study, they’ll come forward with the final rule," Dunn told the Seattle Times in July. Here's to hoping that folic acid would be finally added to tortilla and other corn products.