Doctors have planned a mass medication by adding folic acid into our bread and flour in order to reduce the risk of "birth defects". The dose of this vitamin should be increased in the diet of young women in order to help prevent babies being born with spinal cord and brain defects, such as spina bifida. This would also reduce the number of abortions after the detection of such "circumstances". Adding folic acid to "popular foods" may also have bad consequences because it could mask a deficiency in a B group vitamin - B12. B12. This deficiency is present mostly among older people and can cause, in extreme cases, irreversible damage to the nervous system. The folic acid should be added to the nutrient mix already contained by white flour and not to whole meal products or special kind of breads. Some foods in the U.K., like bread, cereals and margarine already contain the substance. US, Canada and Chile made fortification with folic acid obligatory. 400 micrograms per day of the substance are recommended to pregnant women or those planning to get pregnant, but only 50% of women take this advice. 500 to 600 babies in the 60 have each year neural tube defects, while 900 affected pregnancies are aborted. Although too early to say for sure, folic acid may also cut cardiovascular disease risk. "As far as we are concerned, adding a further micro-nutrient to flour makes complete sense. It would prevent a good proportion of spina bifida pregnancies and would also increase the health of the country as a whole," said Andrew Russell, of the Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus.