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- Title
Reevaluating the Benefits of Folic Acid Fortification in the United States: Economic Analysis, Regulation, and Public Health.
- Authors
Grosse, Scott D.; Mulinare, Joseph; Waitzman, Norman J.; Romano, Patrick S.
- Abstract
Before a 1996 US regulation requiring fortification of enriched cereal-grain products with folic acid, 3 economic evaluations projected net economic benefits or cost savings of folic acid fortification resulting from the prevention of pregnancies affected by a neural tube defect. Because the observed decline in neural tube defect rates is greater than was forecast before fortification, the economic gains are correspondingly larger. Applying both cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analytic techniques, we estimated that folic acid fortification is associated with annual economic benefit of $312 million to $425 million. The cost savings (net reduction in direct costs) were estimated to be in the range of $88 million to $145 million per year.
- Subjects
UNITED States; FOLIC acid; PREPARED cereals; CEREAL products; NEURAL tube defects; HUMAN abnormalities; PREVENTION
- Publication
American Journal of Public Health, 2005, Vol 95, Issue 11, p1917
- ISSN
0090-0036
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2105/AJPH.2004.058859