When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration mandated the folic acid fortification of enriched cereal grains in 1998, it was celebrated as one of the greatest triumphs of preventive medicine. By introducing this critical B-vitamin into daily dietary staples, the nationwide incidence of devastating neural tube defects such as spina bifida plummeted by roughly 35%.

Yet, for nearly three decades, a gaping regulatory omission quietly left millions of Americans behind. While the FDA mandated fortification for wheat and rice flours, it excluded corn masa flour — the staple grain underpinning traditional Hispanic diets. The consequences of this technocratic gap fell squarely along genetic and ethnic lines, resulting in a persistent, disproportionately high rate of preventable birth defects.