The Salt Lake Tribune released an article yesterday announcing that 26,000 bottles of multivitamins will be donated to thousands of women throughout Utah through the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. The donation was made possible by Vitamin Angels and federal grant.

The article, “Neural tube birth defects on the rise in Utah,” brings special attention to the fact that the vitamins will play a critical role in preventing neural tube defects and ensuring the health of Utah’s babies. The number of babies born with neural tube defects is on the rise in Utah. “Up to 25 more babies were born in 2008 with defects like spina bifida or the deadly anencephaly (in which the brain fails to develop) than in the late 1990s.” The mothers targeted by the WIC programs are up to two times more likely than others in the United States to have a baby with this type of defect.

According to the March of Dimes, seventy percent of neural tube defects are preventable with the “well-timed digestion of folic acid.” The vitamins donated to the new WIC initiative through the Utah Food Bank contain 400 micrograms of folic acid. This B vitamin helps a fetal neural tube develop properly into the brain and spinal cord. The Health Department is advocating all women of childbearing age take the supplement every day.

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