Corn tortillas in California must now contain folic acid | AP News
California is the first state to require food makers to add folic acid, a crucial vitamin, to corn masa flour used to make tortillas and oth
For nearly 30 years, folic acid, a key B vitamin, has been required to be added to enriched wheat and white breads, cereals and pastas in the U.S.
Decades of research show the 1998 requirement cut rates of serious defects such as spina bifida and anencephaly by about 30%, preventing about 1,300 cases a year. It is regarded as one of the top public health triumphs of the 20th century.
But corn masa flour, a staple used in Latino diets, was left out of the original fortification requirement — and rates of conditions such as spina bifida and anencephaly in that community have remained stubbornly high.
In 2016, federal regulators allowed, but did not require, folic acid to be added to corn masa products. By 2023, only about 1 in 7 corn masa flour products and no corn tortillas contained folic acid, a review found.
Public health experts cheer the growing momentum.
“The science is clear: Folic acid fortification works,” said Vijaya Kancherla, an Emory University epidemiology professor and director of the Center for Spina Bifida Prevention. “It’s safe. It’s proven. And it’s cost-effective.”
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reminder that if you are biologically able to have children even if you aren't pregnant and it's never part of the plan, please try to get around 400mcg of folic acid everyday. it saves lives and will help your overall health too. i have a neurological condition and require a higher dose, so consider asking your doctor about your folic acid levels and needs.
[image ID: A post from @cornonthecorb on instagram. A smiling white woman sitting at a table with a coffee drink. Text reads, "Why I don't use the term "ultraprocessed" in my practice as a registered dietitian."
end ID]
The post continues:
The link between how processed a food is an how healthy it is, is a correlation and not causation.
The label 'ultra-processed food' (UPF) covers a very wide range of foods, many of which we don't need to limit. The narrative around processed foods is often highly emotive and morally driven, which can result in food anxiety.
The foods that fall in the UPF category that we might want to moderate are already covered by existing nutrition guidance. Which the public already struggle to follow-adding in a new and confusing term here is not the solution.
As an ED dietitian, many of my clients are already highly anxious, and it often helps them to meet their nutritional needs to eat more of these foods!
Mod's addition:
It's been said on this blog before, but processed foods are an ideal choice for people in ED recovery. They are highly palatable, easy to digest, and calorie and nutrient dense.
As this dietician said, the term is confusing. "Processed" food really is just anything that has been prepared in any way. Chopping up, combining, and heating food is all just processed food. The act of processing it does not make it less healthy. Adding "ultra" to the word doesn't make it less confusing. There are no guidelines for when a food has become "too processed."
In ED recovery, the most important thing is to eat food. And if a food tastes good and is easy to prepare (or doesn't need prep), then you're more likely to eat it. That makes processed foods the perfect choice! Once you're eating consistently and eating enough, then you can start to make decisions about how to add nutritious, heart-healthy foods into your diet. And if you never start eating whole grains or whatever, then at least you're here and you aren't actively starving to death. You can't eat healthy if you're starving.
refusing to eat ultra processed foods (foods that have no nutritional value due to unnecessary processing that destroys enzymes and nutrients for the sake of better taste) isn't diet culture or a disorder, it's self-respect.
"now i'm gonna poison myself with something that my body wasn't built to handle, but it's alright because it's tasty and makes me feel good in the moment!"
Today, ultraprocessed foods make up a majority of what we eat — nearly 60 percent of the calories adults consume in the United States, and nearly 70 percent of the calories consumed by children and teens.
I am working thru some a tough week. [Work] I will not be buying most ultra process food for awhile.
I managed to give away a box of bars & random snacks that I seemed to have some issues with. (Which is good.... It had been put up but not given away...which meant I was really saving it for a binge. Is that dumb? Yes. But at least I realized what I was doing...)
Working on continuing to buy smaller packages of everything. Not buying problem food.
Not doing anything extreme, just trying to work within the parameters of less packaging. More veggies, greens, farmers markets.
Gonna try to get my garden going.
I will continue yogurt & turkey/chicken sausage as my processed foods..... moderation.
Hak Ja Han is the co-founder of the Universal Peace Federation. Here are her beliefs, as revealed under oath.
▲ Hak Ja Han admiring a statue of herself at Cheongpyeong
Hak Ja Han is the co-founder of the UPF
March 25, 2019.
Videotaped Deposition of Plaintiff, by HAK JA HAN MOON, taken pursuant to Order, before Rita Persichetty, a Notary Public of the State of New York.
Deposition
pp.19-20
Hak Ja Han: “Reverend Moon came as the only begotten son, and he met the only begotten daughter who came for the first time in 6,000 years. In 1960, through the holy wedding, because he met the only begotten daughter he became a True Parent.”
Question: Who is the only begotten daughter that you've been referring to?
Hak Ja Han: “Myself, Han Hak Ja, who was born in 1943, is the only begotten daughter.”
pp.100-101
“When God asked Reverend Moon to go to North Korea, North Korea was still under Communist rule at that time, and this was a position where his life would be at risk or a position where he could only die. This is because upholding Jesus' mission, there was something for Reverend Moon to indemnify …”
“In the process to meet me, until the Reverend Moon met me, we cannot say that he did not have original sin. There was indemnity conditions to be paid.”
Q. Were you born with original sin?
Hak Ja Han: “Because I was born without the original sin, that's why I am the only begotten daughter. That's why God saved me.”
Q. But I thought Reverend Moon was also the only begotten son.
Hak Ja Han: “Meeting Jesus at age 16, he -- was when he was given the qualifications as the only begotten son. However, since age 16, he still had to walk the path of Jesus Christ for indemnification and -- and redemption. And the place for -- the time and place where -- when he met me was when he became the only begotten son.”
p.110
Hak Ja Han: “Concerning the providence, I cannot view the Reverend Moon as completing the work of providence on earth. He mentioned about the kingdom on earth; however, the one who proclaimed it and opened it was myself.”
__________________________________
Mike Pence financial disclosure:
3.4
Speaking Engagement – Universal Peace Federation, Seoul, South Korea, 02/13/22 (payment by Worldwide Speakers Group) honorarium $550,000.00
Ninety percent of prefectural assembly members with ties to the Unification Church were re-elected in the unified local elections in April, but their popularity showed signs of waning, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed.
MAY 8, 2023
Ninety percent of prefectural assembly members with ties to the Unification Church were re-elected in the unified local elections in April, but their popularity showed signs of waning, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed.
The unified elections were the first collective nationwide vote held since the Unification Church came under fire again for its fund-collection methods following the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July last year, apparently over his ties to the religious group.
According to an Asahi Shimbun survey conducted in August and September last year, 292 of the 2,314 responding prefectural assembly members acknowledged their connections with the church, now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.
The ties included attendance at Unification Church-related meetings or events, and receiving support from the group in election campaigns.
The terms for 251 church-connected assembly members expired in spring. Of them, 228 sought re-election in the April 9 elections held in 41 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, while 23 members did not run due to age or other reasons.
Of these candidates, 206, or 90.4 percent, were re-elected. Twenty-two members, or 9.6 percent, lost their seats.
Among those re-elected, 47, or around 23 percent, ran uncontested.
More than 80 percent of the church-tied prefectural assembly members were from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Among all 1,111 LDP incumbents who ran in the local assembly elections, 98 members, or 8.8 percent, were defeated.
Of all 228 candidates who confirmed their ties to the church, 118 gained fewer votes than in the previous election, while 42 garnered more ballots.
It is not clear if the church ties affected vote counts for 68 of the candidates because they ran uncontested in either of the two latest elections, or won in a by-election held within the past four years.
However, some candidates lost several thousand to 10,000 votes compared to their tallies in the previous election after their connections with the church became known.
Setsuko Sakuraba, 65, an LDP candidate, sought a second term in the Niigata prefectural assembly from the electoral district of Joetsu city.
But she was defeated in the election after gaining 9,536 votes. That was 2,459 votes fewer than her total in the previous election, when she placed fourth and gained one of the five assembly seats for the city.
Sakuraba had attended Unification Church-related events and received support in her campaign from people connected to the group.
These ties were reported in local newspapers and The Asahi Shimbun.
After her election loss, Sakuraba said about her church ties, “It’s hard to say how much, but there must have been a significant impact (on the election results.)”
She said someone had placed stickers with words “Unification Church endorsed candidate” on her campaign posters in Joetsu city.
About 50 to 60 of these stickers were found, she said.
In the Tochigi prefectural assembly election, 82-year-old Kazuyoshi Itabashi of the LDP was elected for a national record 14th straight time.
Itabashi gained 10,411 votes in the election four years ago, but this time he received 7,674 ballots, down by 2,737.
He also received the fewest votes among the five elected candidates representing the Oyama city and Nogi town electoral district.
“I think there was a slight decrease in votes,” he said after the election.
In September last year, reports surfaced that Itabashi was serving as head of the prefectural association of a church-related organization called the Federation for World Peace.
He resigned from the position.
Before the election, a Buddhist organization that had supported Itabashi told him that it would withhold its support because of his connection to the Federation for World Peace.
The Unification Church’s public relations department told The Asahi Shimbun, “Our organization has never had involvement with specific candidates or political parties.”
