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In 1998 the March of Dimes, whose mission is to improve babies' health by preventing birth defects, teamed up with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the U.S. to deliver a public-health message: women of childbearing age should take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily. It's a simple act of preventive medicine that cuts the risk of neural-tube defects like spina bifida in developing fetuses by more than 50%. Apparently the message stuck. A March of Dimes poll designed to gauge awareness of the supplement's benefits found that while only half of American women ages 18 to 45 knew...

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