California's rule to add folic acid brings a Hispanic staple into the regulatory fold

In January, California became the first U.S. state to require food makers to add folic acid to products like tortillas because of the high rate of neural tube defects in Hispanic infants. AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: California is the first state to require folic acid in corn masa flour. That's the key ingredient in foods like tortillas. Experts say that could help prevent serious birth defects, which occur at higher rates among Hispanic families. KQED's Lesley McClurg reports. LESLEY MCCLURG, BYLINE: When AlmaRosa Alarcon began labor, she persevered without an epidural. She wanted to deliver her baby naturally. The 27-year-old had a healthy pregnancy. But the birth didn't go as planned. ALMAROSA ALARCON: When the doctor held her up and we seen her little legs, the club feet. MCCLURG: Her baby's feet were twisted inward. Doctors diagnosed the baby, Caterina, with spina bifida, a birth defect that happens when the neural tube - the structure that becomes the brain and the spinal cord - doesn't fully close early in development. ALARCON: I didn't think it was real. I was in shock. MCCLURG: Paramedics airlifted the newborn, Caterina, from Albertville, Alabama, to a hospital in Birmingham. Alarcon stayed behind to recover. ALARCON: I was living in darkness. Like, it was horrible. MCCLURG: The baby was in the hospital for two weeks struggling with nerve damage and complications like hydrocephalus - fluid building up in the brain. The medical saga continued through childhood. …