But it was hard to do that when I was born with spina bifida and my kidneys and bladder weren't working.

She had a spina bifida defect, a spinal cord abnormality.

The fortification of maize meal with folic acid in South Africa – one of the projects supported by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) – was followed by a 40% reduction in spina bifida, a serious deformation of the neural tube in new-born babies.

In Brazil, a television program on the role that folic-acid supplementation could play in the prevention of spina bifida (a congenital neural tube defect) immediately grabbed politicians’ attention.

Fumonisin also interferes with the cellular uptake of folic acid, a vitamin that reduces the risk of neural tube defects in developing fetuses, and thus can cause folic acid deficiency – and defects such as spina bifida – even when one’s diet contains what otherwise would be sufficient amounts of the vitamin.

Furthermore, lower levels of mycotoxins in pest-resistant corn mean fewer birth defects, such as spina bifida, and less toxicity to livestock.

Spina in sentence

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