Australian and New Zealand bread-flour will be fortified with folic acid within two years it was announced today. Adding 200-300 micrograms of folic acid per 100g of flour is expected to prevent between 14 and 49 neural tube defects in Australian unborn babies each year. American, Canadian and Chilean women are already being helped through their pregnancies with folic acid food protection, but British women aren’t as yet. By law our white and brown flour is fortified with calcium, iron, thiamin and niacin but not folic acid. The British Food Standards Agency has been urging the government to order the mandatory fortification of food with folic acid since 2006.

The British Egg Information Service’s plan to resurrect their fifty year-old advice to “go to work on an egg” has been stopped by the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre. It seems suggesting eating an egg everyday for breakfast breaks Ofcom advertisement rules on promoting a varied diet. Offers by the British Egg Information Service to add a line to the original adverts saying that eggs should be eaten as part of a varied diet were rejected. The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre defended their decision by explaining eating an egg a day wouldn’t cause any harm, but that it "should be served with fruit juice or toast".

Let’s drink to polyphenols, and eat to them too. You can read about the benefits of polyphenols found in red wine in my column on livingit.com. But some foods contain these chemicals too. If you want to have a go at making a polyphenol-rich chocolate, walnut, cinnamon and fruit-laced sponge cake, then try this Gary Rhodes recipe I’ve adapted.

Tangerine Confectionery’s new range of Princess Little Delights were the perfect excuse for some well-earned solo indulgence.