Interesting Facts About Fortified Foods

Many foods are fortified with vital substances. For example, milk, pasta or cereals are provided with vitamins, minerals or other nutrients to make them “healthier”. Find out more about this topic today. 

When you shop, you are likely to find out about the various ingredients in the products that interest you. Often these are fortified foods that  contain additional vitamins or minerals to prevent possible deficiencies. 

Learn more about  fortified foods,  which are a subset of functional foods, today. 

Things to know about fortified foods

Fortified foods are those that contain added nutrients. These are intended to give them an additional health benefit. The addition of certain nutrients, which are intended to improve the product, is marked as such on the packaging.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a guide entitled “Guidelines on food fortification with micronutrients” on this subject. This takes nutritional and health aspects into account. The principles mentioned therein should be observed, monitored and evaluated when enriching food.

Certain foods are fortified with additional nutrients that they already contained before industrial processing. Others contain only a few nutrients themselves and are therefore “improved” with additional vital substances. Sometimes high amounts of vitamins or minerals are added. The level can therefore by far exceed the nutrients originally contained.

Milk, for example, contains small amounts of vitamin D. However, this vitamin is often added, which helps prevent a vitamin D deficiency. Another example is wheat. This grain loses a large part of its vitamins during processing. However, these are then added artificially.

Fortified foods: why?

Certain foods have long been fortified with additional nutrients in  order to avoid nutrient deficiencies. This has improved the health and quality of life of millions of people.

One of the most important benefits of fortified foods is that no changes in consumer behavior are required to  take advantage of the micronutrients that are added. All sections of the population can benefit from the advantages. Even those people who have few resources available.

Two examples of fortified foods

• Iodine and iodine deficiency

The reduction in the number of people with iodine deficiency in different countries shows us how successfully fortified foods can be used. Iodine is important for the formation of thyroid hormones. These are necessary for growth and metabolic processes.

Iodine deficiency can cause intellectual disability, congenital hyperthyroidism in babies and children, or thyroid cancer in adults. Iodine can be found in foods that come from the sea:  fish, seafood, and algae. This is why many people who do not live in coastal regions and who have difficulty accessing these foods suffer from iodine deficiency.

It is therefore not surprising that the first programs to supply the population with iodine were carried out in Switzerland and Michigan (in the center of the USA).

Folic acid and malformations in the baby

At the beginning of the 1970s, the possible connection between nutrition and neural tube defects in babies was shown. The resulting malformations can be very serious and also life-threatening.

The first clinical studies were conducted in the 1970s to understand the link between folic acid and neural tube defects. It could thus be proven that the intake of folic acid is very efficient in preventive care. This preventive measure reduces the risk of malformations by around 70%.

However, we recommend that you always seek advice from a nutritionist or doctor before consuming fortified foods. Because an excess of it should definitely be avoided.