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- Fortification is the practice of deliberately increasing the content of one or more micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals) in a food or condiment to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health.
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What is food fortification?
What is fortification & why is it important?
What is food fortification & enrichment?
What are fortified foods?
Fortification is the practice of deliberately increasing the content of one or more micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals) in a food or condiment to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health.
Feb 12, 2024 · Fortified foods can help maintain healthy micronutrient levels to keep your bones strong, help your digestion, and prevent heart issues. They help children grow. Children are at a higher...
- Overview
- What’s a fortified or enriched food?
- Are fortified and enriched foods healthy?
- Fortified and enriched foods for kids
- Fortified and enriched foods for adults
- Bottom line
More than two-thirds of Americans don’t eat fruits or vegetables at least twice a day, and most don’t meet the recommended dietary guidelines.
Worldwide, more than 2 billion people have micronutrient deficiencies because they aren’t getting enough essential vitamins and minerals each day. Many Americans also aren’t meeting the requirement for vitamins and minerals, especially children.
Fortified foods are those that have nutrients added to them that don’t naturally occur in the food. These foods are meant to improve nutrition and add health benefits. For example, milk is often fortified with vitamin D, and calcium may be added to fruit juices.
An enriched food means that nutrients that were lost during processing are added back in. Many refined grains are enriched. Wheat flour, for example, may have folic acid, riboflavin, and iron added back in after processing. This is intended to restore its original vitamin levels.
Historically, fortifying foods has been widely successful in the United States. Common diseases that are caused by nutrient deficiencies, like rickets and pellagra, have been virtually eliminated.
Even though fortification has increased vitamin and mineral consumption in the United States, there haven’t been studies on nutrients other than folic acid that show that fortified foods are improving our health. There are also concerns that fortified and enriched foods may be causing people to get harmful amounts of certain vitamins and minerals.
Children are particularly vulnerable to nutrient deficiencies. Without added vitamins and minerals, many children and teens don’t meet daily nutrient requirements. Fortified and enriched foods are important sources of nutrients for kids, especially for iron, zinc, and B vitamins.
Unfortunately, many fortified or enriched foods are heavily processed and packaged. They often come with high sodium, fat, and sugar content. Fortification doesn’t make them inherently healthy or good for you.
Many younger children are also at risk of overdosing on some added vitamins, according to a report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The report showed that many fortified foods currently available contain levels of vitamins that aren’t appropriate for children. Many children may also exceed daily recommended values by eating a variety of fortified foods throughout the day, or by eating more than one serving. Nearly half of children ages 2 to 8 get too much zinc, and 13 percent consume too much vitamin A. These overdoses are potentially dangerous.
Fortified and enriched foods, especially foods not formulated for children, may not be safe for all children. The EWG recommends that children eat products with no more than 20 to 25 percent of the adult recommended daily value for vitamin A, niacin, and zinc. You can find this value on the nutrition label. While it’s still important to keep an eye on these nutrients, tweens and teens may benefit from including fortified or enriched foods in a balanced diet.
While adults also avoid vegetables, the majority of people get enough of most nutrients, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. However, many adults are not getting enough:
•calcium
•magnesium
•dietary fiber
•vitamins A, D, E, and C.
Older adults and pregnant women are especially vulnerable to vitamin deficiencies.
In some cases, fortified or enriched foods are helpful. They can fill in the gaps and increase a particular vitamin and mineral consumption that would otherwise be less than the recommended value.
But it’s also easy to get too much. These foods can contribute to nutrient overdoses. Be aware of how much of each nutrient you are eating. Don’t forget to include foods that don’t come with a nutrition label, like dark leafy greens. Keep an eye on serving sizes to make sure you’re not overdosing on added vitamins or minerals.
No matter what, you can’t cover poor nutrition by adding extra vitamins. Desserts made with enriched flours and fortified breakfast cereals coated in sugar aren’t healthy options. The typical diet is already full of nutrient-poor processed foods, added sugars, and refined grains. Avoid foods that contain added sugars, have trans fats, or are high in sodium.
While fortified and enriched foods can certainly add to a healthy diet, they aren’t enough by themselves. You still need to eat a well-rounded, varied diet that is loaded with vegetables and other whole foods. You cannot rely on fortification or enrichment to get all of the nutrients you need.
- Mandy Ferreira
Mar 29, 2021 · Food fortification is defined as the practice of adding vitamins and minerals to commonly consumed foods during processing to increase their nutritional value. It is a proven, safe and cost-effective strategy for improving diets and for the prevention and control of micronutrient deficiencies.
- Rebecca Olson, Breda Gavin-Smith, Chiara Ferraboschi, Klaus Kraemer
- 2021
Feb 14, 2022 · Food fortification with multiple micronutrients may reduce anaemia, iron deficiency anaemia and micronutrient deficiencies (iron, vitamin A, vitamin B2 and vitamin B6) as well as some motor and cognitive outcomes. Micronutrients’ fortification may also improve child growth measures.
- Fortification has been identified as one of the most cost-effective nutrition interventions available, particularly for low- and middle-income coun...
- Fortification should be part of a comprehensive micronutrient deficiency control strategy that sets clear and achievable goals to assess progress a...
- Food fortification leads to rapid improvement in the micronutrient status of a population, and at a reasonable cost, especially if advantage is tak...
- Mandatory and voluntary regulation in food fortification may provide different levels of certainty over time that a particular category of food wil...
Fortification is the process of adding nutrients or non-nutrient bioactive components to edible products (e.g., food, food constituents, or supplements). Fortification can be used to correct or prevent widespread nutrient intake shortfalls and associated deficiencies, to balance the total nutrient profile of a diet, to restore nutrients lost in ...
Food fortification or enrichment is the process of adding micronutrients (essential trace elements and vitamins) to food. It can be carried out by food manufacturers, or by governments as a public health policy which aims to reduce the number of people with dietary deficiencies within a population.
