What Are Fortified And Fortified Foods?

Fortified foods

A fortified food  is one to which nutrients, or substances in general, have been added that were not originally in the food before it was processed. Some foods do not contain certain nutrients by themselves. By adding them, it is achieved that the food has different and improved characteristics.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a Guide for the fortification of foods with micronutrients . The guidelines are written from a nutrition and public health perspective, to provide practical guidance on how food fortification should be implemented, monitored, and evaluated.

Fortified foods

They are those to which one or more substances that the food already contained before being processed have been added, either because it has a small amount, or because it has been lost during the food processing. Sometimes much higher amounts are added than the original food contained.

For example, milk contains vitamin D, although in limited quantity. By adding vitamin D, it is enriched in this vitamin. Another example, when wheat is refined, a large part of the vitamins are lost, so the same vitamins are added to replace them.

Why fortify or enrich food?

Fortification and fortification have been used successfully for decades to reduce the prevalence of certain nutritional deficiencies. This has greatly improved the health and quality of life of millions of people.

The main advantage of fortification and enrichment, compared to other methods to improve the micronutrient content of the diet, is that they do not require a change in behavior on the part of the population, through its application in staple foods that are consumed in almost around the world.

Fortification manages to increase the intake of micronutrients without the population having to modify their usual diet. This means that all sectors of the population, including those living in resource-poor settings, can benefit.

Some examples of the importance of fortification and enrichment of foods

Iodine and iodine deficiency

The decline in iodine deficiency in several countries is the first success story of food fortification. Iodine is necessary for the formation of thyroid hormones responsible for regulating growth and metabolic processes.

Its deficiency leads to intellectual disability and congenital hyperthyroidism in infants and children, or goiter in adults. Iodine is found in various foods that come from the sea, such as fish, shellfish, and algae. For populations living near the sea, iodine deficiency is rarely a problem.

So it is not surprising that the first examples of an effective iodine program took place in Switzerland, a landlocked country, and Michigan, in central North America.

Folic acid and neural tube defects

By the early 1970s, a possible relationship between diet and the incidence of neural tube defects had already been identified. A type of defect that affects the proper development of the brain, spinal cord, or spinal column of the embryo.

In the mid-1970s this relationship between folic acid and birth defects was used as the basis for the first clinical studies that demonstrated that folic acid supplementation was an effective way to reduce the incidence of neural tube defects.

Advice is always needed!

Finally, we recommend the supervision of the regular consumption of fortified foods by a nutrition professional to delimit the indications and avoid unnoticed excesses.