Enhancing Nutrition Through Food Fortification

The need for a balanced and ample nutrient intake by the human body is well known. Proper nutrition is crucial for maintaining overall health, supporting growth, and preventing chronic diseases. Despite the availability of nutrients in various foods, losses due to processing and the prevalence of improper dieting necessitate the fortification of popular foods. This practice ensures that essential nutrients are added to foods such as breakfast cereals, baked goods, pasta products, and low-calorie breakfast drinks to meet minimum daily requirements.

Nutrient additives primarily include vitamins, proteins, and minerals. Vitamin D is a notable example of the value of food additives. The primary source of vitamin D for humans is a precursor compound beneath the skin that converts to the active vitamin form upon exposure to sunlight. However, in many regions, sunlight exposure is sporadic and insufficient, especially during winter months or in areas with limited sunlight. Consequently, vitamin D is added to nearly all commercial milk at a ratio of 400 U.S.P. units per quart (0.95 liters). This fortification helps prevent vitamin D deficiency, which can lead to conditions such as rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.

Protein fortification is another crucial intervention, particularly in underdeveloped countries where protein malnutrition is prevalent. Protein concentrates, often derived from soybeans, are added to the diets of populations at risk. However, soybeans are incomplete proteins and require the addition of essential amino acids they lack. This approach has been effective in combating protein-energy malnutrition, including kwashiorkor, a severe condition that affects children who do not consume enough protein.

Among minerals, iron has received significant attention as a food additive due to its role in preventing certain types of anemia. Iron fortification of foods such as bread and cereals helps ensure adequate intake, particularly in populations vulnerable to iron deficiency anemia, which can cause fatigue, weakness, and impaired cognitive function.

In conclusion, the addition of essential nutrients to foods is a vital public health strategy. It compensates for nutrient losses during food processing and addresses dietary deficiencies caused by improper eating habits. Fortification with vitamins, proteins, and minerals such as vitamin D, protein concentrates, and iron plays a critical role in enhancing the nutritional quality of foods and promoting overall health and well-being.
Enhancing Nutrition Through Food Fortification

Iron as food additive

Iron has many different roles in the body. About 65 to 80 percent of the body’s iron is in the blood in the form of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein in red blood cells that transports oxygen to tissues in the body. Myoglobin, the compound that carries oxygen to the muscle cells, also requires iron.

Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency disorder in the world, affecting more than two billion people, mostly infants, children and women of childbearing age. In general, iron deficiency symptoms are attributed due to an insufficient supply of iron to the tissues, and probably not to lowered hemoglobin level.

Fortification of foods with iron has been a commonly used strategy to combat iron deficiency throughout the world and it is the most sustainable, convenient, and cost-effective tool for its management.

A number of foods have been effectively fortified with iron, including salt, sugar, curry powder, and fish sauce. Milk, dried milk, and various milk-derived foods have been fortified with iron in South America. Iron-fortified baby food is a great tool to effectively control iron deficiency anemia.

Cereal flours (wheat and maize) are currently the most common vehicles for iron fortification to reach the general population.
Iron as food additive

Nutritional value of food can be improved and maintained by additives

The use of additives can enhance the nutritive value of food. Food additives are utilized for the purpose of restoring nutrients lost or degraded during production, fortifying or enriching certain foods in order to correct dietary deficiencies, or adding nutrients to food substitutes.

Additive such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids and amino acids derivatives are utilized to increase the nutritive value of food. Vitamins and minerals are added to many common foods such as milk, flour, cereal and margarine to make up for those likely to be lacking in a person’s diet or lost in processing. When foods are processed, there may be loss of some nutrients and additives may be added to restore the original value.

A particular diet may also require the use of thickening agents, emulsifiers, sweeteners, etc. The fortification of foods began in 1924 when iodine was added to table salt for the prevention of goitre. Vitamins are commonly added to many foods in order to enrich their nutritional value. They help to increase the shelf life of the food by maintaining product consistency, wholesomeness and freshness.
Nutritional value of food can be improved and maintained by additives

Vitamin D as food additive

Many foods contain added vitamins and minerals that might not be in a person’s diet or that have been destroyed or lost in processing. Common nutritional additives include vitamin D in milk, vitamin A in margarine, vitamin C in fruit drinks, and iodine in salt.

Vitamin D is a nutrient found in some foods that is needed for health and to maintain strong bones. It does so by helping the body absorb calcium (one of bone’s main building blocks) from food and supplements.

The main sources of natural vitamin D are fatty fish, such as salmon, mackerel or tuna, mushrooms and also egg yolks. Vitamin D can also be obtained from food fortified with vitamin D, such as cereal products, bakery products, baby food, butter, and margarine. The most commonly used vehicles for vitamin D fortification are dairy products (milk, cheese and yogurt). Bread fortified with vitamin D could serve as a good source of vitamin D due to its common consumption.

Such fortification has helped prevent nutritional deficiency diseases that were once common, such as rickets (due to deficiency of vitamin D).
Vitamin D as food additive