Fortified Foods Make Us UN-Healthier? Here’s what the study says.

Posted On March 21, 2011

Let’s just say that you have a hand full of sugar and synthetic dyes. This, of course, is awful for your health. Don’t eat that.

But then, what if you dissolved a multi-vitamin in it (which, on its own, abstracted from the context of food, does little to boost health)? This strategy turns out to be healthy, but not for you. It’s very healthy as a marketing tactic.

This study from the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition argues that nutrient intakes would actually decrease as a result of consuming foods slated for discretionary fortification. That’s because consumers would reduce intake of foods like vegetables and fruit, meat and alternatives, milk products.

Discretionary fortification has been allowed in the US since the early 1990s as well as Europe. However, according to the Canadian researchers, the potential implications of such a practice for the health of a population “have been the subject of little research”. What studies have been done have indicated a positive impact on nutrient intakes, they noted.

The new paper adds to a previous article by Sacco and Tarasuk published in theJournal of Nutrition in 2009 (Vol. 139, No. 10, pp. 1980-1986). That article described Health Canada’s proposed discretionary fortification policy as being“misaligned with the nutritional needs of Canadians”.

The more “fortifiable foods” there are, the less fruits and veggies get eaten.

An inverse association between fortifiable food intakes and the number of servings of foods like fruit and vegetables, dairy products, and meat was observed for most age and gender groups. These inverse associations also extended to vitamins A, D, B6 and B12, potassium, magnesium, zinc, and fiber, report the researchers.

What does this mean?

The only reason processed food products are eligible for fortification in the first place are because there’s nothing of redeeming nutritive value in them to start with!! The only “fortified” foods you need to be eating are those that come out of the ground that way.

“Therefore, Health Canada’s proposed discretionary fortification policy is at odds with national dietary recommendations,” they wrote.

Source: European Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Discretionary fortification may ‘discourage healthier eating’: Study