Republished with permission from the Food Safety Network,
www.foodsafetynetwork.ca
, October 15, 2003, Source: The Record (Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo), Kathy Lepp
Q: Some of the food I buy contains a long list of vitamins and minerals. Why are some nutrients added to my food? How can I be sure I'm getting the right amounts?
A: Our bodies need vitamins and minerals in the right amounts to survive and function well. Too few essential nutrients can lead to nutritional deficiency diseases. Yet too many can harm your health. For example, too little calcium can lead to osteoporosis (fragile bones that break easily), while too much calcium can lead to kidney problems.
Food is a natural source of essential nutrients. In some cases, additional vitamins and minerals are added to certain foods through fortification.
Health Canada is responsible for regulating the amounts of these nutrients. This regulation ranges from requiring the addition of some vitamins and minerals in specific foods, to allowing fortification of certain foods for special purposes.
Mandatory food fortification is used to prevent nutritional deficiencies. This ensures that Canadians receive adequate amounts of nutrients that are likely to be deficient in the diets of many people. For example, vitamin D has been added to milk since the late 1960s to address generally low levels of this nutrient in the diet of Canadians. As a result, almost no children in Canada today suffer from the disease rickets, which causes bowed legs.
In 1998, it became mandatory to add folic acid to flour. This regulation was passed in response to strong evidence that folic acid decreases the risk of neural tube defects in babies. Other examples of nutrients added to foods as part of mandatory fortification include vitamin A in margarine, and thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and iron in flour.
Mandatory food fortification has proven successful in greatly reducing nutritional deficiencies such as goiter and rickets in Canada. These conditions still exist as major public health problems in other countries of the world without mandatory fortification programs.
On the other end of the spectrum of fortification, Health Canada also permits a limited number of foods to be fortified for special purposes. These foods are intended for specific types of people whose nutrient needs are different from the general population. For example, drinks can be sold as meal replacements intended for people who are too sick to eat regular meals. Nutritional supplements are sold as energy bars intended for high- performance athletes. These foods are not intended for the general public and most of us do not need them. Why drink a meal replacement when you can enjoy a real meal?
Regular, everyday food is always the best source of nutrients for those in good health. It's nearly impossible to eat too much of any one nutrient from food, especially when eating a variety of foods. It's always a good idea to ask yourself whether you really need those extra nutrients, or if that special food might just be a waste of money. Or worse yet, whether it might provide too much of a good thing.
Health Canada is proposing changes to its fortification policies to allow a wider range of fortified foods. For more information about food fortification go to www.hc-sc.gc.ca/food-aliment/ns-sc/ne-en/nq-qn/e_facts_sheet.html or e- mail [email protected] with your questions. If you are concerned about the level of nutrients in your diet, speak to a registered dietitian.
To receive a list of registered dietitians in private practice in Waterloo Region, contact Region of Waterloo Public Health at 883-2374 or send an email to [email protected].
Registered dietitian Kathy Lepp is with Region of Waterloo Public Health; call 883-2000.
If you have a question or comment about this e-newsletter, please contact Mary Tevis at: [email protected].
Visit Citizens for Health, the Consumer Voice for Natural Health, at www.citizens.org.
Copyright 2003 NOW Foods
