Should essential foodstuffs be fortified?

[ollie989898]

Folic acid to be added to non-wholemeal flour under new UK rules

Fortification of flour is a public health policy known to reduce neural tube defects in babies

www.theguardian.com

Folic acid is to be added to the most commonly consumed flours in the UK to help prevent spinal conditions in babies, the government has announced.

Doctors advise pregnant women to take folic acid supplements but, with about 50% of pregnancies in the UK being unplanned, many mothers-to-be may not be able to do this early enough.

I wonder what the forum make of this? Sounds ideal in practice but I wonder if this is further justifying how heavily processed some foods are? Should we include adding selenium to bread (thought to have a positive effect on preventing prostate cancer in men IIRC), or iron or other minerals/vitamins to basic foodstuffs, say milk, for example? It would undoubtedly be beneficial to a lot of children from poorer backgrounds? Or are people just not so keen on the idea of food being adulterated?

 

[Kidds]

In the olden days I would have said yes but not convinced as many people eat bread these days

 

[matthew]

I’m too old to get pregnant, so no.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

no, eat nutrient dense foods, otherwise it is used as a "flag" to show food with no inherent goodness is good for you!

 

[toquark]

Mixed feelings really, historically fortified foods have helped to improve the national diet considerably, but these were the days immediately post war when malnutrition was a genuine and widespread problem.

Today really, there’s no excuse beyond bad education which precludes eating well, food has never been cheaper, more available and people’s diet more broad. If people aren’t getting correct nutritional inputs then I feel the money would be better spent on educating them how to buy and cook nutritious meals from scratch.

Fortification seems like a bit of a cop out to me and doesn’t get to the root of the problem (if there is one).

 

[GeorgeK]

The government is clearly out of touch with the modern UK diet, it's mars bars, crisps and monster energy that need fortifying. Should probably do cocaine and vape liquid too.

 

[Bald Rick]

The Sainted Isle was part of a trial to fluoridate water back in the 80s (IIRC) to try and protect children’s teeth from decay.
Seems it was a success but it was dropped because of unwitting medication.
I understand that putting fluoride in to drinking water is being considered again

Fluoridation in Anglesey. A clinical study - PubMed

Fluoridation in Anglesey. A clinical study

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Latest Todayuknews & Updates - Todayuknews

todayuknews.com

 

[Exfarmer]

The Sainted Isle was part of a trial to fluoridate water back in the 80s (IIRC) to try and protect children’s teeth from decay.
Seems it was a success but it was dropped because of unwitting medication.
I understand that putting fluoride in to drinking water is being considered again

Fluoridation in Anglesey. A clinical study - PubMed

Fluoridation in Anglesey. A clinical study

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Latest Todayuknews & Updates - Todayuknews

todayuknews.com

Apparently flouridisation lost its drive when a toothless woman in Scotland won a battle against the water authority as the WA could not prove they were supplying a wholesome product.
She with the backing of some serious weirdos, argued successfully that the fluoride was not suitable for her, even though if she had it as a child it would have virtually certainly saved her grin.
The case cost millions, since then no progress has been made, I will be very pleased if Boris wins this one!

 

[DaveGrohl]

The government is clearly out of touch with the modern UK diet, it's mars bars, crisps and monster energy that need fortifying. Should probably do cocaine and vape liquid too.

Mixed feelings here too. Your post is worryingly near the truth. I think most people do eat a fair bit of bread or products made from flour. Maybe it could be added to durum wheat to fortify pasta, you'd cover a huge % of the population then all told, inc the vegans (although I'm not sure we should be thinking of ways to keep them in the gene pool tbh).

On balance I would be slightly in favour, as the group of people who generally are aware of how to eat properly probably aren't eating cr@p all day and therefore don't need addititional nutrients, but the group who do eat cr@p really could do with some hidden help. Trouble is you then get big labels saying added nutrients. Like we haven't got enough of those type of wrong-headed labels already. In this case I'll go yeah.

 

[Farmer Roy]

Err, table salt has had iodine added to it here since maybe the 50’s to help prevent thyroid conditions

im pretty sure bread has had folic acid added for a long time to

most water supplies are fluoridated

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Mixed feelings here too. Your post is worryingly near the truth. Imthink most people do eat a fair bit of bread or products made from flour. Maybe it could be added to durum wheat to fortify pasta, you'd cover a huge % of the population then all told, inc the vegans (although I'm not sure we should be thinking of ways to keep them in the gene pool tbh).

On balance I would be slightly in favour, as the group of people who generally are aware of how to eat properly probably aren't eating cr@p all day and therefore don't need addititional nutrients, but the group who do eat cr@p really could do with some hidden help. Trouble is you then get big labels saying added nutrients. Like we haven't got enough of those type of wrong-headed labels already. In this case I'll go yeah.

Already big labels on ultra processed food, saying low in fat, low in salt (so therefore healthy) giving the impression it is a wholesome food, I can see the same with added stuff, "enhanced with added *******", far better to tell everyone what is healthy, and what is not, then ultimately it has to be up to them what they eat, but only if the playing field is level and not tilted towards sugar/carb rich nutrient deficient foods. If we want to do anything as a country to improve health and diet, sugar tax that is hypothecated to NHS and Health (as it is there that the costs of high sugar diets are found).

 

[DaveGrohl]

Already big labels on ultra processed food, saying low in fat, low in salt (so therefore healthy) giving the impression it is a wholesome food, I can see the same with added stuff, "enhanced with added *******", far better to tell everyone what is healthy, and what is not, then ultimately it has to be up to them what they eat, but only if the playing field is level and not tilted towards sugar/carb rich nutrient deficient foods. If we want to do anything as a country to improve health and diet, sugar tax that is hypothecated to NHS and Health (as it is there that the costs of high sugar diets are found).

Indeed, that's what I was referring to in my post, possibly I wasn't clear enough? I'm in total agreement but you're talking about turning a supertanker that has a huge head of steam, which is why I went for yes on this particular occasion.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Already big labels on ultra processed food, saying low in fat, low in salt (so therefore healthy) giving the impression it is a wholesome food, I can see the same with added stuff, "enhanced with added *******", far better to tell everyone what is healthy, and what is not, then ultimately it has to be up to them what they eat, but only if the playing field is level and not tilted towards sugar/carb rich nutrient deficient foods. If we want to do anything as a country to improve health and diet, sugar tax that is hypothecated to NHS and Health (as it is there that the costs of high sugar diets are found).

I did labelling laws are all about marketing, not health info. They've been deeply "got at" by the corporate food lobby.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Indeed, that's what I was referring to in my post, possibly I wasn't clear enough? I'm in total agreement but you're talking about turning a supertanker that has a huge head of steam, which is why I went for yes on this particular occasion.

Probably better to fortify than not for the overall social benefit but it's indicative of our broken food system, starting with a government "Eatwell plate" that is intrinsically unhealthy.

If our food education, supply and consumption was open, honest and informed it wouldn't be necessary.

 

[Farmer Roy]

err, our soils / environment apparently very low in iodine, so it wasnt really about eating healthy or about processed food, we just werent getting enough of it in our diet

in the 70's it used to be quite common to see middle aged women with swollen thyroids or scars on their necks - never see it anymore . . .