Fortified foods are everywhere from breakfast cereal, flour, orange juice... and now even designer beverages. But are all fortified foods created equal? And can you utilize all the nutritional benefits the labels claim? This short article takes a look at some of the issues and how they relate to nutrition.

The article mentions Vitamin D and and the virtues of milk (and orange juice) fortification but passes over some basic information. e.g. It takes quite a few glasses of milk to absorb enough Vitamin D to meet the minimum levels recommended. Yet noteworthy is that light skinned people can produce all the Vitamin D they need from a little natural sunlight exposure (those with darker skin take a little longer). Yet if you are using sunscreen, in your car with your windows up, or in a room with sunlight passing through windows your body won't be able to generate much Vitamin D. Getting enough Vitamin D is important, especially for absorption and regulation of Calcium, but it is also one of the easiest Vitamins to get--and for free! So while milk fortification is a good thing there are other, easier, and natural ways to get Vitamin D and avoid all the nasty conditions a deficiency can cause. Interestingly Vitamin C is naturally produced by most mammals naturally, humans being one of the exceptions.

Have you ever wondered why store bought foods frequently contain non-food sounding chemicals? Well wonder no longer! Taking aim at the infamous Hostess Twinkie (shelf life 100 years as the rumor goes) Hudson Street Press has released a new book Twinkie, Decontructed by Steve Ettlinger (304 pages, you can pre-order from Amazon.com for $16.29). Newsweek's Health section has a neat interview with Ettlinger about his new book. Here are some snippets from the article (which you can read online).

At the heart of the book is the fundamental question: why is it you can bake a cake at home with as few as six ingredients, but Twinkies require 39? And why do many of them seem to bear so little resemblance to actual food? The answer: To stay fresh on a grocery-store shelf, Twinkies can't contain anything that might spoil, like milk, cream or butter. Once you remove such real ingredients, something has to take their place—and cellulose gum, lecithin and sodium stearoyl lactylate are a good start. Add the fact that industrial quantities of batter have to pump easily through automated tubes into cake molds, and you begin to get the idea.

Even so, it can be unsettling to learn just how closely the basic ingredients in processed foods resemble industrial materials. Corn dextrin, a common thickener, is also the glue on postage stamps and envelopes. Ferrous sulfate, the iron supplement in enriched flour and vitamin pills, is used as a disinfectant and weedkiller. Is this cause for concern? Ettlinger says no, though you wouldn't want a diet that consists solely of Twinkies. Ultimately, all food, natural and otherwise, is composed of chemical compounds—and normal ingredients like salt have industrial applications, too. Still, it gives you pause when he describes calcium sulfate, a dough conditioner, as "food-grade plaster of Paris."

Quite interesting stuff. I am tempted to pick this book up!

The AP is reporting (via MSNBC) on a new study that indicates that the right types of cocoa, high in the antioxidants known as flavanols, may increase bloodflow to the brain. Yet another reason to indulge in some after dinner chocolate! ;)

One potential source of help may be flavanols, an antioxidant found in cocoa beans that can increase blood flow to the brain, researchers said Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Ian MacDonald of England’s University of Nottingham reported on tests given to young women who were asked to do a complex task while their brains were being studied with magnetic resonance imaging.

Among the women given drinks of cocoa high in flavanols, there was a significant increase in blood flow to the brain compared with subjects who did not drink the cocoa, he said.

The researchers do warn not to “overdo” your chocolate intake to increase cocoa consumption. Most chocolate is high in fat and calories, and most commercial cocoa is low in flavanols which are typically removed due to the bitter taste they depart.

From MSNBC.com:

Vegetables are a good substitution for other foods. They're filling and full of fiber and nutrition, but have relatively few calories. "It’s important for people to feel full and satisfied and vegetables can accomplish that," says Taub-Dix.

Some good tips in the article, especially about not changing your healthy practices when you goal comes into view. One of the nice things about the article is that it doesn't suggest fad diets or necessarily focus on "weight loss" but about how to healthily achieve your weight goals and offer up some good suggestions.

We have found vegetables, as they mention, to be very filling as well as tasting great :) And space consumed by veggies... is space where cheesecake cannot fill!

One thing they don't mention, though, is that it is important not to be obsessed with a number, but looking holistically at your health. Losing weight at any cost, even if it means muscle, isn't a good approach to health! Weight is just one barometer of good health.

From MSNBC.com:

Antioxidants are well-established as an important part of how healthful eating can lower our risk of heart disease and cancer, and possibly other conditions that can develop as we age. They're also frequently discussed in relation to vitamins C and E, and perhaps other plant compounds such as beta-carotene. However, fruits and vegetables also provide flavonoids, a large group of compounds that are all antioxidants.

The antioxidant power of flavonoids is one reason that apples are again in the spotlight. Apples contain only modest amounts of vitamin C. A medium apple averages about 6 milligrams of vitamin C, not much compared to the recommended daily intake of 75 to 90 milligrams for adults. But scientists have now calculated the antioxidant power of that apple is equal to more than 1,500 milligrams of vitamin C. The vast majority of its antioxidants come from flavonoids.

This is a neat entry by MSNBC. It provides some good details about the specific benefits of the many common vitamins and nutrients found in apples. But what really stuck out to me was they also demonstrate the immense value of 'real' foods beyond the core list of nutrients found in the USDRA labels. For example I didn't know apples contained pectin, a water soluble fiber, that is known to help lower cholesterol.

Articles like this always get me pondering the constrast between natural foods and fortified foods and how there is more to food than merely what is on the label.