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.

The AP is reporting (via MSNBC) that food inspections by the FDA have dropped since 2003.

Between 2003 and 2006, FDA food safety inspections dropped 47 percent, according to a database analysis of federal records by The Associated Press.

...

Safety tests for U.S.-produced food have dropped nearly 75 percent, from 9,748 in 2003 to 2,455 last year, according to the agency’s own statistics.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the FDA, at the urging of Congress, increased the number of food inspectors and inspections amid fears that the nation’s food system was vulnerable to terrorists. Inspectors and inspections spiked in 2003, but now both have fallen enough to erase the gains.

Surpisingly, cases of food-borne illnesses were three times higher in 2003 (the peak of inspections) than the previous year.

News Target is reporting that the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has published an intresting study that indicated that breast-fed infants have better vision as young children than those who were not breast-fed.

Because scientists have previously hypothesized that chemical known as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) — found in higher concentrations in breast milk than in formula — enhances the vision of developing children, the researchers randomly added DHA to the formulas of some of the non-breast-fed children.

DHA is an omega-3 fatty acid that is added to many brands of infant formula, which are then marketed as being "closer" to breast milk. Some studies have suggested that children who consume formulas fortified with DHA have higher cognitive function than children who drink unfortified formula. However, these studies have not compared DHA-fortified formulas to breast milk itself.

The study found that the breast-fed children were significantly more likely to score higher on tests of stereo-acuity (depth perception) than the formula-fed ones. There was no significant difference in stereo-acuity between the formula-fed children who had received the DHA supplement and those who had not.

As interesting as the article is, the concluding paragraph summerizing past studies about breast-feeding is quite shocking:

Previous studies have linked consumption of infant formula to a higher risk of asthma, eczema and insulin-dependent diabetes, as well as higher rates of respiratory, intestinal, middle-ear and other bacterial infections. Breast-fed children have also been shown to have better cognitive development than their formula-fed peers.

Pretty amazing stuff that mommy's milk. Even more so when you consider it changes over time to adapt to the needs of the growing child.

Dole Fresh Fruit Company is recalling Cantaloupes due to a discovered Salmonella contamination. There have been no reported illnesses due to the contamination.

The Dole Fresh Fruit Co. recalled several thousand cartons of imported cantaloupes Friday after the fruit tested positive for salmonella.

The recall, which covers the Eastern United States and the Canadian province of Quebec, is the second sparked by salmonella fears this week.

It is nice to see this was caught before anyone got sick. A surprising stat in the article is that 40,000 people in the US are sickened by Salmonella each year, 600 of which die. Salmonella can cause diarrhea, fever, dehydration, abdominal pain and vomiting.

Warning! If you have purchased Peter Pan peanut butter or Great Value peanut butter (Walmart brand) check the product code as it may be contaminated with Salmonella. The contaminated jars have a product code of "2111" on the lid.

If you, or anyone you know, has ingested Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter and are manifesting flu like symptoms we urge you to see a doctor immediately.

Currently there have been hundreds of reported cases of Salmonella in 39 states linked to the contaminated peanut butter.

As of February 15th at 3PM EST, 290 persons with Salmonella Tennessee, the Salmonella type associated with this outbreak, have been reported to CDC from 39 states: Alaska (1), Alabama (9), Arkansas (3), Arizona (5), California (1), Colorado (10), Connecticut (2), Georgia (14), Iowa (6), Illinois (5), Indiana (13), Kansas (6), Kentucky (9), Massachusetts (5), Maryland (2), Maine (1), Michigan (5), Minnesota (5), Missouri (13), Mississippi (3), Montana (2), Nebraska (2), New Jersey (5), North Carolina (15), New Mexico (1), New York (32), Ohio (7), Oklahoma (10), Oregon (2), Pennsylvania (23), South Carolina (6), South Dakota (5), Tennessee (18), Texas (13), Virginia (17), Vermont (4), Washington (4), Wisconsin (5), and West Virginia (1). Among 185 patients for whom clinical information is available, 44 (24%) were hospitalized. There have been no reports of deaths attributed to this infection. Onset dates, which are known for 171 patients, ranged from August 1, 2006 to January 30, 2007.

Quite shocking that this has been an ongoing issue for 6 months before the culprit was identified. The ConAgra Foods site has continued news as well as information on refund options.

MSNBC.com is reporting that twisting of the intestines hsa been reported after babies received RotaTeq (by Merck) rotavirus shots.

The government warned doctors and parents Tuesday of reports of potentially life-threatening twisting of the intestines in infants vaccinated against a virus that is the leading cause of early childhood diarrhea.

The condition, called intussusception, is the same that led to the withdrawal of the first rotavirus vaccine eight years ago.

The Food and Drug Administration said it was unknown whether the recently approved vaccine, called RotaTeq, caused the 28 new cases. The condition also can occur spontaneously.

About 3.5 million doses have been shipped by Merck, although not all of the supply has been administered. According to the AP 2.7 million children are sickened by the rotavirus with 70,000 resulting in hospital visits. Sadly, there are 20-70 deaths each year from the virus.

From MSNBC.com:

The largest U.S. study of childhood autism to date has found that about 1 in 150 have the disorder — a higher prevalence than previous national estimates.

The autism rate was about 6.6 per 1,000 in the new study based on data from 2002. It was released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, the agency had estimated the rate was about 5.5 in 1,000.

The research involved an intense review of medical and school records for children in all or part of 14 states and gives the clearest picture yet of how common autism is in some parts of the country, CDC officials said. 

1 in 94 children in New Jersey have autism. That is very, very sad. It is shocking how fast the identified inceident rate has increased in the last couple decades. e.g. California has seen an increase of 273% in the last decade. 

As widely reported across the news last week, Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) has mandated that all 6th grade girls in Texas receive the controversial and expensive STD vaccine Gardasil that immunizes against a number of strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) that can cause cervical cancer and genital warts.

Bypassing the Legislature, Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed an order Friday making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.

By issuing an executive order, Perry apparently sidesteps opposition in the Legislature from conservatives and parents' rights groups who fear such a requirement would condone premarital sex and interfere with the way parents raise their children.

Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade meaning, generally, girls ages 11 and 12 will have to get Gardasil, Merck & Co.'s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

 Not surpisingly it has also turned up that Perry has quite a few connections with Merck, the maker of Gardasil.