Food Fortification (and why it is important)

Food fortification or enrichment is a process where food items that don't normally have certain nutrients or vitamins have them implanted in or placed in through a number of different processes.

 

For example: milk naturally contains Calcium, but doesn't contain Vitamin D, which is a rather rare naturally occurring vitamin in edible items (i.e. meats, vegetables, etc.). Vitamin D is proven to help with the absorption of Calcium into bone so it only made sense to fortify milk (rich in Calcium) with Vitamin D. 

The same ideology works with a lot of other foods too where certain Nutrients and Vitamins positively interact with each other for the consumer's benefit.

There are drawbacks of course with changing how natural foods are, there always is. Like genetically modified corn - it's only been around for a short span of time and as a whole people don't know what kinds of affects it'll have on the human body over a long period of time.

You just have to pick and choose items, not everything has to be fortified - and partially it's for marketing purposes aimed at costing you more money for things you don't need. If you drink milk or eat cheese you probably don't need to buy orange juice that has been fortified with extra Calcium.

One of the main reasons fortifying has become so popular among the food industry, especially in the U.S. is to allow for some semblance of dietary equilibrium among a wide variety of socio-economic groups. Not everyone can afford to have a balanced meal, but they have access to fortified cheeses, juices and other items that can offer some of the balance their diet needs in terms of Nutritional requirements.

*Now the real meat and potatoes (no puns intended) part of this post is for stocking up on important items that can offer you a balanced day to day existence without having a lot of extra "stuff" taking up room.

For example:

Pop-Tarts - I know they're not exactly the staple of healthy foods, but they can act as a good supplementary item if you don't have the ability to sit down and eat a full meal. In terms of fortification they have 10% of each of the following: Vitamin A, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folic Acid, Iron and Vitamin B6.
Cambell's Low Sodium Chunky Vegetable Beef Soup - Good to have canned soups in stock this specific one has less of a variety of nutrients, but a lot of some: Vitamin A (80%), Calcium (4%) and Iron (4%).

What it comes down to is stock up on items you wouldn't mind eating a lot of while also giving yourself Nutrients and Vitamins that you would only get properly from fresh or refrigerated food stuffs that may not be available in the future. Things like SPAM are good backups, but they don't really offer much in the way any nutritional value, just sustenance to keep you going. Learn to read the Nutritional Facts on the backs of foods in the grocery store and you'll be much better off than most people.

There is a lot of literature out there on the pros and cons of fortified foods vs natural foods vs vitamin supplements or even a moderated combination of all of them.

My opinion is that moderation of all three is the best, nothing in excess, but find a balance of different food types that contain different things that your body needs.