Fortification of industrialized foods with vitamins

• Autor(a) principal: Coelho LIBERATO, Selma
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: PINHEIRO-SANT’ANA, Helena Maria
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista de Nutrição
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.puc-campinas.edu.br/nutricao/article/view/9783
• topic: food; fortified; food habits; vitaminas; alimentos fortificados; hábitos alimentares

Vitamins are essential to life. Inadequate eating habits, high caloric intake and metabolic defects lead tomicronutrient deficiencies, affecting more than two billion people worldwide. The increasing intake ofindustrialized foods, combined with low vitamin stability has led to the common practice of adding thesenutrients to processed foods. This review discusses the terminology, availability, intake and risk ofhypervitaminosis, due to the intake and nutritional importance of foods fortified with vitamins. The additionof nutrients should occur in foods that are effectively consumed by the target population and must meet thereal needs of a significant segment of the population. In Brazil, a total of 166 products available in supermarketsare vitamin-enriched. A 10-year study involving children and adolescents in Germany showed that 90% ofthose surveyed used at least one fortified food. During this 10-year period, 472 fortified products wereconsumed. The enrichment of foods should be based on the needs of each country and, if possible, regionalneeds. For instance, in order to increase its intake, Vitamin D is added to foods in Denmark during the winter,mainly for the elderly. However, in Brazil, there is no evidence of the need to fortify food with this vitamin. Asurvey showed that of the 76 enriched dairy products, 37 contained vitamin D. Food-fortification is a veryimportant strategy to solve nutritional deficiency problems, but it can also cause many health problems.