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*
Food Science and Nutrition Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407;
Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003; and
**
ENVIRON International Corporation, Arlington, VA 22203
2To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lberner{at}calpoly.edu
| ABSTRACT |
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1 y based on respondents (n = 11,710)
with 3 d of dietary data, as well as select age/gender subgroups.
All data were weighted. Fortification substantially increased the
intakes of all nutrients examined except calcium, in all age/gender
groups but especially in children. In numerous cases, fortification was
responsible for boosting median or 25th percentile intakes from below
to above the RDA. The breakfast cereal category was responsible for
nearly all the intake of nutrients from fortified foods, except vitamin
C for which juice-type beverages made as great or a greater
contribution. These data from 1989 to 1991 serve as a useful baseline
with which to compare contributions of fortification as the practice
expands. The large contribution of fortification even in 19891991
suggests that continued monitoring of fortification practices, using
methods such as those presented here, is important.
KEY WORDS: fortification dietary nutrient intakes CSFII 19891991
| INTRODUCTION |
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National policy for enrichment of flour was established > 50 y ago, and today there are standards of identity for a variety of foods
with added nutrients (such as flour, pasta, rice, milk and salt). For
most fortified foods, however, manufacturers are guided only by general
principles set forth for the addition of nutrients to food. The current
Fortification Policy of the Food and Drug Administration, detailed in
21CFR104 Subpart B, can be summarized in part as follows: 1)
there should be a documented need for adding the nutrient;
2) the food to be fortified should be a suitable vehicle to
help correct a dietary insufficiency; 3) the nutrient should
not be present at excessive levels; 4) the nutrient should
be stable under customary conditions of storage, distribution and use;
and 5) the nutrient should be bioavailable. Although the
original intent of adding nutrients to foods was to address widespread
nutrient deficiencies, the picture is different now because many of the
formerly epidemic nutrient deficiencies, such as iodine and niacin, are
no longer common in the United States (at least in part because of the
success of enrichment/fortification programs). At the same time,
suboptimal intakes of other nutrients, such as calcium and folic acid,
seem to be widespread (2
3
4)
. In addition, our focus has
shifted from prevention of classic nutrient deficiency diseases to
optimization of nutrient intakes for prevention of chronic disease and
for overall health and well being (5)
, although the
appropriate nutrient intakes to achieve these outcomes are often
unknown.
Nevertheless, enrichment and fortification have been and will continue
to be important means to improve the nutrient intakes of a wide
cross-section of the population (1
,6)
. To make good
judgments on the benefits of current fortification practices and the
opportunities for fortification in the future, it is important to
assess how fortified foods contribute to nutrient intakes across the
population. In the past, researchers have reported on the impact of
adding nutrients to grain products. For example, Cook and Welsh
(7)
reported that based on the 19771978 Nationwide Food
Consumption Survey of the U. S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA),3
cereal grains enrichment and fortification accounted for 1832% of
the intakes of thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and iron. Enriched flours
accounted for approximately two-thirds of the added nutrients,
while breakfast cereals contributed approximately one-fifth of the
added nutrients at that time. Popkin et al. (6)
used the
same data and found that enrichment and fortification of cereal foods
impacted nutrient intakes across sociodemographic categories. Subar et
al. (8)
reported that ready-to-eat cereals were among the
top 10 food sources for 18 of 27 nutrients that they studied,
presumably due to fortification, in the diets of U. S. adults from
1989 to 1991. Years earlier, Block et al. (9)
reported
that cold cereals were among the top 10 contributors to vitamin A,
thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and ironagain, presumably due to
fortification. However, these research groups did not report on the
specific contributions of fortification versus naturally occurring
nutrients from foods. Moreover, we could find no published research on
the specific contributions of fortification to a wide range of
nutrients and from a variety of food categories. Therefore, the purpose
of the study reported here was to quantify the contribution of
fortification per se (i.e., the addition of nutrients beyond the
traditional enrichment nutrient levels that are part of the standards
of identity for numerous foods) to dietary nutrient intakes in the
U. S. population.
| METHODS |
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Food consumption data source.
For this project, food consumption data from the 19891991 CSFII were
used, as provided on CD by the National Technical Information Service
(Springfield, VA) (10)
. The CSFII results included 3 d of dietary intake data for 11,710 noninstutitionalized people ages
1 y living in the United States, based on one 24-h recall
conducted by a trained interviewer and two subsequent days of intake
from respondent dietary records. Only respondents with three full days
of intake were used for this study. Combined 3-y data were used, and
USDA sampling weights were applied so that the data can be considered
representative of the U. S. population at the time of the survey.
The CSFII 19891991 survey has been described in detail elsewhere
(10)
.
Categories of fortified foods examined.
The first step in these analyses was to identify fortified foods to be
examined for their contributions to nutrient intakes. Here, the
definition of fortified means addition of nutrients to foods beyond
levels specified in standards of identity for enriched foods. In other
words, for this study, products such as enriched flour, bread, rice,
pasta and milk were not considered fortified because the nutrients
added to them are part of enrichment or other regulations. Food codes
used during the 19891991 CSFII were reviewed to see what fortified
foods were included. Table 1
summarizes the four main categories of fortified foods identified for
this study. There were 183 different USDA food codes in the breakfast
cereal category; 38 different codes for vitamin- and
mineral-fortified drinks; 21 codes for meal replacements and
supplements; and 4 codes for calcium-fortified beverages. In total,
246 different USDA food codes were included as fortified foods for the
purpose of this study.
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Total nutrient intakes of nine different nutrients (vitamin A, vitamin
C, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, calcium, iron and zinc) for 16
population subgroups (children: 13, 46 and 710; men: 1114,
1518, 1924, 2550, 5169 and
70 y; women in the same
age groups; and the population total) were determined. Nutrient data
were from the USDA Nutrient Data Base for Nationwide Surveys, Release
7. Some nutrients (such as vitamin E) were not included simply because
they were not typically added to foods at the time of the survey.
We have called these nutrient intakes the postfortification nutrient
levels, and they represent the estimated intakes based on the three
full days of intake data for each respondent to the 19891991 CSFII.
In other words, postfortification nutrient levels include the naturally
occurring nutrients in foods and any nutrients added during processing.
Data are presented both as the absolute amount of the nutrient in the
diet (e.g., µg retinol equivalents for vitamin A or mg for vitamin C)
and as the percentage of the RDA for the given population subgroup. For
this project, the 1989 RDA values (11)
were used because
these were in effect at the time that the survey and analyses were
carried out.
Postfortification nutrient intakes were also determined for the subsets
of individuals who consumed one or more of the fortified foods from the
categories in Table 1
over the 3-d survey. These people will be
referred to as users of fortified foods.
Determination of theoretical prefortification nutrient intakes from the diet.
To know how much fortification per se contributed to nutrient intakes,
it was necessary to calculate prefortification nutrient levels in the
foods identified in Table 1
. ILSI-NA, working with key individuals
in the food industry, provided ENVIRON with industry data on
prefortification nutrient levels in most of the relevant foods reported
as having been consumed by CSFII respondents. For example, ENVIRON
provided a breakfast cereal manufacturer with USDA Release 7 data for
all nutrients in a defined amount of cereal X. The manufacturer then
provided ENVIRON with the prefortification level of any relevant
nutrients in the specific cereal X. Differences between the USDA
Release 7 data and the prefortification nutrient levels were assumed to
be due to fortification.
In a few cases in which no manufacturer data were available, the naturally occurring (i.e., prefortification) nutrient levels were estimated by using a similar product for which industry data were available. For example, USDA has a food code for generic corn flakes; if the code for generic corn flakes was recorded for a CSFII respondent, the prefortification nutrient concentrations in brand name corn flakes were entered instead (with a coded notation that the nutrient levels for the generic cereal had been imputed based on a similar product), because manufacturer data on the prefortification nutrient levels were available only for the brand name cereal.
As for the postfortification nutrient data, the prefortification data
are presented both as the absolute amount of the nutrient (e.g., µg
retinol equivalents for vitamin A or mg for vitamin C) and as the
percentage of the RDA for the given population subgroup. Again, the
1989 RDA values were used (11)
.
Contribution of fortified foods to nutrient intakes.
Nutrient contributions specifically from each of the four categories of
fortified foods described earlier (and summarized in Table 1
) were
determined for the nine different nutrients and 16 population
subgroups. This analysis provides information on the main dietary
sources of fortification nutrients at the time of the survey.
Statistical analyses.
As mentioned, USDA sampling weights for the full 3-y CSFII survey were used. For each respondent, data represent the average of three full days of intake. For the total population and the age and gender subgroups, the mean nutrient intakes were determined, as well as the 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th and 95th percentiles of intake from the total diet postfortification and from the total diet prefortification. Here, we present only the 25th, 50th and 95th percentiles of nutrient intakes because of space limitations and because the data we include show both typical and extremes of intake during the 3-d survey. In addition, we present the contribution of fortified foods per se to intakes of nutrients among users of fortified foods. Finally, mean nutrient intakes from each of the four categories of fortified foods were calculated.
| RESULTS |
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1 y of age are shown in Table 2
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1520%. For folate and iron intakes at the 95th percentile,
however, the effect of fortification was greater, making intakes
35% higher than if fortification was not accounted for. Calcium
intake was not affected by fortification, and zinc intake was
influenced more modestly (
10%) than iron or vitamins.
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3138% doing so. Only
5% of the population consumed any
calcium-fortified foods, a finding that is likely very different
today. Consumption of foods fortified with zinc was much lower than for
vitamins and iron, with 16% of the total population using one or more
zinc-fortified foods over the 3 d.
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70 y old, the 95th
percentile of vitamin A intake from fortified foods alone was 1443
retinol equivalents, or nearly 150% of the RDA (data not shown). For
children, the 95th percentile of vitamin C intake from fortified foods
was
90 mg/d or approximately twice the 1989 RDA. Again in men
70 y old, the 95th percentile of iron intake from fortified
foods was > 26 mg, exceeding 250% of the RDA.
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| DISCUSSION |
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We should note that most analyses, including ours, only consider
nutrient levels in foods and cannot address issues like bioavailability
of naturally occurring versus fortification nutrients. In addition,
when these analyses were performed, the dietary folate equivalent
concept had not yet been articulated, and nutrient databases, such as
the USDA Nutrient Database, had not provided dietary folate equivalent
numbers. Suitor and Bailey (14)
recently addressed
this issue and cautioned that folate values for fortified foods are
underestimated using current databases. Thus, data such as ours
actually underestimate the contribution of fortification to food folate
values expressed as dietary folate equivalents. Recently, Malinow et
al. (15)
tested whether breakfast cereal fortified with
folic acid increased plasma folic acid and decreased homocysteine
levels in adults with coronary artery disease and found a modest effect
of folic acid at enrichment standard levels and a major impact when
folic acid was provided at
100150% of the RDA of 400 µg. This
published report goes a step beyond the consistent findings that cereal
fortification is effective in increasing nutrient intakes for
consumers.
Although it has been reported that fortified foods are consumed
across sociodemographic barriers (6)
, it is still somewhat
disconcerting that our data show that approximately one-fourth of
children and more than one-half of adults did not consume a
fortified food during the 3-d CSFII 19891991 survey. It is possible
that analysis of more recent data would reveal different consumption of
fortified foods than we report here.
To be safe and effective, fortification should reach populations in need and, at the same time, not contribute to excessive intakes. We assume that nutrient intakes from fortified foods presented in this article are underestimates of actual nutrient intakes from fortified foods over the 3-d survey, because most food composition data for fortified foods are based on label claims rather than on laboratory analyses. In other words, because regulations require that class I (added) nutrients be present at least at 100% of label claim, manufacturers need to add enough of a nutrient to ensure label compliance at the time of purchase. Food composition data only reflect the label claim amount, so the actual nutrient intakes are likely higher than what food composition data predict.
On the other hand, the 95th-percentile intakes reported here from
a 3-d survey are likely higher than the true long-term daily
intakes at the 95th percentile (5)
. Thus, there are two
possible limitationseach with opposite effectto using these data to
estimate extremes of exposures, and we cannot be absolutely certain the
extent to which we are underestimating nutrient exposure (because USDA
food composition data for fortified foods are largely based on label
claim and not analytical data) or overestimating usual 95th-percentile
exposures (because of the nature of variability in nutrient intakes).
Based on data presented in our article, dietary intakes for the
nutrients studied here seemed within safe limits at the time of the
survey.
The analyses presented here do not include intake of nutrients from
supplements, but USDA reports from the 19941996 CSFII indicate that
47% of the U. S. population are supplement users. Forty-seven
percent of children age 5 y and under, 42% of men 20 y and
over and 56% of women 20 y and over use vitamin/mineral
supplements of some kind (16)
. Subar and Bowering
(17)
reported that supplement use was unrelated to the use
of highly fortified foods, but the possibility of excessive intakes
among some subgroups of the population has not been explored fully.
Several studies over the past decade have shown that supplement users
are more likely to be women; to be older; and to have higher incomes,
more education and more nutrient-rich diets than nonusers
(18
19
20
21
22)
. It will be important to assess the intake of
fortified foods in these people and to characterize the vitamin/mineral
supplementation practices of heavy consumers of fortified products.
The data presented here confirm that fortification made a major
contribution to intakes of numerous vitamins and minerals for all age
and sex groups, but especially for children. In addition, the data can
serve as a useful baseline with which to compare contributions of
fortification as the practice expands. Several lines of research would
be fruitful to add to knowledge about fortified foods. First, because
the number and types of fortified foods have skyrocketed in recent
years, an analysis similar to the one reported here would be useful
with current data (and with new food categories, such as sport and
energy bars). We know that calcium-fortified foods are much more
widely available now than when these analyses were performed, but how
such foods contribute to total calcium intakes is not clear. Also of
interest would be an analysis of the demographics of fortified product
users. Popkin et al. (6)
indicated that use of enriched
and fortified products crossed socioeconomic lines back in the 1970s,
but there are no current analyses on a large cross-section of the
U. S. population. At the same time, several research groups have
shown that vitamin and mineral supplement use is more prevalent among
people with higher education levels, higher incomes and even better
diets, suggesting that supplement use may not be as effective a
strategy as fortification can be for reaching people in need. Finally,
the effects of establishing standards for the rational fortification or
enrichment of select commonly consumed foods should be examined for
nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin E, which are currently consumed
at low levels by many subgroups of the U. S. population but have
not been influenced to a great extent by fortification in the past.
| FOOTNOTES |
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3 Abbreviations used: CSFII, Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals; ILSI-NA, International Life Sciences
Institute-North America; USDA, U. S. Department of Agriculture. ![]()
Manuscript received February 8, 2001. Initial review completed March 29, 2001. Revision accepted May 15, 2001.
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