Fortification is defined as, the adding of essential vitamins and trace elements to food. One of the first foods to be fortified in the United States, was wheat flour; which is still practiced today. Although the practice is no longer revolutionary, fortification of wheat flour is one of the topics growing worldwide that not very many people know about. For that purpose, this paper touches on the origin, what affects the basis, and requirements of wheat flour fortification in the United States.
The first fortification of flour became possible in 1935, when chemist Robert R. Williams established a method to synthesize thiamin and vitamin B. Throughout early 19th century America, vitamin B and thiamin deficiencies were high, resulting in roughly 17,000 deaths between beriberi and pellagra in 1928 (Bishai and Nalubola, 2002). The alarming rate of illness and mortality, caused by a deficient amount of nutrients and vitamins in their diet, forced Americans to find a solution by adding
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For instance, a kernel of wheat naturally has nutrients that are vital for growth and development in humans, but some of the nutrients are lost during the milling processing. When removing flour from the rest of the milling by-products, it loses almost 7.2 mg of the iron present (Nystrom and Maberly, 2006). Other essential vitamins are also diminished during the milling process. Not only are nutrients diminished during the processing, but not all the nutrients in the flour, after the milling process, are bioavailable, meaning humans cannot absorb those nutrients completely (Nystrom and Maberly, 2006). This means, an average person can consume large amounts of wheat products without ever reaching most of his daily requirements of vitamins and nutrients, such as iron and thiamine (Nystrom and Maberly, 2006). This helps define the phenomenon of hidden
I find that the delayed response to fortify foods with folic acid was due to two factors including the potential adverse health effects as well as deciding what the best way would be to improving the folic acid levels in childbearing women. One example includes the animal studies showing that of high doses of folic acid resulted in conflicting results. Following this study resulted in controlled studies, evaluating the effects of the potential for a higher risk of cancer. However, following these studies, the SCAN reported with the statement,” the evidence for an association between folic acid and increased or reduced cancer risk is equivocal” (p. 360). In addition to the SCAN study on increase risk of cancer, there was also the concern of fortification of folic acid on the elderly population. Overall, I find that for a great period of time the concern of adverse effects caused further studies to be conducted and ultimately delaying the onset of the fortification of folic acid. Aside from adverse health effect, I find that the U.K also struggled to determine the best approach to implementing folic acid. With this, the U.K had narrowed down 4 options. Overall, the final decision was to implement a mandatory fortification of flour products in
Michael Pollan, an American author, journalist, activist, and professor of journalism at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism (Michael Pollan), writes in his book In Defense of Food, the dangers of nutritionism and how to escape the Western diet and subsequently most of the chronic diseases the diet imparts. In the chapter “Nutritionism Defined” Pollan defines the term nutritionism. Pollan’s main assertion being how the ideology of nutritionism defines food as the sum of its nutrients, and from this viewpoint Pollan goes on to write how nutritionism divides food into two categories, with each macronutrient divided against each other as either bad or good nutrients, in a bid for focus of our food fears and enthusiasms. Finally, Pollan concludes that with the relentless focus nutritionism places on nutrients and their interplay distinctions between foods become irrelevant and abandoned.
Agnes was, “the first to demonstrate that a commonly used food preservative, sulfur dioxide, had a protective effect on vitamin C and a damaging effect on thiamin (King)”. She learned this by studying the vitamin content of many important California-grown foods, wheat, almonds, and walnuts, and the effects of processing them. She also was extremely interested in developing the conclusion of why there were so many low weight (underweight) children, and what the cause was driven from.
The Canadian Shield is a landform region that covers almost more than half of Canada, it was formed about 3 billion years ago and was formed by volcanic eruptions. The Canadian Shield has some of the world's oldest rocks and has a lot of trees, lakes and rivers, some things the Canadian Shield provides us with is minerals, water from hydroelectric power and trees. it is a medium populated area and the population is very scattered, most of the people live in the southern area.
For almost as long as civilizations began they have been fighting against each other. Often times these wars come down to who has the better military equipment. When one army creates an elite war machine another army is sure to soon copy or improve it. For example the U.S. Army Signal Corps purchased the first ever military aircraft in 1902 (Taylor). Two years later the Italians were also using aircrafts. The trebuchet catapult is no exception; it was one of the most destructive military machines of its time (Chevedden, 2000). A trebuchet works by using the energy of a falling counterweight to launch a projectile (Trebuchet). In this research paper I intend to explain the history and dynamics of a trebuchet catapult.
In the year 2010, the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead was released. In the film, Australian native Joe Cross has realized that his health is worsening very fast. So Cross finally decides that he will turn his life around by taking an extreme diet that will deprive him of macronutrients for 60 days. Macronutrients are nutrients found in foods other than fruits and vegetables. Micronutrients are those nutrients found in fruits and vegetables. Micronutrients provide minerals such as Vitamin A, Iodine, Iron, Folate, and Zinc. While the body does not need these in large amounts, they are essential to the body because they help develop disease prevention and promote well-being. Micronutrients are important to include
Nutritionism is the ideology that the nutritional value of a food is the sum of all its individual nutrients, vitamins, and other components. In the book, “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, he critiques scientists and government recommendations about their nutritional advice. Pollan presents a strong case pointing out the many flaws and problems that have risen over the years of following scientific studies and government related warnings on the proper amount of nutrients needed for a healthy diet. Pollan’s main point is introducing science into our food system has had more of a negative impact than a positive one, we should go back to eating more of a traditional diet. I believe food science has given us
It has been debated by varying scholars as to whether Caesar Augustus’ foreign policy to expand Rome’s empire had more to do with defensive imperialism as a response to encroaching threats, or rather, an aggressively, unprovoked move to claim hegemony over the known world. However, I would like to postulate in support of the former theory that in an attempt to restore and ensure long-lasting security to their empire, Augustus was forced to take proactive measures in order to preserve it. With territorial boundaries normally running along the rivers so as to provide a better defensive posture, he felt it necessary to expand the northern border to the river so as to secure their autonomy and position. Perhaps if he could establish a wide buffer
Nutrition is essential to human’s life, but still people need to take care the quantity and quality necessitated. Most research studies agreed the way e...
The effects of a vitamin or mineral deficiency on the body depend on the function of the particular nutrient lacking. For example, vitamin A is important for good vision, and severe deficiency of this vitamin may cause blindness. Because some vitamins and minerals have many functions, prolonged nutritional deficiencies can therefore have wide-ranging effects on health. Diets that lack a wide variety of foods may result in vitamin deficiency diseases. For example, in countries where people eat maize as the staple food and only few other foods, diets may lack niacin, a
Nutritionism is an ideology that believes that the nutrients in foods are the key to understanding them. Nutritionism believers are so focused on the nutrients that food contains that they forget about all other aspects of food. The problem is that consumers rely on packaging to tell them what nutrients a food provides, since nutrients cannot be obviously seen, and they rely on science to tell us what nutrients are good and which are “evil”.
Whitney, E., Debruyne, L. K., Pinna, K., & Rolfes, S. R. (2011). Nutrition for health and health
Each year without fail anywhere between 250,000 to 500,000 children go blind from Vitamin A Deficiency (VAD), more than half of those die within twelve months. To visualize this number think of Seattle, now imagine half or all of its population going blind. With a few dollars’ worth of food or supplements enriched in vitamin A this problem can be mollified. But getting fresh foods and vitamins to those with the greatest need has proven an insurmountable problem. Food Aid, while indeed lifesaving, is costly and does not fix the underlying problems in poor societies. To be truly secure people must have food independence, which is to say they must be able to grow their own food supply and not rely on outside markets. In countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, India and China the main food staple is rice. While rice is a valuable source of carbohydrates, once the rice is milled, and its outer layer shucked, it losses most of its nutritional value. Thirty years ago two German scientists, Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer set out to see if they could do something about making a better rice. What they came up with was genetically modified rice that was bright yellow because it was rich in β (beta)-carotene, and was called golden rice because of its sunny hue. But before the two scientists could pat themselves on the back for solving Vitamin A Deficiency, anti-GM (genetically modified) groups such as Greenpeace denounced the unnatural solution and swore that golden rice would never find its way to third world farmers. Twenty eight years and approximately 10,000,000 million deaths later golden rice has still not been able to escape the red tape and fear mongering of the First World. And while golden rice is not a cure all for world hunger,...
Nutrition is a basic necessity of life. Without a proper and well-balanced diet, it is difficult for any being, regardless of species, to survive. Unlike that of primates such as the great apes, the human diet is more full of calories and nutrients. Humans have a great understanding of what types of food are necessary to maintain good health. It is difficult to tell when the eating habits of Homo sapiens split apart from the eating habits of these other primates. Yet, one fact is certain. As human evolution continues to progress, the human diet also continues to evolve.
Nutrition is an important part of human existence. In the U.S., the food industry is a