FORTIFICATION
IN FOOD? WHO IS BENEFITTING?
Compiled by Ida Erasmus
Email:
ierasmus@can.com.na
P.O. Box 11529
Klein-Windhoek
Namibia
Cell:
+264 81 128 8502
Introduction
During July an advert by NAFIN was calling
for Nutrition Consultants to submit a donor-ready project proposal of the
fortification potential of Mahangu meal at the level of service mills in
Namibia.
The terms of reference must be obtained
from the Namibian Agronomic Board. I
have done so and realized that the requirement seems to be very International
for a local Nutritionist. However my
attention was drawn to the legal choices to make it compulsory.
It is known that our neighbor,
South-Africa’s fortification program is not correctly implemented as confirmed
by Prof. Dr. Richard Hurrel of Switzerland, during the bi-annual Nutrition
Congress of Southern Africa in Bloemfontein.
Are we busy with mass medication on national country health level or who
is really benefitting?
This draw my attention further towards
fortification in Namibia as I am an Industrial Nutritionist, Unregistered and
24 years of tough experience in the Industry.
Fortification can be good, if it is correctly applied to appropriate
target groups as many scientific studies can proof and for example not the
cheapest manufacturing iron, for this matter, is used. If not correctly applied, who is
benefitting, maybe the suppliers of these products? …. e.g. BASF reported on
their Food Navigator website, revenues to be 12.136 Billion Euro during a 9
month period, www.foodnavigator.com/Financial-Industry/Vitamin-price
-drops..... and Reference also of Mrs. Aileen
Robertson: WHO, Fortification of Food in
Europe.
Nevertheless, I would always advise Industry
to rather get involved with bio-availability of vitamins and nutrients in food
and food programs. See research articles on Orange Flesh Sweet Potato and
Indigenous and Traditional Foods in Swaziland. It is a long term and
sustainable solution project of which Dr. Paolo Stuter, Director of Nestle
Foundation, is willing to do with the University of Namibia or the Polytechnic
students.
The human body is an orchestra of
chemical compositions which act and react with each other and treat the
pharmaceutical drugs different from our biological food consumption. Would it be right to use food as a vehicle
for the extension of the pharmaceutical drug companies, who manufacture these
vitamins and minerals? We are having
illnesses and diseases, of which some cannot be pronounced, what to say heard
of by the lay man or consumer? e.g.
Irritable Bowel Disease, Colon Cancer, Digestive tract diseases, Diverticulitis,
Celiac Disease, Digestive Spasms, Spastic Colon, Ulcerative Colitis, Allergies,
Crohn’s Disease….
Mahangu or pearl millet is a “palatable
preference” crop to work with as during the industrial dry milling process
retains more nutrients than the traditional Namibian (steep then mill) process,
but the product may be less preferred by the consumer.
The traditional processing of pearl
millet, a steeping stage is included, which reduces the pH of the
flour. This contributes to
lightening color of the flour and the development of the sour taste
desired by consumers or development of lactic acid. (Mallet and Du Plessis, 2001)
(Stephen Barrion, MSc (Agric) Food Science, University of
Pretoria).
Fortifying
or enriching the millet with synthetic vitamins and minerals, e.g. iron, zinc,
folic acid, Vit A, B and C cause color changes and could affect the taste of
the end product. How does Industry remove those color changes? Bleaching?
Expensive industrial machines
have to be bought to specifically add these fortifications at a specific time
during the manufacturing process. Processing
or machines of which can cost N$ 1.6 million to implement.
It
is so that the University of Namibia, also tendered to do the fortification
process, but the Tender was awarded to the Mills.
During the 24th Nutrition Society Congress of Africa, which was held in Bloemfontein in October 2012, Prof. Dr. Richard Hurrell of the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich was very surprised to hear that Namibia implemented a Food Fortification Program without a proper National Nutritional Survey for Namibia. richard.hurrell@ilw.agrl.ethz.ch . The survey should state which nutrients the countries people are deficient of as we are fortifying now a whole nation or on national level, whilst our intention was to foreseen better health for a 9-12% malnourished figure. Could the question now be asked, what happens to the 88% on national level? Is our country not a democracy, where the majority rules? Under Nutrition/Malnourished children should be treated on a different level, not national level. They are mainly from very poor families. Most cannot even afford the so called fortified products. Are our obesity figures not higher than our malnourished figures, yes it is, +- 55% in Namibia! Even our Health Minister are concerned about our over nutrition figures or obesity in Parliament!
This
brings me to the point, I really want to make:
We need more studies or surveys of Flour Fortification at Post-Implementation
stage, the long term effect of consumption, etc . I refer to the most recent survey done by
Nigel Sunley, Rizwan Yusufali, Maude de Hoop, Dora Pangides. Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition
(GAIN). Article of GAIN
Attached.
Flour Fortification in South Africa: Post Implementation Survey of Micronutrient
Levels at Point of Retail.
CONCLUSION:
“ The current levels of micronutrients added to maize meal and bread
flour are unsatisfactory. This is likely
to be because of dosing inconsistencies resulting in insufficient addition of
premix at the mills. This affects the
availability and intake by consumers of fortified product and potentially
reduces the desired reduction in vitamin and mineral deficiencies expected
through the flour fortification program.
In order to improve the levels of premix addition, two approaches could
be envisioned: improving control of
premix addition or increasing the overall level of premix addition. In practice, a combination of the two
approaches would probably prove the most effective.”
Namibia
is a red meat consuming country, red meat contains good levels of iron, zinc,
folic acid, B-vitamins, and liver is a good source of Vitamin A. We cannot take
over other countries food fortification programs; Namibia has a population of
2.1 million, South-Africa 40 million, with provinces like Limpopo, Western
Cape, Eastern Cape, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Northern Cape, etc. with such diverse
nutritional status.
Mr.
Robert Ackatia-Armah, M. Phil., College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,
stated that it is one of the rules of the WHO, regarding fortification, number
one, do a National Nutritional Survey of the country concerned. rackatia@ucdavis.edu
Prof. Dr. Richard
Hurrell,
professor for Human Nutrition at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in
Zurich, is willing to help Namibia in this regard as we have a small
population, compare to other countries. Prof. Sam Shikongo of Namibia, Biological Scientist of
Namibia and Associated Professor with Yale University are also willing to help
Namibia with the Nutritional Status Survey.
One of the well known reasons for
fortification is the Stunting figures
(reduced growth rate in human development).
As an indicator of nutritional status, comparisons of children’s
measurements with growth reference curves may be used differently for
populations of children than for individual children. The fact that an individual child falls below
the fifth percentile for height for age on a growth reference curve (Standards
of the U.S.A. or WHO), may reflect normal variation in growth within a
population: the individual child may be short simply because both his parents
carried genes for shortness and not because of inadequate nutrition! It is also true that if Namibians have to
adopt Chinese Standards, our Stunting figures would drop tremendously and our
Obesity or Over nutrition figures would be extremely high! Which way should we go? Namibia is 20 years Independent and should
have developed data or enough statistics of weight and height for different age
groups during this period by the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
Briem, fish from the Zambezi river in
the Caprivi, served with 5 year spinach, a healthy meal served at Katima
Mulillo Open Market.
100 Years ago if a medical doctor saw a
case of cancer he would call all his colleagues to come and have a look,
telling them it was unlikely they would see another case, as cancer was so
rare. People rarely died of heart
attacks; in fact the term heart attack itself didn’t even exist. There was no incidence at all of
atherosclerosis. Diabetes was
practically unheard of. What did they
eat? Fruits, vegetables, meat, butter
and lard. But none of it was processed
with drugs and chemicals.
By reading this the intention is not in
the spirit of who is to blame, but rather to let us think and reconsider what
we are really doing with our food? An
expensive commodity in today’s way of surviving.
Today, more people dies of cancer or
heart diseases. Diabetes is taking the
lead in many aspects of our health diseases and is now even more prominent
among our children and teenagers. Is
that PROGRESS?
If you are a food manufacturer it is,
and especially if you are a drug manufacturer.
Male sperm count is less than 20% of what it was in 1929. Infant mortality is up; birth defect is
up. Who are the largest advertisers for
TV and the printed media? Right: drug companies and food manufacturers.
How many people do you know these days
that got scurvy, Beri-Beri, Ragites, etc., diseases caused by vitamin
deficiencies? To name a few - symptoms
of Vit C deficiency: Scurvy is: bleeding gums, slow wound healing, softening
bones, loose teeth or ulcerations of the mouth and digestive tract and fatigue.
Vitamin A deficiencies like night
blindness?
Did you know that 20mg of biological ascorbic
acid in a potato is all the body needs not only to prevent scurvy, but also to
cure it, even in its advanced state?
Since it is complex in a food source, such a remedy is described in
detail in Richard Dana’s amazing journal Two Years Before the Mast, written in
1840. The Nobel Prize laureate, Dr. Albert Szent-Georgi discovered Vitamin C in
1937. He found that he could never cure scurvy with the isolated ascorbic acid
itself. Realizing that he could always
cure scurvy with the “impure” vitamin C found in simple foods, Szent-Georgi
discovered that other factors had to be at work in order for vitamin activity
to take place. He returned to the
laboratory and eventually made the discovery of another member of the vitamin C
complex, rutin. All the factors in the
complex: ascorbic acid, rutin, P
factors, J factors, K factors, tyrosinase was synergists: co-factors which together sparked the
“functional interdependence of biologically related nutrient factors”. That means each of the other synergists in
the C complex has a separate function:
P factors for blood vessel strength, J
factors for oxygen-carrying capacity of red cells, tyrosine’s as an essential
enzyme for enhancing white blood cell effectiveness.
Ascorbic acid is just the antioxidant
outer shell – the protector of all these other synergists to that they will be
able to perform their individual functions.
What about Linus Pauling, double Nobel
Prize laureate, and his lifetime espousal of megadosing on ascorbic acid – up
to 10 g per day? He lived to be 93?
Are we saying that he took a synthetic vitamin
all that time? Yes, that’s exactly
right. Bernard Jensen suggests that
ascorbic acid has an acidifying effect in part of the digestive tract, making
an unfriendly environment for viruses, Candida and pathogenic bacteria. Pauling’s good health was not the result of
synthetic vitamin activity, but of good genetics and maintaining an internal
bioterrain not conducive to inflammation are likely what brought longevity to
Linus Pauling. He eventually died of
cancer at 93.
Perhaps Hippocrates did not envision
doctors as detail men or drug reps. He
most likely though likes Henry Bieler, MD:
“Nature, if given the opportunity is
always the greatest healer. It is the
physician’s role to assist in this healing, to play a supporting role.”
Finding the Right Cure for You.
Dr. Tim O’Shea
For the licensed dieticians and clinical
nutritionists reading this in disbelief, because it is too “unscientific”,
consider the way Theron Randolph MD delineated between natural and synthetic:
“A synthetically derived substance may
cause a reaction in a chemically susceptible person when the same material of
natural origin is tolerated, despite the two substances having identical
chemical structures. The point is
illustrated by the frequency of clinical reactions to synthetic vitamins –
especially Vit B1 and C – when the naturally occurring Vitamins are tolerated.”
What is Fortification?
Means
the addition of one or more nutrient(s) to a food whether or not it is normally
contained in the food for the purpose of preventing or correcting a
demonstrated deficiency in one or more nutrients in the population or specific
population group(s) by the relevant authority;
What is Enrichment?
Means the addition of one or more
nutrient(s) to a food whether or not it is normally contained in the food with
the sole purpose of adding nutritional value to the food;
What is a Vitamin?
“A working process consisting of the
nutrient, enzymes, coenzymes, antioxidants and trace minerals activators”
“Vitamins are not
individual molecular compounds. Vitamins
are biological complexes. They are
multi-step biochemical interactions whose action is dependent upon a number of
variables within the biological terrain.
Vitamin activity only takes place when all conditions are met within
that environment, and when all co-factors and components of the entire vitamin
complex are present and working together.
Vitamin activity is even more than the sum of all those parts; it also
involves timing.
Vitamins cannot be
isolated from their complexes and still perform their specific life functions
within the cells. When isolated into
artificial commercial forms, like ascorbic acid, these purified synthetics act
as drugs in the body. They are no longer
vitamins, and to call them such is inaccurate.”
Dr.
Timothy O’Shea
Vitamins are living complexes which
contribute to other higher living complexes – like cell repair, collagen
manufacture, and maintenance of blood circulation. Ascorbic acid is not a living complex. It is a fractionated, crystalline isolate of
vitamin C!.
Most Vitamins cannot be made by the
body. They must be taken in as
food. The best sources then are
obviously whole foods, rich in vitamins.
Because of soil depletion, mineral depletion, pesticides, air pollution,
and erosion, it is common knowledge that foods grown in American soil today
have only a fraction of the nutrient value of 50 years ago. That means a fraction of the vitamins and
minerals necessary for normal human cell function. Royal Lee describes the American diet as the
cultivation and production of “devitalized foods”. Dr. Weston Price describes these products as
the “Foods of Commerce”, or “Nutrifluff” as Marion Nestle, Professor in the
Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York University
refers to it.
Vitamins and minerals are not functionally
separable. They make each other work.
E.g. Vit D is necessary for the body to absorb calcium. Copper is necessary for Vit C activity. Mineral deficiencies can cause vitamin deficiencies,
and vice verca. So that is the other
prime difference between whole food vitamins and synthetics: whole food vitamins contain within them many
essential trace minerals necessary for their synergistic operation. Synthetic vitamins contain no trace minerals,
relying on, and depleting, the body’s own mineral reserves.
‘Natural food-source vitamins are
enzymatically alive. Made-made synthetic
vitamins are dead chemicals.” De Cava
(Nutrition Authority).
“Fortified” can also means that the food itself
is devoid of nutrients or enzymes, so they tried to pump it up a little with
some “vitamins”. Cheap synthetic vitamin
sprays are all that is required for the manufacturer to use labels like
“enriched” and “fortified”. These words
are red flags – if a food needs to be fortified or enriched, you can bet it was
already dead.
“Vitamin
C” –
Many people buy Vitamin C as ascorbic acid,
but Ascorbic Acid is not Vit C and in fact taken by itself can be quite
irritating to the lining of the digestive tract. Complete Vitamin C is composed of many
co-factors such as rutin, bioflavonoids, Factor K, J P, Tyrosinase,
Ascorbinogen, Ascorbic acid and other components. Each of these is vital to the complete
biological activity that enables Vit C to function fully. Ascorbic acid is only a very small fraction
of naturally occurring Vitamin C.
As humans lack the microsomal enzyme
L-gulonolactone oxidase, they are unable to synthesize vitamin C and they
therefore need to obtain it directly from fresh fruit and vegetables in the
diet! (Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 10th edition, JS Garrow, WPT
James, A Ralph.)
To differentiate their product, each makes
claims of “high potency”. Our vitamins
are higher potency than theirs, etc. The
point is, the higher the potency, the more the drug-like effects are
present. Natural whole food vitamins are
very low potency. E.g. like the difference between white sugar and the type of
sugar that is in an apple.
Remember the 20 mg of Vitamin C in a potato
that was able to cure a patient of scurvy?
That was low potency
Vitamin
A
Was discovered in 1919. By 1924, it had been broken down and
separated from its natural whole food complex “purified” By 1931, La Roche – one of the largest
pharmaceutical companies in the world, even today – had succeeded in
“synthesizing” Vitamin A. That means
they had created a purely chemical copy of a fraction of naturally occurring
Vit A. Naturally occurring Vit A is
found associated with an ertire group of other components:
Retinols EnzymesRetinoids Minerals
Retinal
Carotenoids
Carotenes
Fatty Acids
Vit C
Vit E
Vit B
Vit D
Isolated from these other factors,
Vitamin A is a fraction which cannot perform its biological functions. Taken as a synthetic, it must then draw on
this list of resources already in the body in order to complete its
make-up. Whole food Vitamin A, by
contrast, is already complete and ready to go.
Most synthetic Vit A consists only of
retinal, retinol, or retinoic acid. The
well-publicized potential for toxiciitiy with mega doses of Vit A involves one
of these three. Vitamin A toxicity,
known as hypervitaminosis, always results from an excess of synthetic “purified
Vitamin A, and never from whole food Vitamin A.
Effects of Vitamin A toxicity include:
Tumor enhancement
Joint disordersOsteoporosis
Extreme dryness of eyes, mouth and skin,
Enlargement of Liver and Spleen
Immune Depression
Birth Defects
Beta Carotene is a precursor the body
can convert to Vitamin A. Unfortunately,
as a supplement, synthetic beta carotene is usually “stabilized in refined
vegetable oils. In this transfatty acid
form, oxidation occurs and the chemically “pure” beta carotenes can no longer
act as a nutrient, because it was changed.
Almost all synthetic beta carotene is produced by the Swiss drug giant
Hoffman-La Roche. This form can no
longer be converted to Vitamin A. The
best it can be is worthless, and at the worst is toxic.
Natural Vitamin A and beta carotene are
well known as immune boosters and cancer fighters, in their role as
antioxidants. Synthetic Vitamin A by
contrast has actually brought about significant increases in cancer. A study done in Finland provided smokers
with large doses of synthetic beta carotene.
Lung cancer incidence increased 18%!
(NEJM Apr 94 The Alpha Tocopherol Beta Carotene Cancer Prevention Study
Group”)
Fake Vitamin B
In one experiment, synthetic Vitamin B
(Thiamine) was shown to render 100% of a group of pigs sterile!
Perhaps the fact that synthetic Vitamin
B comes from coal tar, maybe that has something to do with it, you think? Then there’s Vitamin B12, which comes from
activated sewage sludge. Most people do
not know that most B vitamins are made from petrochemicals! For your best health, take a whole-nutrient B
vitamin or red meat and avoid synthetics.
Anyhow, anything containing carbon is considered to be an organic
compound.
Picture taken at the Katima Mulillo, Open Market during October 2012
Natural food-source vitamins are
enzymatically alive. Man-made synthetic
vitamins are dead chemicals”.
A recent article published on the 2nd
August 2012 by electronic magazine Foodstuff reported on an unfolding epidemic,
gluten free products are flying off grocery shelves and restaurants are
boasting of meals with no gluten. Market
research done by the firm Mintel in the US, found that 7$billion will be spend
on foods labeled gluten-free. In the
most serious cases, gluten triggers celiac disease. The condition causes
abdominal pain, bloating and intermittent diarrhea. Those with the ailment don’t’ absorb nutrients
well and can suffer weight loss, fatigue, rashes and other problems.
Celiac disease is different from an
allergy to wheat, which affects a much smaller number of people, mostly
children who outgrow it.
Scientists suggest that there may be
more celiac disease today because people eat more processed wheat products like
pastas and baked good than in decades past, and those items use types of what that have a
higher gluten content.
The question remains should Namibia
fortify its maize and now mahangu flours and legalized it? The decisions will not be made by Scientist,
Biologists or Nutritionists, but by the Industry who can deliver Economies of
Scale.
Compiled by Ida
Erasmus
Unregistered
Industry Nutritionist
