The dirty secret behind fortified foods

Unfortunately, it’s not just those so called “superfoods” that Americans are buying the hype about…

According to a new survey of 1,579 adults conducted by the Food Marketing Network and Prevention magazine late last year, people actively looking to buy healthy foods gravitate towards things that have been “fortified.”

By “fortified” I’m referring to the extra vitamin C, calcium, omega-3, antioxidants, vitamin D, etc. that’s been added to juices, breakfast cereals, and just about every other processed and packaged food.

Of course, there is a very good (or very bad, depending on how you look at it) reason why these foods needed that enrichment…

Packaged foods have been fortified because their nutrients have been lost when the food is processed. They’ve been stripped of any inherent nutritional value they once had.

And adding nutrients back in after the fact doesn’t make up for that.

Nature has provided us with countless foods that are actually nutritious (not to mention delicious) without needing anything added to them.