Cereal Products Vitamin and Mineral Restoration and Fortification from the Viewpoint of the .Manufacturer R. T. CONNER General Foods Corporation, Hoboken, N. J.
The breakfast cereal industry is an important factor in any program of national nutritional improvement. The problem of fortification and restoration is presented by comparing the mineral and vitamin composition of cereal products with that of the corresponding grains. The degree of fortification is discussed from the viewpoint of the average adult and child daily requirements of these essential nutrients. The various sources used to bring about such a restoration are presented, with their merits and limitations. This includes a discussion of pure vitamin and mineral sources, cereal fractions rich in the essential nutrients, and concentrates of a noncereal origin.
of these nutritional essentials. Consequently the food industries find themselves literally in the first line of the nation’s nutritional defense. If each individual could be provided with a really adequate vitamin and mineral supply, it is safe to say that he would be better prepared, both physically and mentally, to face the exigencies which lie ahead. The problem of formulating a nutrition program for the nation involves the development of a practical means for bringing these food essentials within the reach of a large proportion of our population. Borsook (1) states the problem thus as i t applies to vitamin B: “The provision of large amounts of vitamin B a t a price which the low-income classes can afford and in a form palatable enough for them to take day in and day out calls for our expert knowledge of nutrition and is a major problem in nutritional engineering. Vitamin B concentrates are prohibitively expensive for the poor”. This same thought is expressed by Sherman (9): “Food should
T
HE first World War and its aftermath of economic depression were largely responsible for focusing attention, as never before, on the relation of nutritional chemistry to human welfare and progress. Owing to the many observations made of the post-war nutritional state of the world’s population, studies of the needs of the individual in relation to his food supply were undertaken in numerous laboratories. As a result the war-torn world of today is provided with a much better nutritional defense than was availab’e during the earlier conflict. Another outcome of the nutritional developments of the past two decades is a great increase in popular understanding of the role of food and appreciation of the Socratic proverb, “One should eat t o live, not live t o eat”. Despite our expanded knowledge of nutrition and the means of applying it, we are still faced with the fact that a great part of the population in the United States is subsisting on diets either inadequate or barely suboptimal in their content of the essential minerals and v&amins. Evidence is accumulating to show that much of the ill health of the present day can be modified by increasing the availability
EXTRACTION APPARATUSFOR CHEMICAL DETERMINATION OF THIAMIN AND RIBOFLAVIN IN CEREAL PRODUCTS 711
712
I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G CHEMISTRY
FLUOROMETRIC DETERMINATION OF THIAMIN be so chosen that the health and efficiency of the individual shall be served in the highest degree and a t the same time it should be used with such regard to the economics of food supply that the possibility of optimal nutrition shall be brought within the reach of a steadily increasing proportion of the population”. A practical step toward the desired goal is to supply the general public and particularly the low-income groups with suitable foods enriched with respect to their vitamin and mineral values so that the consumption of such foods will furnish a substantial part of the daily requirement of these nutrients. The foods selected for this enrichment should be those which are already widely consumed and which, due to their palatability, can be eaten “day in and day out”.
Processed Cereal Foods
Vol. 33, No. 6
Since cereal products occupy a prominent place in the daily diet of both adults and children] their enrichment with certain of the dietary essentials appears to be of definite importance. Processed cereals supply a n abundant source of the body’s carbohydrate requirement and, in conjunction with the milk generally consumed with them, offer a protein combination of excellent quality. Owing to the established relation of certain members of the vitamin B complex, particularly thiamin, to carbohydrate metabolism] it seems entirely logical that cereal products, with their high carbohydrate content, should be selected for “fortification” or “restoration”. Having chosen the medium for supplying the essential minerals and vitamins, the food manufacturer must consider whether his objective shall be fortification or restoration. These terms are being gradually replaced by the more inclusive word “enrichment”. Nevertheless their use has been rather widespread and deserves attention a t this time. “Restoration” is used to denote the addition to cereal products of such amounts of minerals and vitamins as may be necessary to restore the levels originally present in the corresponding whole grain. “Fortification” implies the addition of these essential nutrients in amounts greater than those originally present in the whole grain. Those in favor of “restoration” alone, believe that “fortification” is unnecessary if the diet is well balanced because of the complementary contributions from other food materials. But the food habits of people are difficult to change, and there is logic in the contention that a few foods should provide an amount of the essential nutrients sufficient to meet any deficiency which otherwise might occur in an unbalanced diet. I n other words, the advocates of “fortification” believe it is better that certain of the food components of the dietary be richly endowed with the essential nutrients, rather than rely too much upon other components to make up any deficiencies.
Vitamin and Mineral Contents Whether the manufacturer decides on restoration or fortification] he must first have a knowledge of the vitamin and mineral content of the more widely used grains in order to attack his problem intelligently. Although the mineral composition of the principal grains has been known for some time, it is only with the advent of chemical assay methods that the range of vitamin values has been realized. Table I gives the essential mineral and vitamin content of the principal grains used a t the present time in the preparation of processed cereal foods. The values were obtained either directly from published articles or from assays conducted in our own laboratory. The copper content of the cereals has been included because of the dual role of iron and copper in the prevention of nutritional anemia.
Since bread and processed cereal foods are universally consumed, they can be advantageously used as vehicles for the essential nutrients which are inadequately supplied in many TABLEI. VITAMIN AND MINERAL CONTENT OF GRAINS AND CEREAL PRODUCTS of the present day diets. The use of Vitamin Content bread for this purpose is being discussed Mineral ConstituentsPantoelsewhere in this symposium, so the presPhosRibo- Nicotinic thenic PyriCalcium phorus Iron Copper Thiamin flavin acid acid doxin ent paper will be confined to processed -Milligrams/ounceMiorooranm/ox. MQ./OZ. cereal foods. According to a survey Whole grains made by Stiebling, the average annual Wheat 13-15 106-124 0.82-1.10 0.17 87-195 19-48 0.X-1.30 per capita consumption of ready-to-eat 3? . T1 Corn 56-168 22-66 0.28 2-8 29-SO 0.14-1.02 0.17 0.25 0.053 62-85 23 0.68 Rice 3-18 27-95 cereals during 1934-39 was 4 to 7 pounds 1 1 Oats 136-294 62-74 + 20 108-111 1.07-1.36 0.14 for a n average city family ( 4 ) . This Unfortified Processed Cereals rate is being approximately maintained. For the 12-month period ending n’ovemCorn 1-2 15-17 0.47-0. ber, 1940, the total per capita consumption of hot and cold cereals was 4.14 pounds for adults and 6.14 for children. 7
7 -
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
lune, 1941
Although as yet the human requirements of pantothenic acid and pyridoxin have not been definitely established, they are included in Table I since they may eventually be found important in human nutrition. Because of the lack of suitable methods of assay a t present, few data are available on the distribution of these vitamins in cereal grains. A plus mark is placed in the table opposite those cereals in which these vitamins have been definitely shown to be present and a question mark for those cases where no data are as yet available. From the values in Table I, the conclusion can be drawn that if restoration of a product is desired, the particular grain and even variety of grain from which the product was derived must be taken into account, since grains vary in regard to their mineral and vitamin content. Such factors as climate, soil, fertilizer treatment, etc., undoubtedly are in part responsible for the variations observed in a given grain. A considerable part of the phosphorus present naturally in grains is in the form of phytin, which is not readily assimilated by the body. There is possibly an opportunity here to improve upon nature. Thus the process of restoration of the whole-grain phosphorus level may be via the addition of a well-utilized inorganic phosphate.
TABLE 11. MINIMUMDAILY REQUIREMENT OF THE CHILDAND ADULTFOR MINERALS AND VITAMINS DISCUSSED FOR CEREAL ENRICHMENT Min. Daily Requirement Child Adult 700 1000 1300 1300 15 10 3 2 1200 600 1500 1000 25 ?
Nutrient Calcium mg Phosphdrus, mg. Iron, mg. Copper mg: Thiami;, micrograms Riboflavin, micrograms Nicotinic acid Pantothenic acid Pyridoxin Vitamin D , International Units
? ? 760
? ?
500
As the amount of phosphorus present in cereal grains is greatly in excess of the amount of calcium, the mere restoration of the calcium to the level of the whole grain will still leave a nutritional unbalance between these two mineral elements. Other constituents of the diet, such as milk, can supply a substantial part of the calcium required, so this problem need not be serious. Since vitamin D is absent from most cereal grains, the problem in regard to this factor is one of fortification rather than restoration. This vitamin is not present to a large extent in foods commonly used for human consumption;
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therefore the addition of vitamin D to processed cereal products is not alien to present day nutritional objectives. Table I gives also the vitamin and mineral content of representative unenriched processed cereals. The tabulation is not all inclusive and is intended merely to provide an idea of the general range of values to be expected in this type of product. By comparing the two parts of Table I, the amounts of minerals and vitamins which must be restored to each of the products can be determined. If the problem is one of fortification rather than restoration, the values in Table I should be considered in connection with the minimum daily requirements of both the adult and child for these essential nutrients as assembled in Table I1 (a). For certain of the recently discovered vitamins, no minimum requirements have yet been established,
Practical Aspects The selection of a suitable vitamin-rich or mineral-rich material for this purpose will depend on the degree of enrichment desired and on the effect the addition of such enriching materials may have on the palatability and appearance of the final products. The effect of storage on the vitamin content of the finished product should also be considered. Some of the current vitaminenriching substances are susceptible to destruction under certain conditions. Thiamin may be partially or entirely destroyed under alkaline conditions or in the presence of sulfite. Riboflavin may be destroyed by light as a result of the formation of lumichrom or lumiflavin, both of which are biologically inactive. I n contrast to riboflavin and thiamin, pyridoxin, nicotinic acid, and vitamin D are very stable compounds. On the other hand, pantothenic acid, under slightly alkaline conditions, is susceptible to destruction due to its hydrolysis to P-alanine and a hydroxy acid. This vitamin is also susceptible to destruction by dry heat. Table I11 presents a list of materials suitable for use in the vitamin enrichment of cereal products. Some of the materials can be used to supply all of the vitamins required for enrichment whereas others will supply only a few. There is much work still to be done on the problem of enriching cereal products, but the food manufacturer has it well in hand and is cooperating in improving the nation’s nutritional status.
Literature Cited (1) Borsook, H., “Vitamins”, p. 69, Viking Press, 1940. (2) Sherman, H. C., “Chemistry of Food and Nutrition”, 5th ed., p. 527, N e w York, Maomillan Co., 1937. (3) U. S. Dept. of Agr., “Food and Life”, pp. 187-271 (1939). (4) Ibid., p. 318.
T A B L111. ~ VITAMIN AND MINERAL CONTENT OF FRACTIONS OF CEREAL GRAINSAND OTHERHIGH-VITAMIN PRODUCTS -Mineral Materials Corn fractions Corn germ Corn bran Corn oil cake Wheat fractions Wheat erm Wheat %ran Rice fractions Rice olishings Rice {ran Fermentation by-products Grass concentrates Milk concentrates Skim milk owder Whey p o d e r Yeast
Constituents PhosCalcium phorus Iron Copper -Milligrams/ounce-
Thiamin Riboflavin -Micronram~/cz.-
.... ..
... ...
4-6
.. ..
0.99
...
20 34
298 845
2 2
0.17 0.33
876-1227 162-180
17 25
417
4.81
0.27
....
624
0‘03
0.27 0.14 0.51
0.16
0.21
... ... ...
....
540-936 105 282
Vitamin Content Nicotinic Pantothenic acid acid Pyridoxin Mo./oz. 7-Micrograms/oz.? ? ?
? ? ?
177 11.2
1.10 1.41
9
37-138 33 184
*...
.. ....
567 537 165-327 264-851
57 54 23.000-166,000
? 8 0
0:07
0:005
33
f.h7
0.’54
510-5670
9356 536-832 142-1695 1219-8189
7 7 11.34-16
..
+
48
?
? ?
7
? ?
i
t
? 7 17,010 ? 7
851
? ?
f
Vitamin D I. U./oz. 0 0 0
0 0
?
0
4-
0 0
? ? ? ?
851
?
0 ?
0 5103-102,000
