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methods for the assay of thiamin are being standardized. There is as yet no completely acceptable procedure for the determination of nicotinic acid by chemical means, and biological methods are not practical for routine use on bread samples. Bread and milk are among the most important foods in our national diet, both with respect to the quantities consumed and their qualities as economical sources of most of the nutrients necessary in a well-balanced daily diet. Together, bread, cereals, milk, and dairy products provide about half of the calories in the American diet. Of the 10.5 billion pounds of bakers’ bread consumed annually in this country, the greater part is in the form of the white yeast-raised product which is preferred by the majority of the people. The general fortification of this vast quantity of bread with vitamins and minerals that are natural t o whole wheat is a matter of significance to our national defense efforts, since enriched bread supplies substantial amounts of the vitamins that are conducive to physical fitness and morale. Even more significant, however, is the fact that the general production and consumption of enriched bread will be a permanent contribution to the public health ( 2 ) .
Vol. 33, No. 6
Literature Cited (1) Aokroyd, W. R., and Swaminathan, M.. I n d i a n J . Med. Research, 27, 667 (Jan., 1940). (2) Am. Inst. of Baking, “Putting Bakers’ Bread in the Preferred Class-Questions and Answers About Enriched Bread”, 1941. (3) Am. Inst. of Nutrition, Milbank Memorial Fund Quart., 3, 22162 (July, 1939). (4) Cowgill, G. R., J . Am. M e d . Assoc., 113, 2146-51 (1939). (5) Food and Drug Administration, Federal Register, April 1 , 1941, 1729-37. (6) Free, A. H., Cereal Chem., 17, 725-33 (1940). (7) Hoffman, C., IND. ENG.CHEM.,15, 1225-44 (1923). (8) Hoffman, C., Schweiteer, T. R., and Dalby, G., Cereal Chem., 17, 737-9 (1940). (9) Hoffman, C., Schweiteer, T. R., and Dalby, G., IND. EXQ. CHEM.,Anal. Ed., 12,454-5 (1940); Free, A. H., and Bing, F. C., J . Nutrition, 19, 449-59 (1940). (IO) Prouty, W. W., and Cathcart, W. H., J. Nutrition, 18, 217-26 (1939). (11) Supplee, G. C., personal communication. (12) Tobey, J. A,, Am. J . Nursing, June, 1936. (13) Williams, R. R.. and Spies, T. D., “Vitamin BI and Its Use in Medicine”, New York, Macmillan Co., 1938; Hoffman, C., Schweiteer, T. R., and Dalby, G., Cered Chem., 17, 733-6 (1940); Schultz, A. S., Atkin, L., and Frey, C. N., Ibid., 18, 106-13 (1941); Copping, A. M., Nutrition Abstracts & Revs., 8, 555-66 (1939).
What the Consumer Should Know about Fortified Foods HELEN S. MITCHELL Nutrition Divison, Health, Welfare, and Activities Affecting National Defense, Washington, D. C.
T
HE consumer is fast becoming nutrition conscious, but in addition he is in danger of developing a complex on the subject of vitamins. He needs sane and conservative guidance through the maze of extravagant claims which he hears or reads. Popular education in nutrition is demanded. Recognition of the superior nutritive values of natural food as compared with the overrefined and processed foods has long prompted nutritionists to recommend natural foods where practicable. Some faddists have picked up the idea and carried it to silly extremes, recommending raw food exclusively as well as unrefined salt and sugar, and implying that certain refined foods such as sugar or white flour are positive poisons. Fortunately such extremists have relatively few converts, but they are apt to be quite audible. Nature has done a good job of providing necessary food constituents, and we should take advantage of this fact. However, tradition, taste, and digestibility have prompted us to refine, modify, or prepare foods in such fashion as to destroy or discard certain valuable ingredients. The food values remaining may be incomplete but in no sense negative or poison just because of refining. We cannot ignore tradition and taste but we may influence it for the better. The successful nutritionist must be a realist, aware of cultural patterns and food habits as well as the nutritive values of foods. He must realize that food habits are slow to change, particularly in low-income groups, and that to effect nutri-
tional improvement of the people on a large scale, devices other than education must be used. It must be made easy and convenient for people to get the kind of food they should have. Thus the attitude of the scientific nutritionist has changed from the idealistic-of educating everybody to choose foods for their nutritive value-to the realistic-of putting into certain foods nutritive factors which are essential and apt to be lacking in that food as commonly eaten. In many instances this may be a restoration of nutritive elements originally present in the natural food but lost in process of manufacture, as in the case of flour. I n other instances it may be fortification of a natural food with a nutritive factor originally present in too small amounts, as in the case of vitamin D milk.
Attitude of Federal Authorities The fortification of foods with minerals or vitamins should not be promiscuous or haphazard; it should be done through a planned program of making the average American diet more adequate in these factors, and it should be done without increasing the cost to the consumer. The problem of proper control of fortification is difficult and may not be solved immediately. Thus the consumer needs to be informed as to the significance of this popular movement. If not, there is the twofold danger: One may either be skeptical of all fortification claims and discount the whole movement, or one may rely upon fortification to ensure adequate nutrition with no effort t o select a balanced diet. Both of these reactions are unfortunate, but they are inevitable when the pendulum of popularity swings wide as it is doing a t the present time. There are potential dangers as well as benefits in the program.
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The attitude of federal authorities in this matter was well expressed by E. M. Nelson, of the Food and Drug Administration, in comments before the Associated Grocery Manufacturers of America: The necessity or desirability of fortifying certain foods with vitamins and minerals brings forth many controversial issues and there is no simple formula which can be applied in all instances. There are some facts and fundamental considerations which cannot be ignored. Extensive survey of foods consumed and knowled e of their composition lead to the conclusion that nutritional defciencies are most likely to occur amon the low-income groups. Therefore, if fortification of a particufar food is to serve the most useful purpose, that food should be one that is widely used by people with low incomes and fortification should not add substantially to its cost. Obviously, a food should not be used as a carrier for vitamins which may be lost durin the period of storage or when the food is subjected to orfinary culinary processes. Proposals to fortify foods with vitamins have been made on the basis that such a ractice is, or will be, beneficial to public health. This is indeed a faudable purpose and if it can be accom lished the ractice should be encouraged. In fact, I believe &at we shouyd be liberal in our views in estimating what good can be accomplished so that if an error is made i t will be made in the direction of possible benefit, rather than possible deprivation of a food essential. I do not look with favor upon widespread fortification of foods with vitamins. Such a practice is not necessary to eliminate deficiencies which may exist in our dietaries today.
Enrichment of Flour and Bread The movement to “enrich” flour and bread has been a first step to make a common food more adequate. Nutritionists have been encouraging the use of whole grain products for ten or twenty years. The result is that only about 2 per cent of our wheat is milled as whole wheat flour; the rest is white. If education has failed to make any more of a dent in established food habits in this length of time, can we logically expect even an intensive educational campaign alone to benefit the majority of the population in 19411 No, it takes more than education and that is why the introduction of enriched flour that is made either by retaining more minerals and vitamins from the grain or by adding them-is one step in the right direction. Bread and cereals constitute one fourth of the calories in an average diet, and therefore attention to this class of foodstuff was a logical first step. In advertising the new flour and bread most of the millers and bakers are making an honest attempt to be conservative in their claims and conform to recommendations of scientific nutrition in the type and amount of added factors. It is regretted that a few manufacturers came out with premature and extravagant claims which have shaken the confidence of the consumer. Eduoation as to the purpose of this movement and its anticipated benefit is necessary now in order to reassure “Mrs. Average Consumer” that enriched flour and bread have been introduced for her benefit and not to help industry. The Food and Nutrition Committee of the National Research Council has been emphatic in warning $he milling and bakery interests of the necessity for making their advertising campaign one of education for better nutr.ition in which bread is only a part of the picture. This is the only sound procedure for the longtime good of the industry as well as that of the consumer. An attempt to answer many of the consumer’s questions is being made by the several federal agencies interested. A small folder entitled “Twenty Questions on Enriched Flour and Bread” will be available in a few weeks. Several of the questions answered in this folder are the very ones which have been asked here. These folders will be made available through state nutrition committees. I n addition to understanding more about food values, the .consumer also needs to know more about human requirements for maximum health and efficiency. People are easily .aonfused by too many figures, but they can understand what proportion of a day’s requirement for a vitamin or a mineral
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The attitude of nutritionists on fortification of foods has changed in two years from disapproval to limited recommendation under proper control. It is realized that education in food values cannot alone solve all our nutrition problems Consumers want to know why bread and flour have been “enriched” and what other foods may be considered for similar treatment. They want facts and not extravagant claims in vitamin and mineral advertising. They need to know that no one food, either in its natural or enriched state, will ensure an adequate diet. They will be confused by too many figures, but they can understand what proportion of the day’s requirement is obtained from a slice or a loaf of bread or a quart of vitamin D milk. They may want to know exactly what vitamins and minerals have been retained or added, and why. They need to be reassured that added vitamins or minerals are just as well utilized as the same factors in the natural foods.
s supplied by a slice or a loaf of bread, a. quart of milk, B serving of meat, or a glass of orange juice. Thus, there is great need for education to make people want to improve their nutritional status and to show them how to go about it while science and industry cooperate to make it easier for people to get the right food.
Cooperation between Federal and State Agencies The Nutrition Division of this defense agency was established in an effort to coordinate all efforts being made to improve the nutritional conditions in this country. The longestablished federal agencies which are concerned with nutrition have splendid programs well under way. The state nutrition committees are cooperating groups making an intensified effort toward the same goal. Many of the state committees have discovered and defined their function as follows : 1. To survey geographically and socially the resent coverage of existing agencies within the state and to afforf an opportunity for these a encies to become mutually familiar with the nutrition work of otferu. 2. To analyze the nutritional situation in the state by a pooling of surve s or informationavailable and t o decide upon the most urgent nee6 within the state. 3. To recommend practical methods for reaching existing needs of all groups of the population. Many groups have never been touched.
Through these channels we are hoping to bring more information to more people. The layman wants to know what is happening and why. He becomes impatient with too many details. He loses confidence when advertising is extravagant. The consumer in some places is nutrition conscious but skeptical, in other places he is indifferent. We must respect intelligent skepticism and furnish sound information which will inspire confidence.
