In recent years, the national standard of living has been rising, the nutritional situation has been improving, and the probability of people suffering from nutritional deficiency diseases has gradually declined, thanks to the fact that people are paying more and more attention to the nutritional and balanced diet.

However, according to a survey on people’s dietary structure, it is known that Chinese people mainly consume plant foods, and grains, fruits and vegetables are the main sources of calorie intake, while animal foods, such as fish, meat, eggs and milk, account for a relatively low ratio of calorie intake, which leads to a serious lack of intake of vitamins A, B2, and D, as well as the mineral elements of calcium, iron and zinc, etc. Therefore, in order to improve the unreasonable dietary structure, people’s nutritional status has been improving.

Therefore, in order to improve the unreasonable dietary structure and enhance people’s nutritional level and health, the relevant state departments have produced nutritionally fortified foods, which have played a significant role in health care for the nation.

Major nutrition-fortified foods in China

Nowadays, China realizes nutritional fortification of food by adding vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, folic acid, niacin, iron, zinc, calcium and other nutrients to foodstuffs such as salt, flour, edible oil, soy sauce and children’s auxiliary food.

1. Iodized salt
China’s iodine deficiency disease is more serious, iodine as a necessary nutrient in the human organism, the main source of which is food, if people consume water or food with low iodine content for a long time, iodine deficiency disease will be formed.

Consumption of iodized salt is the most effective and economical way to replenish iodine. Under normal circumstances, a daily consumption of 5~6g of salt can satisfy the body’s daily physiological needs for iodine.

Consumption of iodized salt mainly includes iodized salt with potassium iodate and iodized salt with potassium iodide. By consuming iodized salt, the level of iodine nutrition in China has improved significantly.

2. Fortified Flour
Following iodized salt, the emergence of fortified flour has become another important step in nutritionally fortified food, greatly improving the public’s nutritional status.

Vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, iron and other micronutrients needed by the human body are added to flour, which can effectively improve the public’s intake of micronutrients, nutritional anemia and zinc deficiency.

3. Fortified rice
Rice is one of the most commonly consumed staple foods, providing people with calories, proteins and fats, and at the same time providing relative trace elements, including thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, zinc and so on.

These nutrients are lost to a certain extent during the processing of rice, so the production of fortified rice has become an important means of retaining the nutrients in nutritious rice.

Fortified rice is based on rice flour powder, and nutrients mixed evenly made of dough, and finally dried into nutritious rice grains, according to a certain proportion of mixed production of nutritious rice grains and finished rice grains that become nutrient-fortified rice.

Nutritional fortification of rice is currently the more ideal way to strengthen the nutrition of staple foods, the effect of balanced diet is more significant.

4. Other Nutritionally Fortified Foods
In addition to the nutritionally fortified foods mentioned above, there are also iron-fortified soy sauce, fortified cooking oil, fortified supplementary foods, added probiotics and other nutritionally fortified foods in China.

Iron-fortified soy sauce has significantly improved the phenomenon of iron-deficiency anemia caused by China’s dietary structure based on plant foods; the application of fortified cooking oil has greatly improved the phenomenon of vitamin A deficiency in China; fortified complementary foods have improved the nutritional balance of infant formula; and the addition of prebiotics, as a kind of beneficial bacteria, plays a significant role in enhancing human immunity.

Nutritionally fortified food on the human body’s health effects

1. Promoting growth and development
Promoting growth and development is one of the important effects of nutritionally fortified food. As one of the important elements in many nutritional elements, the nutritional effect of lysine fortification of cereal products has attracted more and more attention in recent years.

Relevant studies have shown that the nutritional value of L-lysine in fortified wheat flour can be increased by 128%, and the nutritional value of rice fortified with L-lysine has been increased by 44%. Other fortified foods are also rich in nutrients that can promote children’s growth and development.

2. Preventing and reducing nutritional deficiency diseases
A large number of iodized salt put into consumption, greatly reducing the number of goiter patients in China. In our country’s Keshan disease area of the big bone disease area, in the salt fortification of selenium, to improve the big bone disease, reduce the incidence rate has played an obvious effect.

The vigorous promotion of calcium milk, on the other hand, has been able to reduce the incidence of anemia. Zinc-rich fortified food can improve the phenomenon of zinc deficiency. It can be seen that nutritionally fortified foods rich in certain nutrients can effectively prevent and reduce nutritional deficiency diseases.

3. Antioxidant, inhibit the generation of carcinogens
Nutritional elements vitamin C, E antioxidant performance is better, so in the processing of food, vitamin C and E can be used as a good food antioxidant, vitamin C, E and nitrite and can effectively prevent the production of meat products in the production process of the generation of nitrosamines, so that the incidence of cancer is reduced.

4. Meet the needs of special populations
Special populations refers to some special occupations and types of work, including military personnel, pregnant women, pilots, high-temperature operators, etc., need to supplement special nutrition at work, the general diet is difficult to meet their nutritional needs.

When military personnel conduct exercises and pilots carry out flight missions, they can choose small-sized nutritionally fortified foods, while pregnant women need to choose nutritionally comprehensive nutritionally fortified foods and fortify vitamin supplementation to ensure that both pregnant women and their children can consume sufficient nutrition.

5. Simplify meal processing
Consumption of fortified food can simplify the diet and ensure nutritional comprehensiveness as less fortified food can provide the same amount of nutrients as more conventional food.

For infants, fortifying dairy products with nutrients such as vitamins and niacin can simplify infant recipes and provide comprehensive nutrition.

In addition, modern people are busy at work and do not have time to prepare a wide variety of foods, which can easily lead to nutritional imbalance.

Therefore, the use of nutritionally fortified food can provide great convenience for office workers and maximize nutritional balance, which is in line with the modern concept of healthy and green life.