Besides the discovery of fire, which led to cooking, a second major change in the history of how we eat food was "fractionating "- the breaking apart of whole foods into their smaller components. When proteins, fats and carbohydrates were identified, people believed that they were the only nutrients necessary for life. Many British noble children died after eating synthetic foods containing only these three fractionated nutrients. Milling, extracting and separating led to processed foods and deficiency diseases. Those eating milled flour became deficient in B vitamins, for example, and many died of pellagra because of the loss. As recently as 50 years ago, pyridoxine (vitamin B6) was not recognized as being essential for babies, and baby foods caused convulsions.

Enriching foods
Once vitamin deficiencies were realized, our processed foods became "enriched." One of the earliest examples of this was during the last Great War, when many American men were deemed unfit to join the armed forces, due in large part to pellagra. Dr. Joseph Goldlberger, an officer in the US Public Health Service, showed that this was a deficiency disease caused by a monotonous high corn diet lacking a factor or factors present in meat, fish and grains. In about 1936, Dr. Elvehjem at Wisconsin University showed that this factor was a simple nutrient called vitamin B3. The American government mandated the enrichment of white flour with three B vitamins and the mineral iron. Within two years after the flour was enriched, the pellagra pandemic was almost over. This move by the United States government was one of the most effective public mental health programs ever - preventing the death of millions of people, and saving millions of others from becoming psychotic.

Today, the original nutritional quality of all foods should be preserved or restored as much as possible. Only when this is not possible should foods be enriched. Instead, extremely processed foods, often made for convenience, requiring enriching. Whole foods need not be enriched, nor would it be practical (or profitable) to enrich foods such as whole potatoes, carrots, greens and other vegetables.

Preventing disease
I agree that in some cases enrichment is necessary. We do not, for example, have an adequate amount of selenium in our soil today so this mineral is short in even the natural food supply. Processed food ingredients are virtually devoid of selenium so enriching packaged foods will help to prevent disease. We also know that adding folic acid to foods will decrease the incidence of spina bifida in fetuses. Iodine has been added to salt to prevent goiter in iodine deficient regions, although we should rethink this enrichment since many people now avoid salt due to high blood pressure.

Functional not necessarily healthy
With our knowledge of nutrition, which is still incomplete in my opinion, we can improve health through enrichment. The term "functional foods" is now being used for those foods that contain enough of a nutrient to positively affect health. Natural functional foods include tomatoes and watermelons, which contain the phytochemical lutein, for example, proven to reduce prostate cancer risk. However, the food manufacturing industry has taken the power of individual nutrients in a new direction - one I cannot agree with. Cadbury Schweppes, for example, is now selling 7UP Plus–the same old sugary pop, but with vitamin C and calcium added. Taking nutrients that are proven healthy in their natural form, extracting them or making synthetic versions, and putting them in junk food does not make the junk food healthy.

We've come a long way since pellagra, but maybe this is too far.

Dr. Hoffer, in private practice as a consultant, was recently honoured by the  International Schizophrenia Foundation with a Lifetime Achievement Gala Dinner in Toronto, Ontario.

Dysfunctional foods?
The fact that Coca-Cola Co. and Nestlé are leading the pack in functional food acquisitions should be a clue about the value of these so-called improved foods.

Coco-Cola's new Diet Coke Plus is being touted as a source of vitamins B3, B6 and B12, as well as zinc and magnesium. The so-called added value in an eight-ounce can of Diet Coke
Plus provides 15 percent of the daily value of niacin, B6 and B12, 10 percent of the daily value for zinc and magnesium. These values are negligible when you consider the amount of nutrients the soft drink may rob from the body and the damage done by drinking this unnatural, non-food, sweetened with the controversial artificial sweetener aspartame. Coco-Cola also spent $4.1 billion last year to sell fortified water, such as Vitaminwater and Glaceau.

Nestlé, famous for instant coffee and milk chocolate, is putting research dollars into possibly fortifying hundreds of products including milk, salad dressings, butter, ice cream, bread and coffee.

Other examples of fortified junk foods include: Hershey's chocolate syrup, which is now available with extra calcium, and Hershey's Antioxidant Chocolates, advertised as having more flavanol antioxidants than dark chocolate.

Jelly Belly Candy Co. has recently introduced Sport Beans, jelly beans formulated with electrolytes and vitamins C and E, and Pepperidge Farm's Goldfish crackers now have added calcium. What's next? "Healthy" functional French fries from McDonald's?
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