Enriched flour
1197035
224936488
2008-07-11T02:18:27Z
76.29.5.130
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'''Enriched flour''' is [[flour]] with specific [[nutrient]]s returned to it that have been lost while it was prepared. According to the [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/get-cfr.cgi?TITLE=21&PART=137&SECTION=165&YEAR=2001&TYPE=TEXT FDA], a pound of enriched flour must have the following quantities of nutrients to qualify: 2.9 milligrams of [[thiamin]], 1.8 milligrams of [[riboflavin]], 24 milligrams of [[niacin]], 0.7 milligrams of
[[folic acid]], and 20 milligrams of [[iron]]. The first four nutrients are [[B vitamin]]s. [[Calcium]] also may be added at a minimum of 960 milligrams per pound.
Enriching is necessary because the [[Refined grains|processing]] used to make [[white flour]] destroys some of these nutrients that originally were present in the [[whole grain]]. White flour became adopted in many cultures because it was recognized as being healthier than dark flours during the late Middle Ages. The unknown factor for its benefit at that time was that [[mold]] and [[fungus]] in the grains, which led to several diseases, were eliminated in the processing that resulted in white flour.
In the 1920s, [[Benjamin R. Jacobs]] began to document the loss of essential nutrients, however, through this processing of [[cereal]]s and [[grain]]s and to demonstrate a method by which the end products could be enriched with the lost nutrients. These nutrients promote good health and help to prevent some diseases. It is because of these benefits that enriched flour is so prevalent today, {{Or|date=February 2008}} despite there being no [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) regulations requiring their use.
The international effort to start enriching flour was launched during the [[1940]]s as a means to improve the health of the wartime populations of the [[United Kingdom|British]] and [[United States]] while food was being rationed and alternative sources of the nutrients were scarce. The decision to choose flour for enrichment was based on its commonality in the diets of those wartime populations, ranging from the rich to the poor. A major factor in the switch to enriched flour in the United States was the U.S. Army's restriction in [[1942]], that it would purchase only enriched flour.
The reason that enriched flour is "enriched" as opposed to "fortified" is because the nutrients are added for the purpose of ''replacing'' those lost in the flour processing, not introducing nutrients that were never in the food originally.
U.S. Army studies have shown that vitamin enriched flour has added 4 inches to the height of the average American. An identical effect has been noted in every nation which has adopted food enrichment.
In Asian countries, rice is enriched instead.
In some conspiracy theories, flour and rice are enriched because "all the nutrients have been removed".
==See also==
* [[Iodised salt]] — which might be called "Fortified salt".<br>
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[[Category:Flour]]