Could Over-Fortified Breakfast Cereals Be Harmful? 

Are added nutrients in cereals really about marketing and not health?

A healthy diet is contingent on getting sufficient amounts of key nutrients. However, many Americans don’t realize that some nutrients, if consumed in excess amounts, can actually be harmful. According to a recent report by Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington D.C.-based health research and advocacy organization, food producers—in order to make their products appear more nutritious and sell better—often fortify their foods with large amounts of vitamins and minerals.

Fortification of Cereal Sales

“Fortification in general can help you replenish certain micro nutrients in the diet,” said Samantha Heller, a dietitian at New York University Langone Medical Center, in a recent interview, “and we know that healthy cereals reduce certain diseases like heart disease, but what this report is suggesting is that we are over-fortifying our cereals and making some of our chocolaty, sugary, honey-dipped cereals look healthier than they really are.”

The EWG Report goes on to say that a review of fortified foods currently on the market found that vitamin A, zinc, and niacin were the three nutrients that young children are at risk of consuming too much of. The Report attributes this to the fact that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) current dietary Daily Values for most vitamins and minerals were set in 1968 and are woefully outdated.

Also contributing to the over-fortification issue is the fact that the content of the recommended percent of daily values for nutrition, which appears on food product labels, are based on adult nutritional needs. Based on these facts, American childrens’ intake of vitamin A, zinc and niacin should be limited to 25 percent of the adult daily value, recommends Heller.

The Current Nutritional Facts, Please

The Food and Drug Administration is now in the process() of updating the nutrition facts labels that appear on most food packages. However, none of the FDA’s proposed changes addresses the fact that the recommended percent of daily values for nutrition are based on adult nutritional needs. None of the FDA’s proposed changes addresses the issue of over-consumption of fortified micronutrients by children. The FDA’s outdated percent of daily value—reflective of adult nutritional needs, not those of children—combined with sugary, honey-dipped, and chocolaty cereals marketed to children creates concern that America’s children are consuming too many vitamins in their breakfast cereals.

Logical Label Conclusion: Vigilant and Questioning Consumerism

America’s children are being over-fed vitamins in their fortified breakfast cereals—is a logical conclusion, based on the facts. The FDA’s, adult oriented, nutritional facts label is outdate. Flavored and sweetened breakfast cereals, doped with vitamin fortifications, are being marketed to America’s children. Until the FDA decides to wake up and acknowledge consumer demand for better food product labeling. Americans must remain vigilant and questioning of their food product labels.