Learn Health Food Lingo

Enriched Foods

Many grain-based foods, such as bread, flour, and cereal, are commonly “enriched” with certain nutrients—riboflavin, thiamin, folate, and iron. These essential nutrients are lost during processing and are added back into the food in varying amounts after it has been processed. Note that whole-grain products possess superior nutrition to processed grains since enrichment does not replace all the nutrients, fibre, and phytochemicals lost during processing. One cup of whole-wheat flour, for example, contains higher levels of nutrients than 1 cup of “enriched” white flour. Another category of enriched foods is omega-3-enriched eggs. Hens are given a feed supplemented with omega-3s to produce a heart-healthy version of the traditional egg.

Fortified Foods

To boost protection against chronic disease or to help prevent a nutrient deficiency, certain foods are fortified with nutrients not present in the original food. Vitamin D-fortified milk, iodized salt, folate-fortified wheat products, calcium-fortified orange juice, and cereal fortified with vitamin B12 are well-known fortified foods that help to prevent nutrient deficiencies.

Functional Food

A loosely defined umbrella term, “functional food” refers to any food that promotes health beyond satisfying basic nutrition needs. The term reflects the growing number of enhanced foods available to us and does not carry scientific or legal meaning. Falling into the category of functional foods are “nutraceuticals,” “pharmafoods,” and “designer foods,” all of which are promoted as imparting a particular health or medicinal benefit, including the prevention and treatment of disease. Genetically modified foods fall into the category of designer foods. Unenhanced foods with natural disease-fighting properties (such as garlic or tomatoes), as well as enriched and fortified foods, are also considered functional foods.

Genetically Modified Foods

These are foods whose genetic makeup is altered in an effort to produce a new plant with more desirable characteristics, such as increased resistance to spoilage or improved nutritional content. Considerable controversy surrounds genetically modified foods, as long-term health and environmental effects and ethical issues are not resolved.

Organic Foods

Organic foods are grown and/or processed without the use of any synthetic chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, growth hormones, and antibiotics. The benefits of organic foods are not clear-cut. Although organic fruits and vegetables may be more flavourful and colourful, their nutritional value has not been established as superiour to non-organic fruits and vegetables. Also, many organic foods tend to be treated by natural pesticides, which are almost as toxic as their synthetic counterparts.