How fortification makes our food and our planet healthier

Fortifying food is a simple but powerful way to make sure that plant-based eating is not just kinder to the planet but also good for people’s health. It also – and we should be honest here – sounds like an incredibly boring topic. That’s probably got a lot to do with the word – ‘fortification’ sounds more like a military campaign than something you might want on your dinner table. But the practice of fortification is often used in an almost military sense, in that it’s a key weapon for fighting malnutrition on a population-wide level. And what the word actually means is ‘to make something stronger’ – which makes sense, since fortification is now being used as a way to strengthen the nutritional profile of plant-based products such as oat milk and veggie burgers. In this way, it is helping to fight both malnutrition and climate change. Read on to find out more. 

Fortification has been making populations healthier for more than a century

Fortification is the practice of increasing the content of one or more vitamins and minerals in a food product in order to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply. It provides a key public health benefit and is often mandated by national food regulations for products that are widely consumed at a population level, such as bread and rice. The key advantage of fortification, on both an individual and national level, is that it seamlessly addresses nutritional gaps, with no effort required from consumers. It is, in a sense, the original “nudge”, before Malcolm Gladwell made nudging a thing.

Fortification has been a cornerstone of public-health initiatives around the world since the early 20th century. It’s a powerful tool that has been used to combat malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies on a national and global scale, and is often used to tackle population-wide deficiencies of key nutrients. Around the world, more than 2 billion people are thought to have micronutrient deficiencies – the most common being deficiencies in vitamins A, B12, and D, along with iron, iodine, and zinc.¹

As far back as 1917, Denmark pioneered the fortification of margarine with vitamin A as a way to address deficiency-related blindness,² and, just a few years later, in 1922, Switzerland tackled the country’s widespread iodine deficiency by fortifying salt,³ a practice that now occurs in many countries. 

Canada started fortifying cow’s milk with vitamin D in 1965 to fight rickets, a debilitating bone-weakening condition, and, in 1998, the United States started adding folic acid to cereal products, thus dramatically reducing conditions that affect neural and spinal development, such as spina bifida and anencephaly.⁴ In 2001, Costa Rica started fortifying rice, while Finland began fortifying cow’s milk and margarine in 2003.⁵

Around the world, fortification has had a profound impact on public health over the last century, and has made us all healthier! And it is now being used to ensure that plant-based foods are nutritionally equivalent to their animal-based counterparts.

How fortification works in plant-based food products

Creating plant-based alternatives that are nutritionally similar to their animal-based counterparts usually involves fortifying them with the key nutrients found in those animal-based foods, while preserving other beneficial nutrients that are naturally found in plant-based foods, including fiber, protein, antioxidants, polyphenols, and unsaturated fatty acids.⁶

So how do plant-based foods get those added nutrients? Food manufacturers use two main methods:

• Direct fortification: nutrients such as calcium or vitamin D are added during the production process. For example, many almond or soy milks are fortified in order to match the calcium content of cow’s milk.⁷
• Biofortification: nutrients are boosted at the crop level. For example, certain crops are bred or enhanced to contain more iron or zinc.

A third but less widely practiced method is home fortification, which involved adding naturally nutrient-rich components such as algae (with its rich omega-3 profile) or flaxseed (with its fiber and essential fatty acids) to home-cooked items in order to enhance their nutritional profile.⁸ This approach is a key way to enhance your nutritional intake on a plant-based diet – adding ground flaxseeds or vitamin B12 powder to a soup or smoothie is an easy way to stay healthy!

Key nutrients in fortified plant-based foods

Certain nutrients are especially important in fortified plant-based foods in order to ensure balanced and complete nutrition:

• Vitamin B12 is vital for energy production and red blood cell formation. The fortification of plant-based products with B12 ensures that people following non-animal product diets can meet their daily needs.⁹ Learn more about vitamin B12
• Iron is essential for keeping our immune system functioning. It prevents anemia, as well as being required for the body to produce hemoglobin. Learn more about iron 
• Calcium and vitamin D are crucial for bone health. Plant-based milks are frequently fortified with both in order to provide comparable levels to dairy milk. Learn more about vitamin D and calcium.
• Omega-3 fatty acids are important for brain and heart health. Although omega-3s are usually derived from fish, algae and flaxseed sources are used in plant-based alternatives.¹⁰ Learn more about Omega-3 fatty acids
  

Wait – but isn’t protein a key nutrient?

While protein is a key macronutrient found in both animal- and plant-based foods, it’s not considered to be a key nutrient when it comes to fortification. This is because, in all regions of the world, average protein consumption generally exceeds the recommended daily intake.¹¹ Despite it being a contemporary obsession, getting enough protein is the least of our problems from a health and nutrition perspective – and a healthy and balanced plant-based diet can easily provide the amount of protein that a human body needs. Rather than focusing on the quantity of protein, people following a plant-based diet should aim for variety. In this way, different plant-based protein sources are combined to obtain all the essential amino acids,¹² while also increasing the intake of other health-optimising micronutrients.

Why fortification matters

By addressing common deficiencies such as vitamin B12 and iron, fortification ensures that plant-based eating is a healthier choice for everyone.¹³ But fortifying plant-based products isn’t just about human health – it also plays a key role in supporting sustainability. By making plant-based foods nutritionally comparable to animal-based options, fortification helps to encourage a shift away from resource-intensive meat and dairy production and towards plant-based eating. In this way, it helps to reduce the environmental impact of our diets,¹⁴ and provides a tangible solution to some of the world’s most urgent environmental challenges. 

Creating a healthier world for everyone

Eating fortified foods is an easy and effective way for people to follow a healthy and balanced plant-based diet, complete with all the essential nutrients that the human body needs. At the same time, every step we take toward reducing our consumption of animal-based foods helps to build a food system that is more sustainable for the planet and all who live on it.

Simon Middleton

Senior Writer

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