As you know I am not a fan of breakfast cereals.  They are the
most profitable food on the supermarket shelf, they have false
health claims that would curl your toes and their marketing and
advertising is full of extravagant claims.  The food is barely a food,
it is highly processed and as a result must be fortified with a few
vitamins and minerals.  And if you read the ingredients you’ll see there
are more additives then a luxury car.

You can imagine my absolute horror when I found out that you can
download a fact sheet from the ABC website that shows you how to get
the iron out of the breakfast cereal.  All you have to do is crush
the cereal that has been fortified with iron.  A black powder will
be visible then if you place a magnet near the crushed food the
black powder will be attracted to it.  For how to do this experiment go
to the following url http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/pdf/teachdemo30.pdf

At the end of the experiment it tells you that the iron is
perfectly safe.  I beg to differ on this one.  Because I tried this
same experiment with real oats, real corn and real wheat and there was
no magnetic pull what so ever and no black powder emerged.  Plant
based minerals are the way we have always gotten our minerals not
some sprayed on black powder with magnetic pull.

The fortification of foods has been a long term endeavour by
the health authorities to stop nutritional deficiencies.  All flour
has been fortified with B vitamins for many decades.  In 2009
the compulsory fortification of bread with folic acid and iodine
was imposed on all bakers in Australia, there was an exception for
organic bakers (thank goodness).

I am opposed to fortification because I don’t want to be
mass medicated.  But having said that I don’t eat any fortified foods,
I stay right away from them.  And maybe it is a good thing for
the people who blindly eat these ridiculous so called foods
with fortification.

There have been studies that show if a male consumes a quantity
of folic acid the synthetic form of folate then the chances of
prostate cancer increases by some 30%.  If a pregnant woman during 30
and 34 weeks takes folic acid then the chances of her baby having
asthma increases.  While we consume fortified foods with vitamins
and minerals made in a chemical laboratory we risk the chance of
being caught up in some huge experiment that we really don’t know the
health outcome.  I’m not prepared to be a part of that.

The iodine that is added to the salt and thus our bread is a
substance called potassium iodate.  When this product is bought into the
country it comes in barrels with danger labels saying the following;
“DANGER! STRONG OXIDIZER. CONTACT WITH OTHER MATERIAL MAY CAUSE FIRE.
HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED OR INHALED. CAUSES IRRITATION TO SKIN, EYES
AND RESPIRATORY TRACT. MAY AFFECT CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, BLOOD,
AND KIDNEYS.

You could bring tons of dulse into the country which has a lot of
iron and iodine, naturally within the seaweed and there would never be
a danger warning nor would you be able to move it around with a magnet.

Food is so highly processed these days that there seems to be a
need for fortification.  But if you don’t eat processed foods then
you don’t have to worry about these matters.

It is interesting to note that Denmark has banned yeast
extract spreads Marmite and Vegemite, citing a law which restricts
vitamin- fortified food products. Interestingly, the country has also
banned rice crispies, ovaltine, horlicks, Kellogs fortified
breakfast cereals, and shreddies.

Denmark has been at the forefront of banning foods that they
believe may endanger the health of the community.  In 2003 they banned
trans fats from any food that was sold in the country, such bans have
not happened in many other countries but the trans fats are known to be
a fat that are not conducive to health.

Foods that are not fortified are real foods, these are the foods
from nature that have not been refined to the point where fortification
is needed.  Fortification of foods is something that needs to
be addressed but for most people they blindly consume foods without
even checking the label for what is in it.  Check your labels!!

Happy Changing Habits,

Cyndi O’Meara