Over-Fortified Products May Pose Threat to Children: Report
American children of the age group of eight and younger may be consuming harmful amounts of a few vitamins according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG).
A new report highlights that "millions of children are ingesting potentially unhealthy amounts" of vitamin A, zinc and niacin with fortified breakfast cereals. This breakfast is the leading source of the excessive intake because all three nutrients are added in amounts calculated for adults.
Outdated nutritional labelling rules and misleading marketing is done by food manufacturers who use high fortification levels to make their products appear more nutritious fuel this potential risk.
The EWG report found 141 products including 114 cereals and 27 brands of snack bars to be over-fortified. The products included General Mills and Kellogg's cereals too.
It is important to note that there have been no reports of children suffering from any long-term adverse health effects due to the over-fortified products. But still the products named in the EWG report contain more of the vitamins than the "tolerable upper intake level" for young children.
Dr. Samir Gupta says excessive levels of Vitamin A can cause liver damage in children but excessive levels of Niacin and Zinc are "less of a concern."
Gupta says children would have to eat almost 10 times their daily intake over a long period of time to have any side effects.
All foods must contain nutritional information on the packaging but that can sometimes be "outdated" and "inaccurate" Gupta says, because "daily recommended amounts date back several decades and since then haven't been updated".
The daily values for most vitamins and minerals that are written on nutrition facts labels were set by the FDA in 1968 and have not been updated.
The agency also said that it is proposing lowering daily intakes for these nutrients for the revamped food labels.
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