Vitamin C fortified foods can reduce risk of poor health in people over 50

Eating fortified foods such as fortified milk fortified meat fortified cheese flours and fortified wine may be associated with a lower risk of poor health in people over 50 according to research published in The BMJ today.

Even though this is an observational study the researchers say their findings indicate continued need for caution in interpreting the findings since they may not have been able to account for any potential confounding factors.

They conclude: In the absence of a biological explanation blanket recommendations against harmful intake of numerous food components should be reinterpreted and validated through evidence instead of suggestion. This should guide clinical practice.

So is eating fortified foods a warning for older people who are able to reduce their red meat intake? However this study is limited in several ways. The study population lacked the same dietary factors that are always associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases in populations over 65 years of age say the researchers.

For example the overall study had similar several cardiometabolic risk factors as one would find in a non-population-based cohort in the UK.

It was also based on an ideal product quality score that is based on personal information from the manufacturers of fortified foods who are often reluctant to publicly report specific ingredients.

So lack of rigor of the study did not allow for assessment of its potential real-world occurrence.

How do people choose to consume food?

The researchers compiled research published in The BMJ and peer-reviewed during non-consecutive 24-hour digital feeds from the UK clinical practice journal Chronic Disease Reports.

The data was submitted by the manufacturers of fortified foods and were analysed in that studys cohort and sample size.

The analyses included flavoured foods salt sugar and calorie content.

All were then determined in a meta-analysis model (MIM-Risk Adjusted Model) taking into account four potential confounders: insurance claims data age gender wealth and contraceptive use.

Findings:

Strongly suggestive of the possible role of vitamins C E D iron and calcium during and related to low vitamin B12 levels and vitamin B12 deficiency.

Despite high vitamin C intake vitamin B2 or vitamin D (retinoid types) level did not seem to influence the results. This may however be because vitamin B2 interacts differently with vitamin D than the other way around suggesting that the effect of either vitamin B2 or vitamin D may be unidentified say the researchers.