What is Enriched Flour?
- Written By: Niki Foster
- Edited By: Bronwyn Harris
- Last Modified Date: 31 March 2013
-
Copyright Protected:
2003-2013 Conjecture Corporation
Enriched flour is white flour with added nutrients intended to compensate for the loss of natural nutrients that occurs during processing. Each pound (0.45 kg) of flour must contain the following nutrients in order to be considered enriched according to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines: 2.9 milligrams of thiamine, 24 milligrams of niacin, 0.7 milligrams of folic acid, 1.8 milligrams of riboflavin, and 20 milligrams of iron. Except for iron, all of these nutrients are B vitamins.
Some enriched flours also contain 960 milligrams or more of calcium per pound. Though some people refer to enriched flour as fortified flour, that term is not correct, because fortified implies the addition of nutrients that never existed in the food.
White flour first became popular during the medieval period in Europe, when it was perceived as cleaner and healthier than untreated flour. This may have been because the processing necessary to make white flour kills fungus, though people at the time would not have been aware of this feature. White flour remains more popular than other types of flour in the Western world, especially for baking. However, compared to darker flours, white flour lacks many essential nutrients. Enriched flour combines the flavor and texture of white flour with the nutrients found naturally in untreated flour.
Peruvian-American chemist Benjamin R. Jacobs was the first to discover the nutritional deficiencies of white flour and to suggest ways to correct the problem in the 1920s. During World War II, Jacobs' methods were widely promoted in Great Britain and the United States. Enriched flour offered a way to ensure that citizens of all social classes were eating nutritious diets despite rationing. In 1942, the United States Army announced that it would only use enriched flour, making the product immensely popular among United States civilians who wished to show their support of the troops. Today, enriched flour remains the most popular type of flour in the United States.
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Discuss this Article
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anon327827
Post 10 |
I am wanting to know if e920 is added to the flour at the mill or is added by the baker when making the bread items? |
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anon291581
Post 9 |
@anon40754: I believe what they are told to avoid is refined flours and go for whole grains as for example, whole wheat, instead. I tried to buy plain unenriched unbleached white wheat flour and could not find any in town! I don't want ingredients in my food I didn't add, so that's why I didn't want the enriched kind. |
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stevejm
Post 7 |
The truth is, so many of the good things that were originally in it have been stripped out through refinement that they had to add a little something back in. Now here’s the really scary part. What they are adding back into your flour is actually toxic! Iron is one of the “nutrients” added back into enriched flour, except that the type of iron that is added in is not really a nutrient at all, but is considered a metallic iron. Metallic iron is obviously not available for use by the body, and was never meant to be consumed in the first place. |
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anon144668
Post 6 |
At first, sorry for my english. I'm from Spain. Anybody knows what's the law or legislation that sets the parameters for considering whether or not a flour is enriched? Thanks! |
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anon75982
Post 5 |
B vitamins are generally made using a yeast process. Therefore, I would assume that the vitamins in enriched flour contain yeast unless the package says "yeast-free" (and it never does as far as I know). |
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anon51795
Post 4 |
In India, villagers hand mill their own grain. Are they losing nutrients by doing this, or is this method actually preferable because they don't lose nutrients by doing this? What is it about milling grain that causes nutrients to be lost? Are the additional vitamins added to the flour in Western countries in order to replace what was lost, or to add vitamins that weren't naturally occurring to the flour? |
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anon43652
Post 3 |
Enriched flour has vitamins added to it. Vitamins don't grow on trees, like fruit and leaves. How are these "vitamins" made? Some sources say they are made in a yeast. I need to know. I get a bad case of diarrhea, gas, bloating and malabsorption from enriched flour. I am not allergic to wheat. If I avoid enriched food, I am okay. I am not allergic to gluten. Without going over the known history of enrichment, the fda requirements for vitamins, if an item is listed as being enriched, etc. Can anyone address the question of: what is the source of these "vitamins"; are they made like some brands of vitamin pills? A lot of vitamin pills are made from different kinds of yeast. Are the vitamins in enriched flour made from yeast, or created in a yeast? I can't seem to find this answer anywhere, even when I write to the manufacturing companies. |
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anon40754
Post 2 |
why is enriched flour considered to facilitate weight gain and thus avoided by people who are more health conscious, when the enriching process only adds nutrients? |
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anon5720
Post 1 |
is enriched flour filed or classified as a carbohydrate or a protein or a lipid??? |
