Fortified foods are everywhere from breakfast cereal, flour, orange juice... and now even designer beverages. But are all fortified foods created equal? And can you utilize all the nutritional benefits the labels claim? This short article takes a look at some of the issues and how they relate to nutrition.

The article mentions Vitamin D and and the virtues of milk (and orange juice) fortification but passes over some basic information. e.g. It takes quite a few glasses of milk to absorb enough Vitamin D to meet the minimum levels recommended. Yet noteworthy is that light skinned people can produce all the Vitamin D they need from a little natural sunlight exposure (those with darker skin take a little longer). Yet if you are using sunscreen, in your car with your windows up, or in a room with sunlight passing through windows your body won't be able to generate much Vitamin D. Getting enough Vitamin D is important, especially for absorption and regulation of Calcium, but it is also one of the easiest Vitamins to get--and for free! So while milk fortification is a good thing there are other, easier, and natural ways to get Vitamin D and avoid all the nasty conditions a deficiency can cause. Interestingly Vitamin C is naturally produced by most mammals naturally, humans being one of the exceptions.