Tariq Nelson

Orange Juice with Calcium. Tums with calcium. Peanut Butter with Omega-3. Green Muck. Costly, but is it worth it? What about a head of organic lettuce for $5?

You’re in the grocery store shopping for a carton of orange juice for tomorrow’s breakfast and you’re faced with a decision—plain old juice or, for no extra cost, one fortified with bone-building calcium.

You’re not alone. Promising better bang for the buck, products like these, called functional foods, are increasingly filling grocery store aisles—and our fridges.

But do we really need them?

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Three-quarters of consumers said they’re trying to eat more fiber and whole grains, and half said they’re trying to get more omega-3 fatty acids, according to an online International Food Information Council Foundation survey of 1,000 Americans 18 and older in late 2005. About 83% of respondents said they’re interested in learning more about foods that offer health benefits beyond basic nutrition.

[...]

The question is, How much of these extra benefits do you need? You can get too much of a good thing without realizing it, says registered dietitian Cynthia Sass, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

“The idea of a supplement or fortified foods is to fill a gap, to bring a person up to the recommended intake,” she says. “If you’re already at the recommended intake, it’s not going to do anything for you. It may work against you.”

For instance, exceeding the tolerable upper intake level for vitamin C, 2,000 miligrams a day for adults, can cause diarrhea, an upset stomach and kidney stones. Likewise, while plant sterols and stanols added to your granola bar may help lower your cholesterol, you only need two grams of the substances a day[MORE...]