Editing Enriched flour (section)

== History ==
White flour became adopted in many cultures because it was thought to be healthier than dark flours during the late Middle Ages. {{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} As white flour was more expensive it became a fashionable indicator of perceived social status and tended to be consumed mostly by the richer classes. Another factor was that [[Mold (fungus)|mold]] and [[fungus]] in the grains, which led to several diseases, were significantly reduced in the processing that resulted in white flour. 

In the 1920s, [[Benjamin R. Jacobs]] began to document the loss of essential nutrients, however, through this processing of [[cereal]]s and [[grain]]s and to demonstrate a method by which the end products could be enriched with some of the lost nutrients. These nutrients promote good health and help to prevent some diseases.{{cn|date=March 2023}} Enrichment was not possible until 1936, when the synthesis of [[thiamin]] was elucidated.<ref name=Bishai/>

The international effort to start enriching flour was launched during the 1940s as a means to improve the health of the wartime populations of the [[United Kingdom]] and [[United States]] while food was being rationed and alternative sources of the nutrients were scarce.{{clarify | reason=The meaning of "international effort" to improve health in 2 countries seems odd; clarify or provide citation? | date=January 2014}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Labeling|first=Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Use of Dietary Reference Intakes in Nutrition|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK208880/|title=Overview of Food Fortification in the United States and Canada|date=2003|publisher=National Academies Press (US)|language=en}}</ref> The decision to choose flour for enrichment was based on its commonality in the diets of those wartime populations, ranging from the rich to the poor. These wartime campaigns resulted in 40% of flour being enriched by 1942.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}} In February 1942, the U.S. Army announced that it would purchase only enriched flour. This resulted in a large expansion of enrichment, but smaller local mills were still selling cheap, unenriched flour that could end up consumed by the poor, which needed enrichment the most. In 1943, the War Foods Administration issued a temporary ban on non-enriched bread, finally raising enrichment compliance to 100%.<ref name=Bishai>{{cite journal |last1=Bishai |first1=David |last2=Nalubola |first2=Ritu |title=The History of Food Fortification in the United States: Its Relevance for Current Fortification Efforts in Developing Countries |journal=Economic Development and Cultural Change |date=October 2002 |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=37–53 |doi=10.1086/345361|s2cid=154018967 }}</ref>