A healthy person with a balanced diet does not need fortified foods, according to the Hamburg Consumer Advice Centre. It said that frequently eating food enriched with vitamins or minerals was generally more expensive and potentially harmful to one's health due to the risk of overdose and disruption of the body's metabolism.
Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment warned, for example, that food fortified with iron could increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes. Consumer advocates point out that some foods, such as cocoa powder and candy, are sometimes fortified with nutrients to make them seem healthy and to mask the fact that they are loaded with fat and calories.
Some people learn they have high blood pressure during a visit to an eye doctor who finds damage to the delicate blood vessels on the fundus, the concave interior of the eye. Such damage is an indication that blood vessels in other organs may be similarly damaged by long-standing hypertension, noted Nicole Eter, a member of Germany's Professional Association of Ophthalmologists.
She said that ophthalmologists often detected damage to blood vessels of the eye while examining the retina, part of the fundus, for instance when patients came in wanting a new pair of eyeglasses. In extreme cases, damage to the retina is already severe and no longer treatable, which can result in diminishing visual acuity and gaps in the visual field. Long-term hypertension can also cause strokes, heart attacks and kidney failure.
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