Strengthened with defensive works or barriers; in nutrition, refers to foods enhanced with added vitamins or minerals.
From Latin 'fortis' meaning 'strong' plus '-ficare' meaning 'to make'. Originally military terminology from the 14th century, extended to nutritional contexts in the 20th century as vitamin deficiency diseases were understood.
Food fortification has quietly prevented millions of cases of diseases like rickets and scurvy - adding iodine to salt alone eliminated goiter as a common condition. Medieval fortified castles and modern fortified breakfast cereals serve the same basic principle: adding strength where natural defenses are insufficient.
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