Your morning bagel is, in fact, a small miracle made possible by conventional, mass-produced and enriched ingredients, like flour and salt. At the turn of the 20th century, when our great-great-grandparents had no choice but to eat “real food,” malnutrition was rampant. Anemia was common, as was iodine deficiency, which could cause a disfiguring swelling of the thyroid gland known as a goiter; in one Michigan county on the eve of World War I, nearly a third of potential Army recruits were rejected because of such thyroid problems. Enrichment — such as the addition of iron to wheat flour and iodine to salt — and easier access to grain and fresh produce, made possible by productive industrial farming, reduced anemia and virtually banished not only goiters but also illnesses like rickets, scurvy and pellagra.