WHY ARE SUPPLEMENTS BENEFICIAL?
Many people ask me the question, “can’t I get all of the nutrition I need from my food?”. After reading the following, you should be able to answer this for yourself.
Food Isn’t Like It Used to Be…
Over 100 years ago, all food was local, organic, and grown in untreated soils. Most people were able to get the nutrients they required simply by eating the diet their ancestors had eaten for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Since then foods have been genetically modified, highly processed, sprayed and mass farmed. In addition, the soil has been seriously depleted. It takes at least 17 minerals to grow a healthy plant but most fertilizers only contain 3 minerals, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
Between 1940-1991 mineral content in fruits and vegetables decreased by up to 59%. – Nutrition and Health. April 2003 17: 85-115.
In addition, most people do not consume the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables, let alone the recent research indicating a declining nutrient content of produce in international farming practice and especially in the UK as described in the Composition of Foods by McCance and Widdowson. Poor nutrition has been linked to an increased risk of many diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. The human diet requires both macro-nutrients, which are the main source of calories, and micro-nutrients (more than 40 essential minerals, vitamins, and other biochemicals), which are required for virtually all metabolic and developmental processes. The leading dietary sources of energy in the Western world are abundant in carbohydrates, refined sugar and processed and trans fats, but deficient in micro-nutrients – they are energy-dense and nutrient-poor!
Poor Digestion
Go into any drug store and you’ll notice that a whole isle is dedicated to digestive issues. People are unable to properly digest the food they are consuming. Mostly because they’ve been eating “food-like substances” that the body finds hard to digest. It’s not just a matter of what foods we eat, but it’s a matter of digesting, absorbing, and then assimilating that food. For example, if you are eating the best diet on the planet yet can’t break down the food properly, the beneficial nutrients are never actually making it into your body.
Poor Food Preparation
The way you process your food greatly influences the nutrition in the food. Typically, the more a food is processed, the more nutrition is lost. For example, 24 hours after a cantaloupe is cut it has lost 35% of its vitamin C. Also, the higher the heat that is used during the cooking process, the more the nutrients are destroyed.
Environmental Toxins
100 years ago there were no pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, larvacides, fertilizers, and hormones used in our food. Today, there are thousands of chemicals on our food and in our environment. In order to detoxify these chemicals and eliminate them from our bodies, we need nutrients. The nutrients we get from food are not enough to get rid of the chemicals.
“In a study by an environmental group on people not working in industry, such as teachers and journalists, the researchers found that the blood of the subjects contained nearly 100 chemicals that did not exist 40 years ago.” – Dr. Mark Schauss, MBA, DB
Stress
The more stress you are under, the more nutrition and antioxidants you need. For example, if you were to walk across a bridge and it was constructed of rope and wood, you probably wouldn’t worry too much about the bridge’s integrity. However, if you were to take an 18- wheeler across the same bridge you’d probably want some stronger materials used. Your body is the same way in that it requires more resources when greater stress is placed upon the system.
Disease Prevention
The RDA (recommended dietary allowance) is a value established by the government that will protect most people from the disease associated with that nutrient’s deficiency. For example, the RDA for vitamin D is between 400-800 iu (depending on age and gender). This is enough to prevent the severe disease associated with vitamin D deficiency called, rickets. However, that amount will not protect you from various cancers, autoimmune, and degenerative diseases. Dosages of vitamin D needed for optimal health are between 1000-10,000 iu per day. This is up to twenty-five times more than is recommended by government agencies.
Oftentimes, dosages much higher than the government recommended amounts are needed to both restore one to optimal health and maintain optimal health. Your therapeutic supplementation protocol has been designed with the consideration of your specific biochemical needs. It is designed to bring your body back into optimal health, the way it was intended to be.
Side Effects
Many people associate “side effects” with “negative effects” because the term “side effects” is usually used in relation to the unwanted effects of drugs. When it comes to nutritional supplements, they can also have side effects, however, the side effects are good effects that are welcomed. You might notice that as you are progressing through your supplement program, symptoms resolve that were not your primary concern.
Although rare, there can be side effects with natural remedies. Here are some things to watch out for:
• Gas and or bloating
• Loose stool or diarrhea
• Bright colored urine (from B-vitamins)
• Flushing (from vitamin B3)
• Fatigue (from calming herbs)
• Heart palpitations (from thyroid supplements)
• Anything else
Decreasing the dosage or discontinuing the supplement can usually resolve symptoms.
Drugs vs Nutrtions
Pharmaceuticals are capable of inducing nutrient deficiencies as well as numerous unwanted side effects. Many of these side effects may be caused by the nutrient deficiencies induced by the chemical reactions in the body from short and long term use of drugs.
Many drugs either inhibit conversions of nutrients or use more of them, which may contribute to additional health problems. The most common medicines that interfere with nutrient availability are cholesterol lowering statins, birth control pills and antibiotics.
To mitigate the risk of nutrient associated side effects the diet must be manipulated to provide additional food sources or supplementation may be added to the medication regime to compensate. This will require higher than RDA levels of nutrients as daily living and medication consumption, as well as rectification of deficiencies, will not be met from diet alone unless very carefully monitored. Please click on the Adverse Drug Nutrient Chart March 2010 to learn more about how prescription drugs deplete nutritional status.
Specific Brands
Not all supplements are created equal. There are many factors to consider when choosing a supplement:
- The forms of the nutrients (i.e. calcium carbonate versus calcium citrate)
- Excipients and fillers
- Dosages
- Sources of ingredients
- Processing
- Container type (i.e. plastic or glass)
References:
Jensen, Bernard. Empty harvest. Avery: 2002.
Krop, Jozef. Healing the Planet. KOS Publishing Inc.: 1997.
Murray, Michael T. Encyclopedia of Nutritional Supplements. Three Rivers Press: 1996.
Block G(2004) J Food Composition Anal 17:439–447
Kant AK. Consumption of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods by adult Americans: nutritional and health implications. The third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1994.Am J Clin Nutr. 2000 Oct;72(4):929-36