Next month's installment will cover...............................
Seriously though, It's interesting the answer you get when you ask doctors that question. I was recently watching a podcast hosted by an MD and he told a story about a conference he spoke at to medical doctors. He asked by a show of hands how many prescribed supplements to their patients. Less than a third raised their hands. He then asked how many personally took supplements. Over three quarters of them raised their hands...... I think one reason for this response may be the education or lack thereof in medical school covering nutrition. Most medical schools sadly don't offer any and if they do it's just a few hours of education. Not bragging but I got almost 60 units of bio-chemistry based nutrition in chiropractic school. I will say this, thank God that doesn't stop many of them to do the extra work and educate themselves in this topic and I have personally learned and continue to learn great new information from MD's. Some of my best mentors are MD's!
Now, having said that I also think a problem with some docs is the same issue many of my patients have. They don't fully appreciate the difference between a vitamin deficiency and a vitamin insufficiency. There is a huge difference.... Virtually no one these days suffer from vitamin deficiency. Some classic ones we used to see were:
Ricketts, from a Vit. D deficiency.
Scurvy, from Vit. C deficiency.
Pellagra and Beri Beri from Vit. B deficiency.
One of the reasons we don't see these any more is that even most ultra processed food companies put some of these vitamins back into the so- called food they create.
Insufficiency works differently: This is a pre-disease state. For instance, take Magnesium. Magnesium, (Mg) is vital for a whole host of bodily function. One is the production of ATP. (Adenosine Triphosphate), the stuff our cells run on. Another critical use is for DNA repair. (Your DNA is constantly being repaired due to the exposure to environmental insults). If your insufficient you may not notice anything, or you might notice some cramping or sleep problems or any number of other issues, But your body will prioritize the use for energy production in order to you know;(live). Now you may not have enough to protect your DNA and years down the road you get cancer! Sadly the rate of cancer is now almost 1 in 2. The level of low Mg in people tested is over 70%
The RDA, government Recommended Daily Amount of vitamins and minerals is to prevent disease. Is that what you want in life? Just prevent the diseases I previously mentioned. These recommended levels have nothing to do with "thriving", and it is so short sighted on the long-term effects low levels of vitamins and nutrients play in the chronic disease we are suffering from at an epidemic level'
Another typical response to the question of, do you really need vitamins is, "not if you eat a good diet"!
Really?
First of all, be honest how many of us really eat a good diet 100% of the time? I know I don't, and I write articles about nutrition. Can you really even eat good food given the lack of nutrients in the soil of most farms from which you eat or the animals that you eat, eat? (Remember, all of the nutrients you need come from the soil). I guess you can, if 100% of your food comes from Regenerative farms and ranches, where they go to great effort to repair the damaged soil and feed the animals their natural diet and let them roam around the way nature intended. Even Organic food is no more nutrient dense than most commercial farms because they tend to make the same mistakes with soil management. Ask yourself a smart question.
Why do we even need food?
"Because life just wouldn't be worth living without an occasional Rib Eye steak". Yes, but also......
To get the vitamins, minerals and the thousands of phytonutrients we need to not only survive but drive the billions, (with a capital B) of biochemical reactions happening in your body every second your alive.
Make no mistake food ain't what it used to be.
When researchers at the University of Texas at Austin analyzed the nutritional content of 43 fruits and vegetables and compared them to values 50 years ago, they came to some unsettling conclusions. The quantity of certain key nutrients, including vitamin C, vitamin B2, phosphorus, calcium, and iron are lower now than they were when similar crops were harvested half a decade ago. They even found differences in protein content between produce grown currently and in the past. For example, using data from the USDA, broccoli had 130 milligrams of calcium in 1950 but that amount is only 48 milligrams today.
It's not hard to see a connection between the meteoric rise in all chronic diseases being partly driven from these "insufficiencies".
Can you have a broccoli deficiency?
Well, you're not going to starve to death if you never eat broccoli, but let's look at this through the lens of what I'm alluding to here. Cruciferous vegies have a phytonutrient in it called Sulphorphane. This nutrient is critical to producing a metabolic product called NRF2 which is vitally important to what is known as phase 2 detoxification. (Part of the livers detox process). Without this ability you would be dead pretty quickly. If it's insufficient, you just die slower. Studies showed that people who were given Sulphorphane as a supplement were able to deactivate Benzene in their bodies by 60% in 24hrs. You think that might be useful if you live in or around LA after the recent fires? On that topic, nutrients also shown to promote detox of heavy metals are:
Sea Weed, (Also, interesting role of detoxing radiation poisoning)
Green Tea
Cilantro
By the way; Sulphorphane is in much higher concentrations in Broccoli sprots!
A very interesting fact about the dynamic and numerous ways nutrients work in synergy with other nutrients referred to as pleomorphic, scurvy for instance was never cured by giving just Vit. C, but a couple ounces of lemon juice did the trick.
The top of the list for most common insufficient nutrients are some of the most critical that we need for good health. Again, not hard to see a causative link to increasing rates of chronic disease, are:
Vit. D with K2 (70% of US population tested are low).
Omega 3's . 90 % of the US population shown to have low Omega Index scores, (The amount of Omega 3 in the cell membrane),@ about 5%. Studies prove if your level is 8% you have a 5 yr improved life expectancy. Japan on average is closer to 10% A fascinating study showed that if you smoke and have high Omega index your life expectancy is the same as a non-smoker. However, if don't smoke and have a low score your life expectancy is the same as a smoker!
Mg, (7 different kinds. I like the Glycinate and Citrate form and the Theronate form has been shown to cross the blood brain barrier which may be beneficial for people with migraines, but it does not seem to help with DNA repair, so you may not want to take the Theronate form singularly).
Potassium: Studies indicating 100% US population low on K+
Vit. E, A, iron, calcium
Protein
My best advice as a clinician would be to get tested.
This list barley scratches the surface if you consider that every fruit and vegetable has something unique and for the most part, beneficial phytonutrients in it. Although it's an interesting paradox considering that these multitudes of plant species didn't decide one day, "I wonder how we can help our little homo sapien friends stay healthy". Most of these nutrients they make are made for their own benefit and protection. Not ours! Which is part of the downward spiral we now find ourselves and farming in. If the soil is devoid of the nutrients the plant needs, (and it is) it can't protect itself from pests and now we are forced to use more and more herbicides, pesticides and fungicides to do what the plant should be able to do on it's own. Consider that there are over 800 different plants we can eat but today consume 3 main staples and we tend to stay within 12 other different plants as our standard diet.
Corn
Wheat
Soy and Rice depending on where you live.
In this aspect, as the French say; "Vive la difference" Variety is truly the spice of life!
Conclusion: Do we really need vitamins and supplements