Thoughts on Nutrition

I want to share a few things I have learned as I’ve studied nutrition:

• Optimal nutrition includes both micro-nutrients (vitamins and minerals) and macro-nutrients (Proteins, oils, and carbohydrates).

• The definition of a vitamin, is something your body requires that it cannot produce on its own. Our bodies produce thousands of necessary substances from the building blocks of proteins and carbohydrates, but vitamins and minerals cannot be produced and must be included in our diet. Cats for example, can produce their own Vitamin C, but humans and Guinea Pigs cannot—we must get Vitamin C from our diet.

• Every individual needs different amounts of vitamins. For example, studies have shown that some people need ten times more Vitamin C than others.

• There are a few vitamins and minerals which can be toxic at high levels. Vitamins are either water soluble or fat soluble. Fat soluble vitamins stay in the body longer and can more easily reach toxic levels. The most common ones you should watch out for is Vitamin A (fat soluble) and Iron. Our bodies can convert Beta-carotene into Vitamin A as needed. It’s very difficult to get too much Beta-carotene  (your skin would turn orange before you get a toxic level), so that’s much safer than supplementing with Vitamin A. Studies link high levels of iron to heart disease in men.

• Severe vitamin deficiencies are widely recognized to cause serious diseases, like severe Vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy.

• Lesser vitamin deficiencies slowly cause degenerative diseases commonly associated with aging, such as arthritis, macular degeneration, Alzheimers, and even heart disease.

• Virtually everyone has some deficiencies of some essential vitamin and/or mineral. The FDA guidelines (Recommended Daily Allowances) prevent severe deficiencies, but do not supply the optimal levels of nutrients needed to prevent degenerative diseases. There are many nutritional experts who recommend 2x to 10x the FDA levels of many vitamins and minerals.

• There are basically two different strategies for getting optimal nutrition: 1) Determine exactly how much of each nutrient your body needs and then buy the correct amount of each nutrient (this is very difficult and costly to do), or 2) Buy a multi-vitamin/mineral combination which contains the optimal amount for virtually everyone (you might get more of something than your body needs, but if it’s safe and not toxic, that’s not a problem and this is a much easier and cheaper route).

• There is a big difference in the quality of vitamin supplements in the U.S. Many popular supplements don’t even dissolve in your intestines before they are expelled from your body and some even contain potentially toxic levels of Vitamin A!

• There is much that the medical community still does not know about nutrition. Every day the results of new nutritional studies are released. Occasionally, I highlight some of these studies on my blog under the Health category.

I view proper nutrition as an investment in my health. It’s far cheaper to prevent disease than to treat a disease!