Americans are facing a serious health threat. More than 75% of Americans are calcium deficient, and more than one in 10 Americans either has, or is at risk of developing, osteoporosis or other bone diseases. Worse than that, calcium deficiency is responsible for nearly 150 different degenerative diseases, including obesity, arthritis, fibromyalgia, acid reflux, high cholesterol, hypertension, allergies, cancer, and others.
As an organic chemist for over 17 years and now a Diet Counselor, I am convinced the reason Americans are struggling with obesity and other health conditions is because they have no idea that consuming processed foods, including today’s sugar and flour, upsets body chemistry thereby depleting the most essential mineral necessary for maintaining long-term health.
I tell my clients that it is important to understand the role of calcium in the body, how it is absorbed, what conditions lead to its depletion, and how to ensure that they’re getting enough calcium for proper metabolism, weight loss, and good health. After my own lifelong struggle with obesity and obesity-related conditions, I lost 100 pounds and have kept it off for 17 years by staying away from processed foods including sugar, flour, and sodas (including diet sodas).
The most important use of calcium in the body is its role as the main buffer used to neutralize acids in order to maintain proper body chemistry. However, calcium is one of the more difficult minerals for the body to digest and absorb because it depends on several other conditions to be in place.
First, calcium needs an acid environment in the stomach to fully digest and dissolve (ionize) calcium from food or supplements. Drinking liquids with meals dilutes the enzymes and stomach acids that are crucial for maintaining this environment. Another unfortunate challenge is that people over the age of 60 produce only one fourth of the stomach acid they did when they were 20. Additionally, 40 percent of postmenopausal women lack sufficient stomach acid for proper ionization of calcium.
Once ionized, calcium absorption is totally dependent on the presence of vitamin D in the intestine. Without vitamin D, most of what calcium was ionized in the stomach will pass through the body unused. Vitamin D is not present in most food, so the body needs sunlight on the skin to create its own vitamin D. Staying indoors and out of the sun, or lathering up with sunscreen when out in the sun, prevents the calcium in our diets from being absorbed. Furthermore, vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, which means that it can only be absorbed into the body in the presence of enough good fat in the diet. This is why I do not recommend low-fat diets.
Calcium absorption also depends on the presence of the amino acid lysine, and many other trace minerals, including magnesium and boron. The necessary ratios of these trace minerals are not present in most calcium supplements and are severely lacking in processed foods.
Inability to absorb enough calcium is only part of our problem. Consumption of processed foods—refined sugars and grains, sodas, fried foods and trans-fats, chemical preservatives, artificial sweeteners—and prescription drugs create a huge imbalance in body chemistry. As a result, a significant amount of stored calcium is leached from the bones to restore balance.
Sodas, especially diet sodas, may be the largest contributor to calcium loss due to their high phosphoric acid content. Diet sodas actually cause you to gain weight—not lose weight—because they leach calcium, which leads to slowing of the metabolism.
What can we do to replenish our bodies with calcium and maintain proper body chemistry? The simplest thing we can do is stop eating processed foods, drink plenty of water, and begin to eat more calcium containing foods. This means that we need to eat 6-8 servings of vegetables and 2-3 servings of fruit each day. It is important to eat real foods that contain calcium, because they have the other trace minerals needed for absorption. Vegetable choices should consist of dark green leafy types such as collard greens, kale, cabbage, and broccoli, for their high calcium content. Other food sources for calcium are almonds, asparagus, blackstrap molasses, buttermilk, carob, cheese, figs, filberts, goat's milk, kelp, mustard greens, oats, prunes, sesame seeds, tofu, turnip greens, watercress, whey, and yogurt. Food sources of lysine include cheese, eggs, fish, lima beans, milk, potatoes, organic meats, and protein powders.
For those with diminished stomach acid, add 2 teaspoons of raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar to a glass of water and drink it 30 minutes before meals. The acetic acid in the vinegar acts like stomach acid and improves digestion. Apple cider vinegar can also be sprinkled on vegetables or combined with olive oil to make a tangy vinaigrette.
You can take control of your own health by staying away from processed foods including sodas and today’s flour and sugar. If you do, you will prevent and even reverse calcium deficiency. As an added benefit, like myself, you will enjoy a permanently healthier and lighter you.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
More Bad News About Vitamins
Newsflash: the largest study ever performed on the efficacy of multivitamin use in older women showed a dismal failure rate when it comes to preventing common cancers or heart disease. The results echo recent disappointing vitamin studies in men.
The study, which appeared in the February 9th, 2009 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, was conducted over eight years involving 161,808 postmenopausal women. The study focused on the effects of vitamin supplements on cancer and heart disease in particular because evidence that diets full of vitamin-rich foods may protect against those illnesses. The results of the study showed that vitamin use did nothing to prevent them.
The study's lead author, Marian Neuhouser of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, urges people to "Get nutrients from food. Whole foods are better than dietary supplements."
A synthetic vitamin supplement can never have the same preventative effects as the foods which contain those vitamins for one simple reason. The vitamins and minerals in real foods need the co-factors also contained in the foods--enzymes and phytonutrients--to activate, metabolize, transport, and bind them to the places in the body where they are needed. Taking a synthetic vitamin without all the necessary co-factors is like having two pieces of wood, but no spark to start the fire. The co-factors are the sparks that allow vitamins and minerals to be active and do their jobs.
Other studies have been done on whole food vitamin supplements, which are dehydrated real foods containing all of the necessary co-factors. Results from those studies show that, in addition to a healthful diet, taking whole food vitamins can ensure disease prevention, just as the foods themselves do. The final word on this topic is that there is no vitamin pill or supplement that can make up for a poor diet.
Read more on this topic below in my previous post called Are Your Vitamins Working?
The study, which appeared in the February 9th, 2009 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, was conducted over eight years involving 161,808 postmenopausal women. The study focused on the effects of vitamin supplements on cancer and heart disease in particular because evidence that diets full of vitamin-rich foods may protect against those illnesses. The results of the study showed that vitamin use did nothing to prevent them.
The study's lead author, Marian Neuhouser of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, urges people to "Get nutrients from food. Whole foods are better than dietary supplements."
A synthetic vitamin supplement can never have the same preventative effects as the foods which contain those vitamins for one simple reason. The vitamins and minerals in real foods need the co-factors also contained in the foods--enzymes and phytonutrients--to activate, metabolize, transport, and bind them to the places in the body where they are needed. Taking a synthetic vitamin without all the necessary co-factors is like having two pieces of wood, but no spark to start the fire. The co-factors are the sparks that allow vitamins and minerals to be active and do their jobs.
Other studies have been done on whole food vitamin supplements, which are dehydrated real foods containing all of the necessary co-factors. Results from those studies show that, in addition to a healthful diet, taking whole food vitamins can ensure disease prevention, just as the foods themselves do. The final word on this topic is that there is no vitamin pill or supplement that can make up for a poor diet.
Read more on this topic below in my previous post called Are Your Vitamins Working?
Are Your Vitamins Working?
To supplement or not to supplement, that is the question. In our chemically polluted and stress-filled world, our nutritional requirements have been increasing, but the number of calories we require has been decreasing, as our activity level as a society has declined. This means we are faced with the need to get more nutrients from less food. At the same time, due to the cooking and processing of foods, which destroy most nutrients, getting even the Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamins and minerals from our modern diet has become difficult, if not impossible to achieve.
Additionally, because the nutrients in the soil that our food is grown in have been depleted over time, the food itself does not contain the amount of nutrients that it used to. For example, the apple your great grandfather ate had more nutrients in it than the apple you eat today, even if the apple comes from the same tree. That is because the soil that the tree is growing in has been depleted over time and the apple that it bears contains less nutrients as a result. And although the food itself has fewer nutrients in it in today's world, our bodies still have the same requirements for nutrients that our great grandfathers did in order to be optimally healthy. Consequently, in order to obtain the optimal amount of many nutrients, it is necessary to take them in supplement form.
The question then arises as to whether vitamin and mineral supplements in pill form are as effective as the natural vitamins and minerals that exist in apples, asparagus, broccoli, and other real whole foods. Moreover, is it possible that your vitamin supplement is more toxic than it is healthful?
Synthetic versus Natural Whole Food Supplements
The answer is—it depends. Vitamin supplements can be divided into two groups: synthetic and natural (also called whole food supplements). Most over-the-counter vitamin supplements like One-A-Day, Centrum, Kirkland, and many others are synthetic—meaning they are made in a laboratory from isolated chemicals that mirror their counterparts found in nature but are not from real food. Natural vitamin and mineral supplements are derived from real food sources, specifically vegetables, fruits, herbs, seaweeds and marine algae.
What is the difference between synthetic and natural vitamins and minerals? There is a world of difference between synthetic vitamins that are in pill form versus natural vitamins that are contained within nature’s foods. Although the chemical differences between a vitamin found in food and one created in a laboratory is slight, synthetic supplements contain the isolated vitamins only, while natural supplements also contain all of the other nutrients in foods not yet discovered, such as antioxidants and phytochemicals that help the vitamins do their jobs. Natural vitamins also retain the necessary enzymes that are specific to the foods they are derived from, which assist the body in utilizing the vitamins and minerals properly.
Another difference is that synthetic vitamins may also include coal tars, artificial coloring, preservatives and stabilizers such as maltodextrin, stearates and dioxides, sugars, and starch, as well as other additives. You should beware of such harmful elements.
Natural whole food supplements are made by condensing or compressing real whole foods and then evaporating off the water. The actual process is achieved by placing vegetables and fruits in a large blender and then dehydrating the mixture to evaporate the water at very low temperatures. The low temperature is crucial so as not to destroy the enzymes and cofactors contained in the foods. The enzymes are very important synergists that are required for digesting and assimilating vitamins and minerals. The remaining dried “powders” are then placed in capsules or combined with vegetable cellulose to form solid tablets.
If you are deficient in a particular nutrient, the synthetic chemical source will work to an extent, but you will not get the benefits of the vitamin as found in whole foods. Synthetic vitamins just do not work like foods, and foods are what our bodies were designed to use for healing, prevention and energy. There is no substitute, and no matter how you look at it, synthetic vitamins are an invention of scientists, so they are prone to cause side effects, be incomplete and lack what we need to overcome or prevent health problems.
For years synthetic vitamins have been sold and marketed as the “magic bullet” for all health conditions. The problem is that vitamins, when not still contained in their original food (oranges, bananas, spinach, broccoli, etc.) are merely chemicals. Our bodies do not recognize synthetic vitamins as nutrients, because they don’t work the same way as whole foods for these simple reasons:
1. Foods contain not just vitamins, but the co-factors (synergists) and helper nutrients that allow vitamins to work.
2. Foods are never found in high potency, so you won't suffer any toxic side effects that have been proven to exist with synthetic vitamin pills. The most recent example of vitamin toxicity was the report about vitamin E being toxic. Real foods never deliver toxic doses of vitamins.
3. Vitamins are just a small part of what our bodies require for health and healing. It is very
often that it is the other food properties that help us while the vitamins are secondary.
For these reasons, and more, synthetic vitamin pills, despite their use and overuse, are lacking the properties of real nutrition, which can only come from eating nature’s real, whole, raw foods. The ONLY supplement that someone should take, therefore, is a whole food formula WITHOUT any isolated (singular vitamin). In order to know whether your vitamin and mineral supplement comes from whole foods, you have to carefully read the labels. Instead of just names of vitamins and minerals on a label, you should be looking for the names of foods and herbs on the label, such as kale, dandelion, kelp, ginger, cinnamon, apples, carrots and broccoli.
It is a very common misconception that we need to take high dosages of vitamins to keep us healthy. Remember, real whole foods are never found in high potency, so don’t be fooled by high milligrams, high potency, standardization or any other such terms that just do not apply to real foods from nature.
Vitamin supplements are supposed to be just that—supplements. They are not intended to replace what you would get from eating the actual food. There is no vitamin pill or supplement that can make up for a diet that is lacking in variety and nutrients.
Sources:
Balch, James and Balch, Phyllis, Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 2nd Ed., Avery Publishing Group, New York, 1997.
Shayne, PhD, Vic, Symtpoms of Vitamin B Deficiency and Why Vitamin Pills Are Not Enough, 2005.
Additionally, because the nutrients in the soil that our food is grown in have been depleted over time, the food itself does not contain the amount of nutrients that it used to. For example, the apple your great grandfather ate had more nutrients in it than the apple you eat today, even if the apple comes from the same tree. That is because the soil that the tree is growing in has been depleted over time and the apple that it bears contains less nutrients as a result. And although the food itself has fewer nutrients in it in today's world, our bodies still have the same requirements for nutrients that our great grandfathers did in order to be optimally healthy. Consequently, in order to obtain the optimal amount of many nutrients, it is necessary to take them in supplement form.
The question then arises as to whether vitamin and mineral supplements in pill form are as effective as the natural vitamins and minerals that exist in apples, asparagus, broccoli, and other real whole foods. Moreover, is it possible that your vitamin supplement is more toxic than it is healthful?
Synthetic versus Natural Whole Food Supplements
The answer is—it depends. Vitamin supplements can be divided into two groups: synthetic and natural (also called whole food supplements). Most over-the-counter vitamin supplements like One-A-Day, Centrum, Kirkland, and many others are synthetic—meaning they are made in a laboratory from isolated chemicals that mirror their counterparts found in nature but are not from real food. Natural vitamin and mineral supplements are derived from real food sources, specifically vegetables, fruits, herbs, seaweeds and marine algae.
What is the difference between synthetic and natural vitamins and minerals? There is a world of difference between synthetic vitamins that are in pill form versus natural vitamins that are contained within nature’s foods. Although the chemical differences between a vitamin found in food and one created in a laboratory is slight, synthetic supplements contain the isolated vitamins only, while natural supplements also contain all of the other nutrients in foods not yet discovered, such as antioxidants and phytochemicals that help the vitamins do their jobs. Natural vitamins also retain the necessary enzymes that are specific to the foods they are derived from, which assist the body in utilizing the vitamins and minerals properly.
Another difference is that synthetic vitamins may also include coal tars, artificial coloring, preservatives and stabilizers such as maltodextrin, stearates and dioxides, sugars, and starch, as well as other additives. You should beware of such harmful elements.
Natural whole food supplements are made by condensing or compressing real whole foods and then evaporating off the water. The actual process is achieved by placing vegetables and fruits in a large blender and then dehydrating the mixture to evaporate the water at very low temperatures. The low temperature is crucial so as not to destroy the enzymes and cofactors contained in the foods. The enzymes are very important synergists that are required for digesting and assimilating vitamins and minerals. The remaining dried “powders” are then placed in capsules or combined with vegetable cellulose to form solid tablets.
If you are deficient in a particular nutrient, the synthetic chemical source will work to an extent, but you will not get the benefits of the vitamin as found in whole foods. Synthetic vitamins just do not work like foods, and foods are what our bodies were designed to use for healing, prevention and energy. There is no substitute, and no matter how you look at it, synthetic vitamins are an invention of scientists, so they are prone to cause side effects, be incomplete and lack what we need to overcome or prevent health problems.
For years synthetic vitamins have been sold and marketed as the “magic bullet” for all health conditions. The problem is that vitamins, when not still contained in their original food (oranges, bananas, spinach, broccoli, etc.) are merely chemicals. Our bodies do not recognize synthetic vitamins as nutrients, because they don’t work the same way as whole foods for these simple reasons:
1. Foods contain not just vitamins, but the co-factors (synergists) and helper nutrients that allow vitamins to work.
2. Foods are never found in high potency, so you won't suffer any toxic side effects that have been proven to exist with synthetic vitamin pills. The most recent example of vitamin toxicity was the report about vitamin E being toxic. Real foods never deliver toxic doses of vitamins.
3. Vitamins are just a small part of what our bodies require for health and healing. It is very
often that it is the other food properties that help us while the vitamins are secondary.
For these reasons, and more, synthetic vitamin pills, despite their use and overuse, are lacking the properties of real nutrition, which can only come from eating nature’s real, whole, raw foods. The ONLY supplement that someone should take, therefore, is a whole food formula WITHOUT any isolated (singular vitamin). In order to know whether your vitamin and mineral supplement comes from whole foods, you have to carefully read the labels. Instead of just names of vitamins and minerals on a label, you should be looking for the names of foods and herbs on the label, such as kale, dandelion, kelp, ginger, cinnamon, apples, carrots and broccoli.
It is a very common misconception that we need to take high dosages of vitamins to keep us healthy. Remember, real whole foods are never found in high potency, so don’t be fooled by high milligrams, high potency, standardization or any other such terms that just do not apply to real foods from nature.
Vitamin supplements are supposed to be just that—supplements. They are not intended to replace what you would get from eating the actual food. There is no vitamin pill or supplement that can make up for a diet that is lacking in variety and nutrients.
Sources:
Balch, James and Balch, Phyllis, Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 2nd Ed., Avery Publishing Group, New York, 1997.
Shayne, PhD, Vic, Symtpoms of Vitamin B Deficiency and Why Vitamin Pills Are Not Enough, 2005.
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