WHY NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS ARE NECESSARY

We are often told by the mainstream press that as long as one is eating a well-balanced diet, nutritional or dietary supplements are not necessary. Does this represent sound advice backed by scientific research?

We invite you to spend some time reading the following material. It may be the best thing you have ever done for the health of your body and mind.

Although the evidence is drawn from US and European experience, much of it is applicable to Singapore and this region.

At Risk - Your Health And Longevity

What you eat is obviously important to both your mental and physical well being. There are more eating "conveniences" today than at anytime in history. Yet, at the same time, the foods in the average American diet are more adulterated by additives and more devoid of their basic nutritional value than ever. Former US. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everest Coop, stated that over 2/3 of all degenerative deaths are directly related to diet. This report will help you understand the severity of the challenge and suggest some valuable alternatives. Knowledge is power. The power to make the changes necessary to improve your health, enhance your quality of life, and Increase your longevity.

The Average American Diet Is Deficient

Experts agree that the average American diet no longer provides the proper nutrition for good health. Too many of the foods we eat are convenience foods with very little nutritional value. As astonishing and unbelievable as it may be, more than a third of our middle class American children, and the vast majority of adults, are severely malnourished. Both eat for taste, cost, and convenience. The most often consumed foods are coffee, white bread, and sugar. It is a sad commentary that many of our pets have a more nutritionally sound daily diet than we do. You would think, for Instance, that with all the press on Vitamin C that no one would be deficient in this Vitamin. Yet 30% do not even get the current RDA levels from their diets.

The Foods We Eat Lack the Proper Nutrients

In 1948 you could buy spinach that had 158 milligrams of iron per hundred grams. By 1965, the maximum had dropped to 27 milligrams. In 1973 it was averaging 2.2. That means you would have to eat 75 bowls of spinach to get the same amount of Iron that one bowl might have given you back in 1948. We need cobalt to process Vitamin B12. And we have to have B12 or our red blood cells get weak. But nowadays, some of the vegetables we're supposed to get it from are testing out at zero cobalt. The topsoil over much of the planet is exhausted or severely depleted. So our food is weak, both plant and animal products - unless it's harvested from the wild.

The Problem of Depleted Foods Is Not a New One

Evidently, the government has known of this problem for quite some time. The following quotes are verbatim extracts from U. S. Senate Document No. 264, recorded in 1936.

"The alarming fact is that foods (fruits, vegetables and grains) now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough of certain minerals are starving us - no matter how much of them we eat."

"Laboratory test prove that the fruits, the vegetables, the grains, the eggs, and even the milk and the meats of today are not what they were a few generations ago (which doubtless explains why our forefathers thrived on a selection of foods that would starve us!)"

"No man today can eat enough fruits and vegetables to supply his stomach with the mineral salts he requires for perfect health, because his stomach isn't big enough to hold them!"

"We know that vitamins are complex chemical substances which are indispensable to nutrition, and that each of them is of importance for normal function of some special structure in the body. Disorder and disease result from any vitamin deficiency. It is not commonly realized, however, that vitamins control the body's appropriation of minerals, and in the absence of minerals they have no function to perform. Lacking vitamins, the system can make some use of minerals, but lacking minerals, vitamins are useless."

Modern Food Processing Has Its Disadvantages

The advent of the nineteenth century brought big technological changes in the way we handle and prepare our foods. The introduction of roller mills and food refining have cost us dearly in terms of nutrition loss. These "refinements" if you will, remove large amounts of nutrients from our grains.

In the process of refining from whole to white bread as much as 18% of the protein is lost, 69% of the fiber, 22% of the calcium, 60% of the iron, 68% of the magnesium, 84% of the vitamin B6, and 26% of the fat. Similarly severe losses are incurred in the process of changing brown rice into white rice. Canning also results in the loss of micronutrients due to the blanching process. The advantages of preservatives are obvious, but not so obvious is the destruction of still more nutrients. Preservatives and a host of other chemicals add to the toxic load our bodies must deal with. Is it any surprise that the patterns of disease have changed over the last 50 years. Cancer, heart disease, colitis, varicose veins, hypertension, arthritis, obesity, dental cavities, ulcers, and the list go on...

Unfortunately many food companies don't seem to care as much about nutrition as they do sales and convenience. Consider the increase in food additives and their impact on allergies and hyperactivity in children. And soon, perhaps the irradiation of foods will also contribute to the loss of nutrients.

Stress Increases the Body's Need for Nutrients

The amount of stress each of us is exposed to has increased over recent years due to the Increase In competition in society, urbanization, the breakdown of the traditional family, divorce, and the population explosion. Relaxation and peace of mind are essential factors which contribute to our health and well being. It has been well demonstrated that grief and anger can suppress our immune systems. There is even a growing body of evidence that the loss of a loved one can lead to cancer. The time lag can be as long a two years.

In fact it has been scientifically established that negative emotions can lead to practically every know disease such as arthritis, ulcers, constipation, asthma, strokes, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. So, avoid anxiety, worries, tensions, depression, jealousy and hate, loneliness and unhappiness. Recognize that the body needs an ample supply of nutrients to cope effectively and ward off the negative effects of such stresses.

The RDAs Do Not Satisfy Our Need for Optimal Nutrition

During the Second World War it was a military imperative that the troops receive ample nutrition to stay in the field. This need led to the concept of the RDA, Recommended Daily Allowance. This standard was set 50 years ago, under very different circumstances and with less knowledge than exists today. It is very difficult to obtain these levels today from diet alone. You might: get very close, but your attention would have to be intensely focused on everything you eat and its correct preparation - a modern day practical impossibility. Furthermore, RDAs are only estimates of unknown reliability according to one Harvard professor who originally helped define the concept. Ever the RDA board itself admits that its values were not meant to produce "optimal health". Theses values are only suggested "minimums" or "adequate" daily requirements to sustain "normal" health, not the optimum. Unfortunately, the term "normal" Is open to a lot of misinterpretation. "Normal", when used scientifically, refers to a statistical average, or in other words "what most people experience". Normal nutrition may be adequate, but adequate nutrition does not imply the optimal health that people should experience. And just eating the "right' foods does not Insure good health either. At least not anymore!

Supplementation Is Significantly Better Than "Normal" Nutrition

Most of life on this planet can survive with less than optimal levels of nutrition. But something wonderful happens when an effort is made to optimize nutrition, to provide more than that which is just normal or adequate: life is significantly better, healthier, and longer. A well controlled study in Louisiana demonstrated the importance of nutritional supplementation. A sample of pregnant women who ate "normally", produced "normal" infants, who grew into "normal" children, who tested "normal". The real surprise is the dramatic results which ensued when these same women were given nutritional supplementation as they became pregnant again. They nursed their infants and continued to give their infants the same supplementation throughout early childhood. The children who received nutritional supplementation performed significantly better than their older siblings in every physical, emotional, and intellectual test used to measure their differences. The "well balanced diet" It seems, is, at best, a prescription for mediocrity!

There Is No Such Thing as a Cast Iron Stomach

Digestion is the chemical and physical process which extracts the essential nutrients we need for life, converting food into more usable forms for the body to repair and rebuild itself. The proper operation of the digestive system relies on a precarious store of stomach acid levels, digestive enzymes, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, neurochemicals etc., to break down foods sufficiently enough so they can be transported throughout the body to where they are needed. These chemical mechanisms continually need replenishing so that digestion is not impaired. The problem is exacerbated if the diet is poor to begin with. Even if we supplied only nutrient-rich foods to our bodies, there is a great deal that can go wrong during the digestive process to interfere with the complete assimilation of these nutrients. More and more doctors are coming to realize the uncertainty of the digestive process. Despite a so called "balanced diet," much of the food Ingested may never be broken down far enough to release all the available nutrients. So, simply eating the right foods and maintaining a balanced diet may not be enough to maintain optimum health.

Everyone needs to maintain a healthy population of "friendly" bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. In fact a healthy adult will have approximately three pounds of such Intestinal flora at all times. There are billions of microorganisms in there - a whole "universe". At least 400 different types of bacteria can colonize this area, most of which are "friendly". These beneficial bacteria help the body process and absorb nutrients and are necessary for good health. They also create a hostile environment for potentially harmful bacteria. But as we age, eat nutrient deficient diets, drink alcohol, and take antibiotics the helpful bacteria are adversely affected and need to be replenished. Acidophilus and bifidus are two most commonly known types. Both may be found in yogurt containing live cultures.

Faulty Digestion Can Lead to Malnutrition

The chronic failure to extract the nutrients we need during digestion leads to a form of malnutrition. Malabsorption, epidemic in our society, is just as serious as an unbalanced diet. It is the equivalent of slow starvation. Both lessen resistance to disease, making the body a prime target for illness and early death. According to the director of the U.S. National Institute of Health, the American Diet may directly contribute to as much as 35% of all cancer deaths. According to the National Academy of Sciences six out of ten leading killer diseases are diet related. Experts believe that malnutrition is the chronic condition that precedes most diseases. Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, allergies, even mental and neurological disorders, and others, including birth defects, are all implicated.

A Polluted Environment Increases Our Need for Nutrients

Traces of dangerous chemicals are now being found even in such pristine places as the Antarctic. Is there any safe environment left on the planet? The industrial revolution has been polluting our air for the last 50 years. The number of people with respiratory problems has risen from 10% to 25% of the population. A Harvard study of more than 8,000 adults over 15 years concluded that people who live in the most polluted of six cities were 26% more likely to die than those living in the least polluted city. In spite of the fact that all six cities met the US air pollution standards. Another study in France found positive correlations between disease and death rates and the concentrations of four pollutants in the air: smog, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone. A recent study in the magazine, New Scientist, reported that 100,000 people die each year in the UK from airborne pollutants.

Government authorities are adding chlorine and fluoride to water supplies throughout the world. Fluoride is originally a toxic waste. It is thought to have resulted in an increase on hip fractures in the elderly. A recent study has shown that the average sperm cell count has been reduced from 120 million per ml in 1940 to 66 million per ml in 1990. Infertility problems are expected to arise at 50 million per ml which is considered to be the danger point. An increase in birth defects is apt to show up even before then. Will we have to find a different way to propagate the species?

The ubiquitous presence of chemicals, the nuclear wastes, and pollution are going to affect our lives for a long time. Unfortunately the apathy which prevails today is just as frightening as the chemicals themselves.

FROG ALARM: As this report is being written, Sept. 30, 1997, a hot news item on national TV, is the abundance of frogs being found (in almost every state) in the U. S. with birth defects. Scientists are baffled. They don't know what they are looking at; they are not sure whether the environmental factor is chemical or biological. It could be a toxic chemical or some biological menace such as a microbe. Research goes on. More than likely the frogs are telling us something is seriously wrong in the environment, much like the canary that dies first, thus warning miners of deadly gas, so they can escape before it is too late. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that something is awry.

More Reasons Why a Balanced Diet Isn't Enough

Genetically engineered foods may be a time bomb. "Artificial" foods are appearing on our supermarket shelves. Scientists are toying with the delicate balance of nature by introducing changes that would not have occurred naturally. The potential dangers are incomprehensible. Biological pollution can not be recalled or contained. We may be inviting disastrous ecological destruction.

One branch of the U.S. Center for Disease Control has concluded that sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics added to livestock feed has led to the development of highly resistant strains of bacteria which end up in the meat products we consume.

The air we breathe and the water we drink contain chemicals, radiation, toxins, pesticides, herbicides and other pollutants. So many that, in 1979, the U.S. EPA stated that up to 20% of all deaths in America were caused by these environmental hazards.

We consume over 2,800 FDA-approved food additives and many many, more which find their way into the food supply. More the half of adults consume alcohol on a regular basis. Many of them smoke. Illicit drug use is rampant. We use antibiotics, prescription medicines and over-the-counter drugs at an unprecedented rate. Many children and the vast majority of the elderly use some type of medication. Even the average person uses many different types of drugs. These factors merely serve to increase our need for a variety of nutrients.

If You Are Not Convinced

There is more, but why go on and on about it. If you aren't convinced yet that there is a real problem which needs to be corrected, and that some compensating action is required on your part, then you may as well bury your head in the sand as so many people dc and hope for the best. On the other hand if you are outraged and definitely want to protect your wellbeing, prolong your years and enhance your health then read on. There is hope. Modern research has discovered some amazing facts and continues to accumulate nutritional knowledge which can be extremely helpful in your quest for vigorous health.

Nutritional Supplementation Promotes Optimum Healing

A well controlled study was conducted at the University of Cincinnati Medical School on children experiencing severe burns over 60% of their bodies. Not too amazingly, 100% of the burn trauma victims receiving nutritional supplementation, over and above the normal "well balanced diet", survived; while 44% of those children who received only the regular, traditional, nutritionally balanced diet, died. This study demonstrated persuasively that nutritional intervention improves survival.

Daily Nutritional Supplementation Is Absolutely Necessary

The mistakenly accepted standards of RDAs and the generally accepted balanced diet are not adequate to prevent chronic malnutrition, the insidious precursor of disease, illness and premature death. To maintain good health we should eat natural whole foods rich in a variety of nutrients. Equally important, these nutrients should be supplied in the right proportions for optimum nutrition. Today more than ever supplementing your daily diet is simply necessary if you hope to experience optimal health.

What You Can Do To Protect Yourself

In nature only the strong survive. But we are not powerless in the face of these problems. We have a storehouse of powerful nutrients at our disposal that many are ignoring. The first thing to do is to start choosing food on the basis of nutritional value and not on price. It may cost a little more to eat whole foods and to buy organically grown foods but the alternative may not be wise. Then we must supplement, supplement, supplement. Supplementation is so important that it should not, must not, be underestimated. It can help to strengthen your immune system, detoxify your body and slow down the aging process. The body is well designed to regenerate itself, but we must supply the necessary ingredients it needs to accomplish the process - optimum nutritional levels. Vitamin C is a good example of the optimum level concept. To gain full advantage of its disease fighting capabilities the Intake level must significantly exceed the RDA levels.

Nutrition: A Science and A Study in Synergy

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. We have all heard this saying before. And so it is with nutrition. So it is not just a matter of running down to the corner drug store or the local supermarket and popping some vitamin A just because it's good for you.

Vitamin A is good for you, but the body also needs Vitamin E, Vitamin B12 and Zinc to be present in order to use it effectively. This is known as the synergistic (interactive) property of nutrients. So while Individual supplements may be good for you, your body may not utilize them fully or effectively unless other key ingredients are there in the ideal proportions required by the body's chemical processes. Having the right blend of nutrients is so important that the overall combined effect can be many times greater than the total Individual effects. The emphasis, therefore, should be placed on the synergy between nutrients and not on excessive doses.

Nutrients work away quietly while fixing the problem at its roots. They don't damage other areas as many drugs do because they are naturally expected to be there for the body to utilize. Unlike chemotherapy which destroys good and bad cells alike, good nutrition seeks to strengthen, rebuild and restore.

Many nutrients have the desirable property of neutralizing the free radicals associated with the aging process. We already know from animal studies that deficiencies in antioxidants seriously reduces the life span of these animals. Would it not be naive to think that this occurs only in the rats studied and not in humans? The message is clear; diets deficient in antioxidants hasten cellular damage and disease.

Toxic chemicals may enter the body in a variety of ways:  through the air we breath, the water we drink, and even through the skin. Those that are fat soluble can and many times do accumulate in the body's fatty tissue. The detoxification process is accomplished by a series of detoxifying enzymes which require the presence of other nutrients for the process to be effective. Nutrients known to be involved in the detoxification process include Vitamins A, B, C, and E, B12, Folic Acid, Choline Iron, Zinc, Calcium, Magnesium and others. Again we see the synergy of nutrients at work.

A recent scientific study looked at the synergy of nutrients between barley, wheat grass, chlorella and kelp. Although each Individual food stimulated the Immune system, the effect of the four taken together was as much as 2 to 3 times more than the sum of their Individual effects.

If you are still not convinced, read on....