Nutritional Medicine and the Modern Diet

Excerpt: Recent research demonstrates a typical food diet alone is not sufficient to maintain optimal health. Experts agree nutritional supplements are vital for illnesses, age related disease and injuries. Most experts now agree vitamin, mineral and superfood supplements are needed to help maintain optimal physical and psychological health. Nutrition supplements are now essential if you want to promote longevity and avoid chronic disease.

Introduction

“Nutrient density is the hallmark of good food,” says nutrition researcher Paul McTaggart. The standard American diet is low in nutrient density. Recent studies conclude the typical American gets well over half their calories from fats, simple carbohydrates and refined sugars.  This poor nutrient light diet is a contributing, causative factor to the increase in diseases including heart attack, atherosclerosis, strokes, high blood pressure, cancer and diabetes. Other contributing factors such as environmental pollution and stressful life patterns are creating even greater nutrient requirements.

Symptoms of Nutritional Deficiency

Most doctors today still only recognize nutritional deficiencies if they manifest themselves into a disease. Most doctors are not even trained in nutrition testing and assessment tools. But today more and more doctors are finally beginning to recognize mild to moderate nutritional deficiencies, the symptoms of which may be subtle, overlapping and varied.

Usually nutritional deficiencies are taken for granted as bad behavior or part of the natural aging process. For example, the first signs of vitamin B deficiencies may include subtle behavioral changes – poor sleep, mood swings, lack of concentration and focus. These early warning signs, according to Myron Brin, Ph.D., demonstrate that social function may be adversely affected by chronic vitamin deficiency. Other early warning signs of nutritional deficiencies include fatigue, nervousness, mental exhaustion, confusion, muscle weakness, and depression. Illnesses are most often the result of continuing nutritional deficiency and toxin overload preventing proper functioning immune systems.

Nutritional scientists and doctors are learning to work together to recognize signs of nutritional deficiency, and use supplements and dietary changes to treat them.

Biochemical Individuality

Naturopathic doctors and other nutrition experts have the training and tools to test your nutritional status and even your nutritional type. Recent research is confirming we are not all alike and require slight variations in supplements and diet for optimal health. This trend in individualizing nutritional needs was started by the pioneering biochemist who discovered vitamin B5 in the 1930s, Roger Williams, Ph.D., whose book Nutrition Against Disease states we are all unique genetically and therefore require slight variations in nutrient intake to function optimally.

Knowing Your Nutritional Type Can Help You Prevent and Reverse Disease – Here is a good explanation by Dr. Mercola of the 3 main nutrition types and an explanation of why protein types most often get sick given the typical American diet. He uses the analogy we at OWC have used for years … comparing your body to a race car and finding the discipline to give it only super fuel:

… this discussion is continued in our OWC research staff article titled “Essential Nutrients and Accessory Nutrients – How Nutrients Work Together“