A History of Nutrition

Prehistory

From the very earliest days of civilization, nutrition has formed the backbone of healthcare. Obtaining and eating food consumed most of early human’s time, and food and herbs were our first medicine, used to treat a large number of conditions ranging from wounds and insect bites to infection. It became clear that food had powerful healing effects, and that a varied diet, rich in natural ingredients, was a prerequisite for good health. From that time, diet became a fundamental part of most therapies, and an integral element in almost all of the others.

18th Century

In the 18th century, English sailors were given lime or lemon juice in order to prevent scurvy, a disease caused by lack of vitamin C, which occurred as a result of long periods of time away at sea without fresh fruit or vegetables.

19th Century

In the late 19th century, naturopaths drew attention to the use of food and its nutritional elements as medicine, a concept that was not new, but which had not been acknowledged as a therapy in its own right until that time. Naturopaths used nutrition and fasting to cleanse the body, and to encourage its ability to heal itself. As knowledge about food, its makeup, and the effects it ahs on our body became greater with the development of biochemistry, the first nutritional specialists undertook to treat specific ailments and symptoms with the components of food.

20th century

By the middle of the 20th century, scientists had put together a profile of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats, as well as vitamins and minerals, which were essential to life and to health. More than 40 nutrients were uncovered, including 13 vitamins. It was discovered that minerals were needed for body functions, and a new understanding of the body and its biochemistry fed the growing interest in the subject. In the 1960s, physicians began to treat patients with special diets and supplements, prescribed according to individual symptoms, problems, and needs, but while conventional medical physicians still discussed nutrition in terms of basic food groups, nutritionists were prescribing vitamins in megadoses. Other elements and compounds were soon identified as necessary to human life, and we are now able to purchase and take substances like amino acids; bee pollen; lipids, such as evening primrose oil and cod liver oil; and seaweeds, acidophilus (healthy bacteria), and dietary enzymes.

Sodium Functions

Sodium is a major mineral our bodies depend on to function optimally. It works with two other minerals – potassium and chloride – to maintain water balance and regulate blood pressure. Sodium also helps maintain acid/base balance, carry carbon dioxide, transmit nerve impulses, and contact muscles.

About 75 percent of ht sodium we consume each day comes from packaged, processed foods and beverages and restaurant foods (including fast food). Only about 25 percent comes from table salt (sodium chloride) that’s added while preparing, cooking, or eating food and from sodium found naturally in foods and beverages such as eggs, fish and shellfish, meats, poultry, milk and milk products, and softened water. One teaspoon of table salt contains 2,325 mg of sodium, more than the 2,300 mg upper limit (UL), the tolerable upper intake level per day set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences.

Salt is made of sodium and chloride. Because 40% of salt is sodium, you can figure out how much salt a product contains by multiplying the milligrams of sodium listed on the Nutrition Facts Panel by 2.5. For example, if a can of soup contains 500 milligrams of sodium, 500 multiplied by 2.5 equals 1,250 milligrams of salt.

Consuming less than 500 milligrams o sodium each day can cause headache, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, muscle cramps, and fainting.

Consuming too much sodium can contribute to the development of a number of health problems, including hypertension (high blood pressure), in those who are salt-sensitive. High blood pressure raises your risk of heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and kidney disease. Experts believe that about half of those with hypertension and about one in four who have so-called normal blood pressure can be salt-sensitive. Salt sensitivity also increases conditions such as left ventricular hypertrophy in which the heart’s main pumping chamber is enlarged and does not function properly. It also raises the risk of kidney problems. Researchers believe that the following people are more likely to be salt-sensitive than their counterparts:

• People with hypertension, diabetes, or kidney disease
• People who have a family member with hypertension
• Middle-aged and older adults
• African Americans

Genetic factors can also play a role in how salt intake affects blood pressure. Unfortunately, there are currently no tests you can take to determine if you’re salt sensitive.

A high sodium intake can also have other harmful effects. If you consume too much sodium and at the same time don’t get enough dietary calcium, the excess sodium can promote calcium loss from bones, resulting in bone fractures and osteoporosis.

Too much sodium without enough water can also promote dehydration, which is a concern for athletes in particular. Although the kidney of healthy people can usually excrete excessive sodium from the body, those with impaired kidney function who overconsume sodium might not be able to and instead, can store excess sodium. That can lead to edema, or selling in the face, legs, and feet.

Hypertension (high blood pressure) is persistently elevated blood pressure greater than 14/90 mmHg (millimeters of mercury).

The Answer is Antioxidants

A good diet and a healthy lifestyle can help our bodies protect themselves against free radicals and repair free radical damage. Unfortunately, as we age we accumulate a free radical burden that can’t always be offset by the antioxidants in our food. Poor nutrition, tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption and other harmful behaviors accelerate free radical damage and the aging process. One of the best ways to combat aging and avoid disease is to supplement a healthy diet with antioxidants. Antioxidants benefit our bodies in many ways:

• They promote cardiovascular health
• They control excessive inflammation
• They maintain healthy cholesterol levels
• They promote digestive health
• They boost the immune system
• They reduce the signs of aging

The Nuts and Bolts of Antioxidants

Antioxidants come in many forms – vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes can all have antioxidant capacity. Most plants contain a variety of antioxidant compounds. Some antioxidants work in a lipid (fat) environment and others work in a water environment. Since cells throughout the body contain both water and lipid components, both water-soluble and fat-soluble antioxidants are necessary for optimal health. Antioxidants can help regenerate other antioxidants by recycling electrons among themselves.

ORAC Value

Antioxidant value is defined as the ability of a compound to reduce the amount of free radicals within the body. In the past 30 years, scientists have developed a procedure to quantify this value. Oxygen radical absorbance capacity, often referred to as the ORAC value, is a measure of the total antioxidant value of foods and other chemical substances. The higher its ORAC value, the more antioxidant value a substance has.

In studies from the U.S. Agricultural Research Service (ARS), scientists found that high-ORAC foods raised the antioxidant power of human blood 10 to 25 percent, prevented loss of long-term memory and learning ability in middle-aged rats, maintained the ability of brain cells in middle-aged rats to respond to a chemical stimulus (a function that normally decreases with age) and protected rats’ capillaries against oxygen damage.

If these findings are borne out in further research, young and middle-aged people may be able to reduce risk of diseases of aging – including senility – simply by adding high-ORAC foods to their diets.

Essential Supplements

Not so long ago, vitamins, minerals and herbs were not mainstream supplements. Health food stores were not as prevalent as they are today, and people who used dietary supplements were often regarded as “health nuts”.

How things have changed. According to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, more than 150 million Americans take some sort of dietary supplement annually, whether that supplement be a multivitamin / mineral formula, a homeopathic remedy or an herbal preparation. This means that close to half of the United States’ population uses supplements – to prevent disease, to treat a condition or simply to promote overall health.

Until the early 1990s, supplements were regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1938, which made it difficult for manufacturers to introduce new supplements to the American market.

In 1994, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), which allowed nutritional supplements to be regulated under a different set of rules. DSHEA made manufacturers responsible for the safety of their products and allowed the FDA to remove a product from the market should it prove unsafe.

Under DSHEA, any product with a history of safe use before 1994 can quickly be brought to market. If a product has been used for thousands of years by herbal healers in other cultures, or for decades in other countries where the product is regarded as safe, then that product can be produced and sold in this country without undergoing FDA approval.

Blessing or Burden?

On one hand, this new freedom in the supplement industry has been a boon to consumers. In 1995, the first year after the new laws took effect, an astounding 20,000 new supplements were introduced to the American marketplace. Each year since, thousands more have been introduced. A simple stroll through the aisles of any health food store clearly demonstrates the widespread effect the new regulations have had on the availability of nutritional supplements.

On the other hand, this new freedom has created an interesting dilemma for consumers, especially for those new to natural health products. It might seem that more products and more choice would benefit the consumer, but things aren’t always so simple.

Since the passage of DSHEA, there has been a virtual avalanche of nutritional supplements. And like any industry that presents an opportunity for profit, the natural products industry has attracted some unscrupulous manufacturers, advertisers and marketers who mislead consumers with miraculous health claims and unsubstantiated hype. Whether you’re reading the newspaper, watching television or surfing the Internet, you’ll find no shortage of products claimed to “fight cancer”, “relieve PMS”, “provide an amazing energy boost” or “give you the figure you’re always wanted”.

This is not to say that there aren’t nutritional products that deliver what they promise. The problem is that the sheer quantity of new products and their accompanying claims leave many of today’s consumers feeling overwhelmed and uncertain of which supplements they should be taking. It seems that only people with the time and resources to wade through the incessant flow of health claims and research could have a reasonable understanding of which supplements provide real and lasting results.
It is the current state of the nutritional supplement industry – the influx of new products, the barrage of conflicting “expert” advice and the promises of miraculous results – that sparked the idea for the educations books on nutritional supplements.

Like may micro-minerals, manganese has a broad range of functions. It is essential for activating enzyme systems involved in the synthesis of cartilage. It is also a constituent of certain enzymes involved in the protection of tissues from free radical damage. Manganese is necessary to both thyroid hormone and sex hormone production, and is important in manufacturing cholesterol and insulin. It is also needed for storing glucose in the liver and for healthy bone growth.

Manganese deficiency reduces fertility as well as white blood cell count. Prolonged deficiencies result in breakdowns of the organ and immune system. Manganese is mostly found in sea- and freshwater algae, and fruits and vegetables.

Minerals Important to Good Health

At least 16 minerals have been identified as essential to human growth and reproduction. Macro-minerals such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium are required in comparatively large quantities, whereas micro-minerals such as iron and zinc, selenium, manganese, and iodine are necessary in much smaller amounts, though all remain important to our health.

Our mineral levels derived from foods are dependent on the levels of minerals present in the soils where the crops were grown. We simply are not getting adequate supplies of minerals from our food crops unless the crops are organically grown in soil that have been revitalized with mineral content.

It is also important to note that various nutrients affect the body’s ability to absorb minerals. Vitamin D, for example, is necessary for the uptake of calcium. Vitamin C is necessary for the absorption of iron, particularly iron found in plant foods. Copper is necessary for vitamin C activity. Mineral deficiencies also cause vitamin deficiencies, and worldwide we are seeing mineral deficiencies becoming a well-documented result of systematic soil depletion.

The body can maintain its own mineral balance throughout short periods. If the intake of minerals is low, it draws from stores in the muscles, the liver, and bones. If a mineral intake is too high, excesses are usually excreted so that there is little danger of the body being harmed, except by the use of synthetic supplements. Minerals aid in development of our bone structure, metabolic reactions, cell membrane transport of nutrients, muscle movement, and as part of the elements of blood and enzymes.

Minerals used in the body are classified as:

1.Macro-minerals, or the main minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sulfur, chloride, and sodium.
2.Trace minerals, such as iron, zinc, copper, iodine, fluoride, chromium, selenium, manganese, and molybdenum.

Other trace minerals include bromide, cadmium, vanadium, tin, nickel, aluminum, silicon, and many others. Although minerals are of vital importance, they make up only about 4 percent of your body’s weight. All of the trace minerals account for only about .01 percent of total body weight.

Minerals are vitally important nutrients that must be ingested on a regular basis in food or supplement form to maintain proper body function.

As with the controversy over synthetic versus natural vitamins, there is a controversy about the use of inorganic versus organic minerals. This controversy may be less pronounced than the natural and synthetic vitamin controversy, but it is still important to consider natural, organic mineral use for optimal health and longevity.

From Vitamins to Phytonutrients

You probably already know what vitamin C and E and other nutrients like selenium are big time antioxidants that reduce the risk for memory loss. They work much better as a team than supplied alone.

There are literally thousands of compounds in real foods, like herbs, whole grains, legumes, and colorful fruits and vegetables, called phytonutrients. They aren’t vitamins or minerals. Instead, they are compounds with potent antioxidant abilities, especially when supplied as teams. There are the flavonoids in citrus, anthocyanins in red cabbage and cherries, lycopene in tomatoes and watermelon, lutein in spinach, sulforaphane in broccoli, ellagic acid in berries and sulfur compounds in garlic, to name only a few.

Not only do these phytonutrients protect the brain and body from free radical damage, but they also trickle the genetic code within all your body’s cells, turning on the natural production of your body’s own antioxidants, which then protect your brain 24/7 from damage. In other words, taking a vitamin C pill is great, but short-lived, while getting enough of the right mix of phytonutrients means your brain is protected around the clock.

What’s this got to do with supplements?

• First, if you don’t load the menu every day with real or super mood foods, it’s a good idea to take an antioxidant supplement that contains vitamin C and vitamin E. Aim for at least 250 milligrams of vitamin C and at least 100 IU of vitamin E. Take it in divided doses if you can, since nutrients are best absorbed and best used in the body when they are supplied in small, frequent doses.
• Second, skip supplements that pride themselves on supplying a smattering of a few phytonutrients, like lutein or lycopene. They are a scam. No one even knows how much of each phytochemical we need or how they work in tandem.
• Third, there are a few new supplements on the market that actually do work, such as Protandim. They aren’t antioxidants themselves, but they contain a mix of phytonutrients that turn on your body’s production of its own antioxidants. They work to reduce free radicals and potentially protect your brain. Supplements like Protandim are a whole new approach to cellular health. They naturally increase your body’s production of two antioxidant enzymes that aid in eliminating free radicals in your cells, helping to decrease cellular damage and promote healthy aging and immune function.

While all the 40+ nutrients are critical to your happiness quotient, a few vitamins, minerals and other compounds are superheroes in the fight against depression, fatigue, memory loss, and more. Here’s the short list on the ones most important to your mood.

Supplements versus Food

Sure, you still need to eat right, but nutrition and supplements are not an either-or issue. The two enhance each together, not cancel each other out. You don’t always get optimal amounts of all the vitamins and minerals from food, just as pills don’t contain everything that food has to offer.

For one thing, supplements can replace the vitamins and minerals, but they will never supply the thousands of other health-enhancing phytonutrients obtained from real foods. Second, while a well-chosen supplement can improve some of the nutritional shortcomings of a good diet, it can’t compensate for bad eating habits. You know deep down in your heart that you can’t live on French fries and hamburgers, then take a vitamin E supplement and think you’re doing fine. So eat right, but also take a multivitamin as a good safety net for those days when you eat well, but not well enough.

What should you look for in a multi-vitamin?

•Select a broad-range multiple vitamin and mineral supplement. Choose one that contains vitamin A, D, E, and K, all of the B vitamins (vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, niacin and folic acid), and the trace minerals (chromium, copper, iron, manganese, selenium and zinc).
•Ignore chloride, pantothenic acid, biotin, potassium, choline and phosphorus since the diet either already supplies optimal levels of these compounds or supplements contain too little to be useful. Also ignore nickel, iodine, vanadium and tin, since it’s not clear whether they’re essential for people.
•Read the column titled “Daily Value” on the black label. Look for a multiple that provides approximately 100%, but no more than 300% of the Daily Values for all nutrients provided. You want a “balanced” supplement, not one that supplies 2% of one nutrient, 50% of another, and 600% of another.
•Supplement your multi-vitamin. All one-pill-a-day multiples are short on calcium and magnesium, so consider taking a calcium-magnesium supplement if you consume less than three glasses of milk and several servings of magnesium – rich soybeans, wheat germ and dark green leafy vegetables each day. Look for one that supplies these two minerals in a two to one ratio, such as 500 milligrams of calcium to 250 milligrams of magnesium.

One Pill a Day

Most of your dietary woes are soothed if every day you eat at least eight servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, six servings of whole grains, three glasses of calcium-rich milk or soy milk, and two servings of extra-lean chicken, fish or legumes. Sounds reasonable, but there’s a catch – finding anyone who does that is about as likely as trying to find someone who can walk on water.

The irony is most of us think we’re eating pretty well. A Gallop poll conducted by the American Dietetic Association found that 90% of women surveyed said their diets were healthful. Most of them are delusional, since every national nutrition survey dating from the 1960s to the present repeatedly and consistently finds that most Americans don’t come close to adequate, let alone optimal. Only one in every 100 people meet even minimum standards of the proverbial “balanced diet”.

Even if you are perfectly, no diet can realistically provide optimal amounts of certain nutrients. Take, for example,

Vitamin E. You need at least 100 IU of this vitamin daily to cut the risk for memory loss and possibly Alzheimer’s. Are you willing to eat 8 cups of almonds, ¾ cup safflower oil or 62 cups of fresh spinach every day to meet this need?

Calcium. This mineral might help soothe the grumps in women seized with PMS. In fact, as calcium intake goes up, so does mood for these women. The latest calcium recommendation to curb that bad mood is 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams daily, which is easy enough if you drink four glasses of milk or soy milk daily. For those people who shun milk, meeting this quota means consuming 6 ounces of tofu, a can of salmon with the bones, and 2 cups of black bean soup every day.

Folic acid. This B vitamin is critical to mood and memory, but even though white flour an all the junk food made from it are now fortified with folic acid, intakes still fall short for a huge section of the population. You need at least two servings every day of foods rich in folate, like greens. But when researchers at the University of California, Berkeley investigated women’s intake of dark green leafies, they found almost 9 out of 10 women failed to include even one serving on any one of four days!

Vitamin D. frankly, I don’t know where anyone gets enough of this vitamin, since even drinking four glasses of fortified milk or soy milk daily won’t meet current needs for most people, and the amount of time you must spend in direct overhead sun without sunscreen is totally unrealistic, especially in the winter. Yet not getting enough of this vitamin is a big mistake if you battle mood, memory or possibly even weight issues.

Happy, fit people know that to improve their moods, sharpen their minds, life energy and fill in nutritional gaps while dieting, it’s a smart idea to take a moderate-dose, balanced multivitamin and mineral supplement. There is even evidence that a moderate dose multivitamin can lessen depression, improve mood, reduce stress and anxiety and soothe troubled emotions.

This makes sense since most vitamins and minerals are assembly-line workers in the brain. For example, the B vitamins covert glucose into energy for the brain and also help build some of the nerve chemicals that then tell you to cry at a sad place in a book or laugh at the right spot in a movie. Vitamin D protects nerves in the brain from degenerating. Vitamin E protects brain cell membranes from aging. Iron ensures your brain gets enough oxygen. Iodine ensures normal brain metabolism. The list goes on and on.

Arm Yourself with Knowledge: Metabolism Basics

Broadly defined, metabolism includes all of the physical and chemical changes that occur inside the cells of the body and that maintain life. All activity in the body occurs through the process of metabolism, in which cells break down chemicals and nutrients to general energy and form new molecules such as proteins. Efficient metabolism requires blood loaded with oxygen, glucose, and nutrients enzymes are the molecules that make metabolism happen, and nutrients are the vitamins and minerals that act as essential coenzymes. When a nutrient is deficient in the body, certain metabolic functions are impeded and symptoms of disease can arise. Your metabolism is influenced by:

Age: Metabolism naturally slows about 5 percent per decade after age thirty.

Gender: Men generally burn more calories at rest than women.

Muscle mass: The more lean muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate.
Activity level: The more you exercise, particularly aerobically, the higher your metabolic rate.

Genes: There can be an inherited aspect; some people have sluggish metabolic rates.

Thyroid function: You could have an overactive or underactive thyroid, but this is uncommon.

The good news: If you eat a balanced, healthy (low-fat) diet, add exercise (lots of exercise), and keep your body in top running form, your metabolism will burn calories like a top-flight engine. That’s why you need to learn how to maximizing your overall health, nourishing your body, and exercising, all of which will help your body functioning at its maximum capacity and boost your metabolism.

Munch on Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds, also known as pepitas, nestle in the core of the pumpkin encased in a white-yellow husk. This supersede contains a number of minerals such as zinc, magnesium, manganese, iron, copper, and phosphorus, along with proteins, monounsaturated fat, and the omega fatty acids 3 and 6 – all of which will help boost your metabolism. Today the superpowers of pumpkin seeds have been found to help prevent prostate cancer in men, protect against heart disease, and have anti-inflammatory benefits.

Eat a Nut

Nuts are high in fat, but they contain minerals, fiber, and nice amounts of protein. All nuts and seeds are small powerhouses. They are so powerful, in fact, that just having a serving of nuts five times a week can significantly reduce your risk for heart disease. However, nuts are high in calories and should be eaten in moderation; think of a serving as a tablespoon or two. Look for nuts that are unsalted; it’s not important whether they are roasted or unroasted. Nuts are great sprinkled on foods high in vitamin C, such as fruit and vegetables, because the vitamin C increases the body’s absorption of the iron in nuts.

Canada DIN vs NHP

Up until 2004, vitamins, minerals, and many botanical ingredients in pill form were considered drug products in Canada. These products were subject to a registration process and were required to be issued and carry a DIN or Drug Identification Number on their labels. As of January 1, 2004, these products are no longer considered drugs in Canada and can no longer be registered under the DIN program. The products are now considered Natural Health Products (NHP). NHP also require a registration process. Upon the completion of this process, the products are issued an NPN or Natural Product Number. For current information on Natural Health Products and Canadian Regulations, see the following link:

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/prodnatur/index-eng.php

USANA's products no longer carry a DIN, as they have applied for NHP licenses for all of USANA Nutritionals products. Those products that have been granted licenses so far each have an NPN (Natural Product Number) on their labels. Licensed products include USANA Visionex, Active Calcium Plus, Active Calcium Chewable, OptOmega, BiOmega, and Proflavanol 90.