Nutrients, the Building Blocks of Immunity

I am going to supply you with knowledge about the essential nutrients needed for optimum health and longevity, several of which are ignored by mainstream nutritionists.

Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 17th edition defines nutrition as, "All the processes involved in the taking in and utilization of food substances by which growth, repair, and maintenance of activities in the body as a whole or in any of its parts are accomplished. Includes ingestion, digestion, absorption, and metabolism (assimilation)..." As you may gather, consuming the needed nutrient does not guarantee that the nutrient will be assimilated by the body.

Many people on this planet are aware that proper nutrition is essential for good health and that inadequate nutrition is associated with poor health and disease. Yet the corporations that control the majority of the food sold in markets are getting away with supplying very low quality products. Corporations routinely package and market foods based on their shelf life and taste rather than their nutritional value. Seed variations are selected for ease of growing, harvesting, transporting, and processing rather than nutrition. Adding chemicals to achieve a longer shelf-life is commonplace and the overrefining of grains is ubiquitous. These practices contribute to inadequate nutrition which leads, intern, to ill health.

Have you ever had someone tell you that they have a chemical imbalance? Consider the idea that they are suffering from an essential nutrient deficiency; do you believe that a pharmaceutical can supply the missing nutrients?

Scientific research proves that many essential nutrients are destroyed in cooking; so are cooked foods still whole foods? This chapter explains why fresh, uncooked and unprocessed whole foods are the most important health guardians available to the human organism.

Minerals

Seventeen of the thirty elements known to be essential to life are metals. These metals act as signal transducers for activation of different DNA expressions (Cousens pg. 311).

Mineral deficiencies cause disease in humans. For example, goiter, an enlargement of the thyroid gland (in the throat), can be caused by a deficiency of the mineral iodine. When Iodine is added to the diet, the goiter goes away.

Mineral toxicity is widely recognized. The problems in children who eat peeling lead-based paints and suffer lead toxicity is an example. Many historians believe lead poisoning contributed tothe fall of the Roman Empire.

Many minerals are rendered useless by cooking. When occurring in food, fluorine is completely different from fluoride which is manufactured by industry. Naturally occurring fluorine, when consumed in plant matter, may benefit teeth and bones and may even help to protect us from germs, but fluorine evaporates from food during cooking. Manufactured fluoride (also known as sodium fluoride or sodium monofluorophosphate), unfortunately, does not evaporate from the boiling of treated water and can cause many health problems in the human body. The research showing the benefits of fluoride was actually done on naturally occurring fluorine and not manufactured fluoride; this is how they have deceived the masses. According to many researchers including Paul Pitchford in "Healing with Whole Foods," sodium fluoride inhibits proper functioning of the thyroid gland and all enzyme systems and damages the immune system. Paul also lists the following disorders that may result from ingesting this toxin: arthritis in its various forms, lupus, and scleroderma. Ultimately, sodium fluoride increases the risk of cancer and other degenerative conditions. Have you ever read the warning label on toothpaste with added fluoride? It is very scary. It reads, "If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, seek professional assistance or contact a poison control center immediately"

(emphasis mine).

The Delaney Congressional Investigation Committee (US government agency that monitors additives and other substances in the food supply) came

to the following conclusion, "Fluoride is mass medication without parallel in the history of medicine."

I recommend fluoride-free toothpaste and, if fluoride has been added to your water supply as they are doing in many towns and cities, purchasing a filter specially designed to remove this toxic mineral (such as a reverse osmosis, distillation machine, or analumina fluoride filter).

Eleonore Blaurock-Busch, PhD. states in her book, Mineral and Trace

Element Analysis, "Selenium compounds are unstable and loss of the mineral occurs during cooking." Selenium is a very important mineral that our bodies use in many ways. The following is a list of symptoms of selenium deficiency (from the same book): cataracts, calcium deposits in muscle tissue, elevated cholesterol levels, increased susceptibility to cancer, mercury and cadmium poisoning, growth impairment, poor resistance to infection, reduced tissue levels of coenzyme Q10, and necrotic changes in the liver. I eat Brazil nuts for selenium and raw wheat germ can be a good source if the wheat is grown in selenium-rich soil.

Zinc is another mineral that some sources say becomes unstable in and is destroyed by high temperature cooking. Zinc is essential for the proper functioning of more than 300 enzymes (Cousins pg. 311).

According to Florida's Environmental Regulation Agency, the amount of mercury in one dental filling, if put into a ten-acre lake, would pollute that lake so dangerously that the lake would have to be closed to swimming, boating and fishing. The question here is why mercury is routinely used in dental fillings for both children and adults. They call it a mercury-amalgam filling and claim that it is safe. But mercury levels in the bloodstream rise over time as the filling leaches tiny amounts of this toxic mineral. I have had my mercury levels checked before and after replacing my mercury-amalgam fillings, and found that the mercury level in my body dropped to a safe level after removing the fillings whereas before the mercury level was dangerously high. My dental records and mineral test results are evidence of this. For this reason I suggest using composite fillings (white material that looks nice as well).

Many disease conditions caused by mineral imbalances are not commonly known. Providing sufficient minerals for a person is complicated by the fact that every person has a different need for each mineral at any given stage in his or her life. It has been said that 'one man's medicine is another man's poison'. Minerals have been called a double-edged sword because too much of a mineral can be just as harmful as not enough.

Since 1996, I have been working with Trace Elements Inc., a laboratory that determines mineral imbalances in humans (and animals). This laboratory uses sophisticated equipment that dissolves human hair into a solution and then accurately measures the toxic and nutrient minerals that are present in the hair. Hair holds an excellent history of the minerals that have traveled through the bloodstream over the time that it took for a length of hair to grow. Through this process, I have helped many people regain their health by recommending ways for them to balance mineral ratios (body chemistry) through their diet.

The synergistic and opposing relationships between various minerals, and between vitamins and minerals, are complex. Calcium and phosphorus work

synergistically in bone formation if the two minerals are in proper balance. However, when either one is consumed in excess of the other, a problem with bone formation can occur. Soda and carbonated water contain phosphoric acid to keep the bubbles in solution. Consumption of these man-made fluids can overload the body with phosphorus and lead to bone-density problems. Animal products are high in phosphorous and can cause this problem as well.

Magnesium can become deficient if an excess of vitamin D exists in the body. According to many experts as well as my own clinical experience, magnesium deficiencies are quite common. Magnesium is crucial for many very important processes in the body, including building bone and increasing bone density. I find that when I spend more time in the sun, my need for magnesium increases. (As explained in the Vitamin section, Vitamin D comes from the sun.) An excess of Vitamin D absorbed from spending time in the sun is antagonistic to the magnesium in your body.

Because of the adversarial relationship between Vitamin D and magnesium, I believe that the consumption of Vitamin D found in enriched cow's milk might lead to magnesium deficiency. Calcium and magnesium also have a synergistic and opposing relationship. Because cow's milk is very high in calcium and low in magnesium, consuming dairy products can lead to a magnesium deficiency. This fact contradicts the widely espoused notion that consuming large amounts of calcium through dairy products is the best way to fight osteoporosis. Whenever you consume large amounts of calcium without including balancing amounts of magnesium (along with other minerals and Vitamin D), as often happens when you consume large amounts of dairy products, you actually risk losing bone density. The Harvard Nurses Health Study (see www.PCRM.org), a twelve-year health study, consisting of 78,000 female nurses, showed that those who drank one glass of cow's milk per day ran a 1½ times greater risk of hip fracture than those who drank 1 glass or less per week.

Countries with the highest dairy intakes have the highest osteoporosis rates while countries with the lowest dairy intakes have the lowest osteoporosis rates. For example, Finland, Sweden, England and the USA have the highest rates of dairy consumption and also have the highest rates of osteoporosis. Black South Africans only consume about 196 mg of calcium per day. African Americans consume much higher amounts but have a nine times greater rate of hip fracture. Calcium intake of people in rural China is ½ that of the USA, but the bone fracture rate of the people in rural China is 1/5 that of the USA. Sixty-five percent of all adults world-wide do not drink cow's milk, and they have strong bones! Phosphates found in milk and cheeses (and eggs) reduce iron absorption. So why do we see advertisements for cow's milk everywhere in the United States? Perhaps the $190 million dollars spent annually by the dairy industry on the milk mustache advertisements has something to do with it. But don't take my word for it. Do some research and see for yourself!

According to the research of Dr. David L. Watts, some minerals have either stimulat ing or sedative properties. Stimulating minerals include phosphorous, sodium, potassium, iron, selenium, manganese, chromium, and molybdenum. The following minerals have a sedative effect on most people:

calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, boron, cobalt, barium, silicon, and vanadium.

For example, many of my clients who suffer from tight and painful muscles and/or constipation are deficient in magnesium. When magnesium is added to their diet, the tight muscles or constipation often vanish! Magnesium relaxes the muscles at the cellular level.

The best sources for minerals that I am aware of are organic fruits and vegetables, especially sea vegetables (see "Ocean-Grown Foods" in chapter 3), with the dark green leafy veggies being the most important. The fastest way to get minerals into your body is to juice the fruits and vegetables and drink the nutrient-rich juice, or to consume powdered cereal grasses such as wheat grass, barley grass, kamut and alfalfa (mixed with liquid). These dried cereal grasses are known as 'super foods'. When I consume them, they make me feel…Super!

Essential Fats

Essential fats and fatty acids are extremely important for health and vitality. Essential fat deficiencies are correlated with degenerative diseases including cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, skin afflictions, dry skin, premenstrual syndrome, behavioral problems, poor wound healing, arthritis, glandular atrophy, weakened immune functions and sterility (especially in males). (Udo Erasmus Ph.D., Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill)

Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary (17th edition) says the following about essential fatty acids: "The unsaturated fatty acids cannot be synthesized in the body and have been considered to be essential to maintain health."

Two absolutely essential fatty acids are alpha linolenic acid (omega-3) and linoleic acid (omega-6). These essential fatty acids must be provided in the diet.

Mary G. English, Ph.D., speaks of conditionally essential fats in her book, Know Your Fats. "The conditionally essential fatty acids include gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), arachidonic acid (AA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). All four of these fatty acids can be made by cells in the body, but there are a number of interfering food substances, illnesses or genetic inadequacies that make these fatty acids become dietary essential for some." Over the years of counseling people whose systems or intestinal tracts have been damaged by repeated use of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals, I have come to the conclusion the these people might have trouble synthesizing the conditionally essential fatty acids and that It is not an issue for the rest of us. So, in case you needed it, this is one of many good reasons to avoid pharmaceuticals.

"Every living cell in the body needs essential fatty acids. They are essential for rebuilding and producing new cells. Essential fatty acids are also used by the body for the production of prostaglandins, hormone-like substances that act as chemical messengers and regulators of various body processes" (Balch and Balch pg. 68).

The Medline Medical Database (1999) a review of 1757 peer-reviewed articles, lists afflictions associated with a deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids (while an omega-3 deficiency may not be the cause of the following afflictions, it has been shown to be a contributing factor). These include acne, AIDS, allergies, Alzheimer's, angina, atherosclerosis, arthritis, autoimmunity, behavioral disorders, breast cancer, breast cysts, breast pain, cancer, dementia, diabetes, eczema, heart disease, high blood pressure, hyperactivity, infection, immune deficiencies, inflammatory conditions, intestinal disorders, kidney disease, learning disorders, leukemia, lupus, malnutrition, menopause, mental illness, metastasis, multiple sclerosis, neurological disease, obesity, post viral fatigue, psoriasis, Reyes syndrome, schizophrenia, stroke, and vision disorders.

Essential fatty acids (EFAs) have desirable effects on many disorders. They improve the skin and hair, reduce blood pressure, aid in the prevention of arthritis, lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and reduce the risk of blood clot formation. They are beneficial for candidiasis, cardiovascular disease, eczema and psoriasis and are found in high concentrations in the brain. EFAs

aid in the transmission of nerve impulses and are needed for the normal development and functioning of the brain. A deficiency of EFAs can lead to an impaired ability to learn and recall information.

Experts agree: "Heat destroys essential fatty acids. Worse, it results in the creation of dangerous free radicals" (Balch and Balch pg. 68). Udo Erasmus says, "heat destroys EFAs and turns them into poisonous breakdown products that interfere with EFA functions and create free radicals." The bottom line is: eat only living foods and you will never have to worry about consuming these poisonous breakdown products or this type of free radical that can be so damaging to the body.

One of the most knowledgeable people on the subject of EFAs, Udo Erasmus Ph.D., states, "… all whole, fresh, unprocessed foods contain some EFA".

"Alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3) is found in high amounts in flax, flax seed oil (approximately 60 percent) and walnut oil (10 percent). Other oils that have high levels of alpha-linolenic acid are perilla oil and hemp oil" (Know Your Fats by Mary G. English, Ph.D., pg. 238). With the exception of fish, animal products are deficient in omega-3 fats.

"Linoleic acid (Omega-6) is found in large amounts in unrefined sunflower seed oil (68 percent)" (Mary G. English, Ph.D., Know Your Fats, pg. 256).

I take one tablespoon of flax seeds ground in a coffee bean grinder (keep refrigerated or consume immediately) on most days and a handful of fresh walnuts (soaked for a few hours) on other days to ensure my omega-3 intake. For the omega-6, I eat raw sunflower seeds soaked and sometimes sprouted. Hemp seeds are a great source of both omega 3 and omega 6 EFAs. They can be bought in a health food store. Be sure to refrigerate after opening.

"The daily requirement for essential fatty acids is satisfied by an amount equivalent to 10 to 20 percent of total caloric intake" (Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC, and James F. Balch, M.D., pg. 69). This requirement translates into approximately two tablespoons of flax seed oil per day.

Traveling in New Zealand in 2002, I came across a sticker on an avocado that caught my attention: "NZ AVOCADOS NATIONAL HEART FOUNDATION APPROVED." Just a few years prior I had suggested that my mother include small amounts of avocado in her diet. (My research leads me to believe they are very beneficial.) She told me that her cardiologist had told her to avoid avocados but had not told her anything about essential fats. So, who is correct: The New Zealand Heart Foundation or my mom's American cardiologist?