Mark Hyman, M.D.
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 We hear about vitamins and minerals all the time, but what do they actually do? Think of a car again, with its gas and oil. Food is like gas, but if you don't have oil in the engine, it won't run. That's the role of vitamins and minerals—they are like the oil. They help get your food processed through a host of biochemical reactions.
The real workhorses are the enzymes, or the little factories that change one chemical to another. Enzymes are proteins that have very important and very precise three-dimensional shapes that determine which chemical reactions in the body they can participate in. |
The Editors of FC&A
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| Think of fruits and vegetables as nature's magic pills, containing lots of vitamins and minerals that help your heart. A recent British study determined that boosting your fruit and vegetable intake to the recommended five servings a day can dramatically lower your blood pressure. The increased potassium from a produce-rich diet probably had the biggest effect on blood pressure. But people in the study also boosted levels of antioxidant vitamins like vitamin C and beta carotene. |
| And here's why - they contain vitamins and minerals that attack diabetes head on.
Gain ground with grapes. A natural grape compound called pterostilbene could lower blood sugar, fight diabetes, and even take on cancer. Dr. Agnes M. Rimando, a chemist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture who researches this odd-sounding substance says, "My study is saying that there's another compound in grapes with equal cancer-fighting power as resveratrol, but which has antidiabetic properties as well. |
Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN
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 According to the authors of the report, at least with cow's milk, the basic components (proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals) are very similar to those in human milk and have evolved to perform similar functions (the building of bone, muscle and other tissues and the provision of metabolic energy). If there are any minor constituents in human milk which, in the formulation of a dairy-based formula, are overlooked in ignorance, they may well be partly compensated for by similar or identical factors from the cow's milk. |
| As manufacturers got the message, they solved the deficiencies in the cheapest and most expedient way possible— by fortifying with the vitamins and minerals or the adding an enhancer (such as vitamin C to enhance the uptake of iron).33 35
In 1939, the specter of thyroid damage emerged when soy feed was found to be goitrogenic to poultry. Over the next two decades, researchers learned that soy formula damaged the thyroids of human infants. By 1961 formula manufacturers routinely added iodine to soy formula. But although iodine prevents overt damage, long-term risks to the thyroid remain. |
| FORTIFICATION
Most soymilks are also fortified with calcium, vitamin D and other vitamins and minerals inadequately represented in soybeans, and stabilized with emulsifiers. This has been true at least since 1931 when a Seventh Day Adventist company fortified soy milk with calcium.26
I have experienced first-hand problems with soy milk. For many years I was one of the strong supporters of drinking soy milk. A few years ago, I was diagnosed with an en-dometrioma (a form of cyst) of the right ovary. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Also, if one is supplementing with whole food supplements such as Alive or Juice Plus, is it also necessary to supplement with calcium and other vitamins and minerals?"
Well, first off, I want to applaud you for remaining skeptical of the health claims described in the book, "The Calcium Factor," not because of whether or not they are true, but because the person authoring the book has a significant financial interest in your purchasing calcium.
As you know, I never have a financial interest in the products that I recommend or review on this website. |
Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
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 Extracts of beef (bovine) liver are a rich natural source of many vitamins and minerals (page 559), including iron (page 540).
Liver extracts provide the most absorbable form of iron—heme iron—and other nutrients critical in building blood, including vitamin Bn (page 601) and folic acid (page 520). Liver extracts can contain as much as 3—4 mg of heme iron per gram. In addition to its use as a source of iron, liver extracts are also used by some healthcare practitioners to support liver function and boost energy levels. Liver extracts have been tested in people with chronic liver disease. |
Michael Friedman, ND
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 A comprehensive nutritional supplement program that provides all of the vitamins and minerals involved in bone health may be valuable in preventing and treating osteoporosis.
Exercise
Exercise plays an important role in prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. Weight-bearing exercise strengthens bones, increases bone mass, and increases a person's reaction time and stability, thus decreasing the likelihood of a bone-breaking fall. Walking, running, tennis, aerobics, and weightlifting are effective at building and maintaining bone mass. |
Mike Adams
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| I've covered this briefly in the previous section, where I discussed the idea that you would have to eat 10,000 calories a day just to get the vitamins and minerals and phytonutrients that you need in order to experience optimum health. I also explained that no human being can eat 10,000 calories a day. You simply can't move that much food through your system.
High nutritional density, low caloric density
So what does a human being actually need in order to get optimum nutrition? The answer is quite simple. |
Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
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| Nutritional supplements that may be helpful
Multiple vitamin minerals (page 559) Diets that are low in total calories may not contain adequate amounts of various vitamins and minerals. For that reason, taking a multiple vitamin-mineral supplement is advocated by proponents of many types of weight-loss programs, and is essential when calorie intake will be less than 1,100 calories per day.62
Pyruvate (page 580)
Pyruvate, a compound that occurs naturally in the body, might aid weight-loss efforts. |
| Many vitamins and minerals have essential roles in tissue repair, and deficiencies of one or more of these nutrients have been demonstrated in animal studies to impair the healing process.36 This could argue for the use of multiple vitamin-mineral (page 559) supplements by people with minor injuries who might have deficiencies due to poor diets or other problems, but controlled human tesearch is lacking to support this. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 These are probably the least expensive commercially produced vitamins and minerals available on the market.
So essentially, what you have here with Ensure, is a predominantly sugar-water product that has been fortified with a few vitamins and minerals. With that in mind, let's go back to the front label and take a look at all of the claims. It says, 'Complete, balanced nutrition to help stay healthy, active, and energetic.'
Well, perhaps the only word that's true here is 'energetic' because in the food industry, energy is typically associated with sugar. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 B12. It's also an excellent source of heme iron and zinc.
6. Olive oil: Olive oil contains primarily monounsaturated fat and is a staple in the diet of individuals living in the Mediterranean region who demonstrate very low rates of chronic disease. When olive oil is the predominant source of lipids, fat intakes greater than 40 percent of total energy are compatible with good health and are associated with no adverse effects.
7. Water: Water is second to oxygen in maintaining life. Even minimal changes in body water can impair performance.
8. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 They take cheap vitamins that offer synthetic forms of vitamins and minerals rather than natural, organic forms. People also engage in lifestyle habits that deplete the vitamins and minerals they've managed to absorb from their foods. These habits include the consumption of caffeine, soft drinks, tobacco, white flour, added sugars, and other ingredients that actually strip nutrients away from your body. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Plus, apples contain various phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals. They're even a decent source of folic acid.
How to further suppress your appetite:
One more supplementary strategy to all of this is that you can multiply the appetite suppressing effects of all foods by swallowing a couple of fiber tablets before you begin eating. Fiber tablets or capsules would include psyllium husk, glucomannan, oat bran fiber, apple pectin fiber, or other natural fibers. You can find fiber supplements at any health food store. |
Mike Adams
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| People also engage in lifestyle habits that deplete the vitamins and minerals they've managed to absorb from their foods. These habits include the consumption of caffeine, soft drinks, tobacco, white flour, added sugars, and other ingredients that actually strip nutrients away from your body.
To top it off, they're subjected to chronic stress conditions like work stress, environmental stress (breathing polluted air, drinking polluted water), relationship stress, lack of sleep, lack of sunlight, and so on. |
| They are high in fiber, they have essential fatty acids and healthy oils; they have some protein, complex carbohydrates, and a fair assortment of vitamins and minerals. They're not rich in phytonutrients in the same way that green foods are, but they do cover the basics of nutrition and can be foods that support human health.
Now, this food processing facility is in business to make money. They way it does that is by selling products that its customers want to buy. Its customers are food manufacturing companies like Kraft or General Mills. |
| You should NOT turn to isolated vitamins and minerals that are sold in low-cost bottles at your favorite discount retailer. What I mean by that is don't go out and buy a bottle of vitamin C, and don't go out and buy a bottle of calcium. Don't buy a bottle of lycopene or some other isolated plant chemical. Instead, you want to get your vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals from natural sources — plant sources. And there are several categories of foods we can talk about here that provide this kind of nutrition.
Get your nutrition from superfoods
I often talk about superfoods. |
Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
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| The amount of vitamins and minerals can be easily increased or decreased by taking more or fewer of the multiple.
Which is better—capsule or tablet?
Multiples are available as a powder inside a hard-shell pull-apart capsule, as a liquid inside a soft-gelatin capsule, or as a tablet.
Most multiples have all the ingredients mixed together. Occasionally the B vitamins (page 603) react with the rest of the ingredients in the capsule or tablet. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 REPPED: In learning about nutrition, we often hear that certain foods contain a certain amount of vitamins and minerals. This is especially true in fruits, vegetables, and other produce, but very few people understand the truth about this information, which is that most of the published values about this nutritional content are not correct. This is especially true among minerals, and that's the point of this story.
Most of the produce you buy in a grocery store does not have anything close to the mineral profile it is supposed to have according to nutritional textbooks. |
Ben-Erik van Wyk
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 Nutritional value The fruits are rich in vitamins B and C and contain substantial quantities of other vitamins and minerals. Notes Noni fruit products are said to be beneficial as sexual tonics and useful in treating urinary tract ailments, fever and pain. They contain morindin and other anthraquinones, as well as various proteins and enzymes claimed to be biologically active.
Moringa oleifera ben tree • drumstick tree • horseradish tree description a tree of 5-15 m in height with a short, thick trunk and thick, fleshy roots. |
Mike Adams
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 A to Z Guide To Supplements
The meat connection to excess dietary phosphorus is also well explained in The Doctor's Complete Guide to Vitamins and Minerals:
Excess dietary phosphorus, found in meat, soft drinks, grains, and potatoes, may promote bone loss by interfering with calcium balance. In theory, the higher your phosphorus intake, the greater your tendency to leech calcium out of bones, which could weaken the bony foundation beneath your gums. Recommendation: ...try not to drink carbonated soft drinks, diet or otherwise. |
| William Duffy, Sugar Blues
It isn't just that milling grains strips their naturally occurring vitamins, minerals and oils, by the way: once these refined, processed carbohydrates are consumed, they also deplete the existing supplies of those very same vitamins and minerals in the human body.
All refined food has the characteristic of reducing certain types of nutrients in the body while adding others and creating imbalance as a result of incomplete digestion. |
| There are differences in the manufacturing process, and so-called evaporated cane juice does contain more vitamins and minerals than white sugar, but its impact on your blood sugar is virtually the same.
Frozen potatoes (hydrogenated oils + carbs)
Frozen potato packages are yet another food to avoid. Although they may appear to be a relatively healthy food manufactured with minimal processing, the vast majority of frozen potato packages contain hydrogenated oils. |
| For years, grains, flours, and bread — gutted of vitamins and minerals in the refining process - had been sold as "fortified" and "enriched," after addition of a few synthetic vitamins. The FDA kept telling us that enriched flour was just as good as the real stuff. Billions of dollars in advertising had programmed the American housewife into grabbing for enriched this and fortified that. So why not enrich white sugar? Suddenly somebody did. |
| The FDA actually banned vitamin-enriched sugar
Decades ago, some millers actually attempted to improve the nutritional value of their refined white sugar products by enriching them with essential vitamins and minerals. These were called "enriched" sugar products.
But with the claim that some white sugar products were now "enriched," other sugar producers balked and applied sufficient political pressure to the FDA to get the federal agency to actually ban enriched white sugar. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 They would like to regulate vitamins and minerals to non-therapeutic potency levels that could not do any real good. Vitamin C at 200 milligrams, just to give one of many possible examples, or vitamin B6 at something like 1.3 milligrams.
Mike: When I take vitamin C, I take 1,000 milligrams, and that is not even a very large dose. So you are saying that they would reduce it to a maximum of 200 milligrams per dose?
John: Yes. They do not want to make it easy for you to be able to afford to take vitamin C to bowel tolerance. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 These are instantly dissolving vitamins and minerals. What nutrients do you cover in the product line here?
Supkoff: Well, in the Superior Source line, we have 50 different products that dissolve right underneath the tongue. We don't use the word "sublingual" in any of our advertising; some of the other companies do. Now, our flagship product would be our B12 because of the problems associated with B12. That's why people obviously get shots. |
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