By Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield and Nikki Tovell
Nutrition. What do you think of when you see that word? For most people, nutrition conjures up some vague ideas about eating a balanced diet comprising something of each of the four main food groups, and maybe sticking to low-fat, low-sugar, low-salt foods.hEating Healthily is commonly associated with lettuce leaves and raw carrots — rabbit food — to most people. But nutrition isn't so much about what we eat, as what our bodies do with the foods we eat.
Linus Pauling, Nobel Prize winner for chemistry, and widely considered to be the father of molecular biology, stated that "the use of nutritional supplements, in the treatment as well as the prevention of disease, is clearly the future of medicine." What he meant by that was that every single degenerative disease and every single case of "natural death" in humans can be traced to a nutritional deficiency. This apparently controversial statement is borne out by extensive amounts of research done in this field; research papers, clinical trials, double blind trials, and scientific evidence beyond dispute all demonstrate quite categorically that this is indeed the truth. In the early 1970's Dr Joel Wallach, reknowned nutritionalist, medical doctor, and former veterinary surgeon, found it to be true after spending twelve years completing 17,500 autopsies on more than 454 different species of animals for American zoos, and more than 3,000 autopsies on humans. Literally thousands upon thousands of articles, papers and books have been published confirming the scientific validity of this theory. Inadequate nutrition causes disease and death. It's a scientific fact. And yet orthodox doctors will disagree most vehemently. This is simply because they are not taught about this in medical school.
What they are taught in medical school is that disease is an invader to be beaten off with the big sticks of pharmaceutical drugs and surgery. What we teach at Foxley Lane is that disease is a sign of an imbalance in the body, and can be rectified without necessarily bombarding an already weakened system with heavy drugs or surgery. Full and active health can be restored and maintained simply by providing the body with the basic tools it needs to achieve this. This means that we have to look at the body as a whole, and not at individual systems in isolation from each other. Everything within the body is designed to work in harmony with the other parts, and if one part is not working optimally it will naturally have a knock-on effect on other parts. Some of you will be aware of this already; low back pain can lead to headaches, a bad hip can lead to back pain, PMS leads to mood swings and depression, and so on. The majority of degenerative illnesses (arthritis, fibromyalgia, rheumatism, heart conditions, diabetes, osteoporosis, multiple allergies, etc etc) are linked to hypometabolic disorders, and those of you with hypothyroidism or hypoadrenalism will be only too familiar with the enormous range and ferocity of symptoms that these conditions can bring about. Yet if you go to an orthodox doctor, they will try to treat all the symptoms individually, never once addressing the underlying cause. And of course, you never really feel well, despite the amount of pain killers, diuretics, antifungals, antibiotics, antihistamines or other drugs you are taking to relieve your myriad of symptoms. Hardly seems fair, does it ?
Metabolism is the term used to describe the rate at which your body performs each and every one of it's billions and billions of functions. At it's most basic, it can be described as energy. If you have low energy, you have a low, or hypoactive, metabolism; if you have excessive energy, you have a hyper or overactive metabolism. Humans are no different from any other living organism in that they must ingest certain substances to provide this energy; plants pull minerals from the soil, animals eat plants and other animals. Even viruses and bacteria "feed", on whichever human, plant or animal they are currently hitching a ride on. No form of life exists without getting nutrition suitable to its' needs. Any gardeners out there will be familiar with the fact that alkaline-loving plants do badly in acid soil, and vice versa. Any dog owners will know that you can't really give your hound cattle feed and expect him to do well on it.
Studies show that humans need no fewer than NINETY-ONE nutrients every day in order to meet your body's essential needs. Please note the use of the word "essential" - there are other nutrients which can further improve health. This is merely the very basic number needed to exist at a functional level. These are:
SIXTY minerals, SIXTEEN vitamins, TWELVE amino acids, and THREE essential fatty acids.
And this, of course, assumes that you have good health to begin with. If you have any history of ill- health whatsoever, you will be deficient in some of these nutrients. Chronic ill-health causes all sorts of problems of absorption too, so even if you think you are taking in the right amounts of all these ninety-one nutrients, there's a high probability that you won't actually be utilising them and will therefore still be deficient. It isn't enough to be putting the right things in - you need to be absorbing and using them too.
First things first.
Protein. Pretty much everyone is familiar with the concept that proteins are the building blocks of life. The word itself is derived from the Greek word, protos, meaning first. Protein is the basic material of all living cells. We take in proteins, break them down into amino acids, then re-form them into specific proteins required by our bodies. Opinion varies as to exactly how many amino acids exist, but 27 have been identified. These are:
Alanine, Arginine, Asparganine, Aspartic Acid, Carnitine, Citruline, Cysteine, Cystine, GABA, Glycine, Glutamine, Glutamic Acid, Histidine, *Isoleucine, *Leucine, *Lysine, *Methionine, Ornithine, *Phenylalanine, Proline, Pyroglutamate, Serine, Taurine, *Threonine, *Tryptophan, Tyrosine, and *Valine.
In the human body they link together to form an astonishing 50,000 unique proteins, and a further 20,000 enzymes. Some of these proteins are used to construct muscles, bones, organs, glands, hair, nails and connective tissues. Some are required for the protein structures in genes, enzymes, hormones, neurotransmitters and body fluids. They are all required for the correct utilisation of vitamins and minerals. The eight marked with a * are commonly called "essential" amino acids, that is to say that they cannot be synthesised within the body and have to be obtained from outside sources, ie, diet or supplementation. Some of the others also fall into this category under certain body conditions such as illness or stress. The rest are made from the essential amino acids. For example, tyrosine, which is vitally important in the thyroid process, is made from phenylalanine. All of the amino acids perform a variety of highly specific functions, and a deficiency of any of them can have far reaching effects on health. Cysteine acts as an antioxidant, arginine stimulates human growth hormone, lysine promotes production of antibodies, hormones and enzymes, phenylalanine is involved in the production of dopamine and adrenaline, and tryptophan participates in the biosynthesis of the neurotransmitter serotonin, without which we sleep badly, suffer nightmares and become depressed. Deficiency states successfully treated with the appropriate amino acid include osteoarthritis, menstrual pain, headaches, insomnia, depression, drug and alcohol addiction, allergies, ulcers, anaemia, high blood pressure, fatigue, sexual disinterest, Parkinsons' Disease, liver damage, skin lesions, weakness, oedema (fluid retention), depigmentation of hair, artherosclerosis, pain, impotence, poor memory, obesity, mania and aggressive behaviour, vision problems and even epilepsy.
The good news about this daunting array of vital nutrients is that, contrary to popular belief, these proteins are widely available in plants, and not just in animal produce. Unless you are existing on a terrible diet of refined and processed foods, or have serious absorption problems, there is not much likelihood of any significant deficiency. However, absorption problems are commonplace in all chronic health conditions, and deficiency states cannot necessarily be ruled out.
Next in the chain of nutrition come minerals. We all know what minerals are, more or less, but what you may not know is that you need adequate mineral levels present in your body in order to utilise vitamins and, indeed, many other substances. If you've ever taken a multi-vitamin and mineral preparation and gained no benefit from it, or even felt worse whilst taking it, there's a strong possibility than you are deficient in some of the minerals. You have to replenish your mineral levels first. Mineral deficiency states are incredibly common, and the reason for that is that plants cannot make their own minerals - they have to be present in their soil to end up in the plant, and thence in us. Considering the extent of over-farming that has happened over the last century, much of our planets' soil is depleted of minerals. It only takes 5-10 years to drain the minerals out of the soil - ask any farmer. This problem was identified as long ago as 1936, when the US government produced Senate Document 264. To quote:
"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. No man of today can each enough fruit and vegetables to supply his system with the minerals he requires for perfect health because his stomach isn't big enough to hold them."
Another quote from this document:
"It is bad news to learn from our leading authorities that 99% of the American people are deficient in these minerals, and that a marked deficiency in any one of the more important minerals actually results in disease. Any upset of the balance, any considerable lack of one or another element, however microscopic the body requirement may be, and we sicken, suffer, and shorten our lives."
And that was back in 1936 ! Mineral levels in natural foods have declined, and are still declining. Farmers do put back in some minerals, but only those necessary to ensure faster plant growth; a lot that we need to get from plants is not replaced by farmers and therefore never reaches us. Food refining removes up to 90% of trace minerals, too. Cooking further destroys mineral content. In addition to these two facts, our mineral needs have actually increased, due the levels of pollution and toxins that we now have to cope with. Eating organic is the best we can do, and even that may still be contaminated by air-borne pollutants, toxins, herbicides, insecticides, and passing pollen from GM crops. Nutrition really is a huge health issue now.
Deficiency states are rife. Did you know that a basic calcium deficiency can manifest as some 147 different diseases ? Bells' Palsy, osteoporosis, kidney stones, bone spurs, arthritis, osteoarthritis, sciatica, lumbago, degenerative arthritis, rheumatism, receding gums, gingivitis, high blood pressure, chronic constipation, muscle twitches and cramps, even PMS, all are signs of a marked calcium deficiency.
Diabetes is a deficiency of too little chromium and vanadium - the farming and veterinary communities have been preventing and curing this terrible illness since 1957 when "Federation Proceedings", the official journal for the National Institutes of Health in America, published a paper on it. According to the British Colombia Medical School in Vancouver, vanadium alone will replace insulin in adult-onset diabetes - which accounts for 85% of all diabetes cases - and cure it. Insulin has to be reduced gradually of course, and the process takes 4-6 months, but just think of the implications of this information. Chromium and vanadium are found in quantity in things like chocolate. Most doctors will tell you that it's the eating of excessive amounts of chocolate that can cause the diabetes - this is the reverse, clearly. The body is craving these minerals, tries to get them by eating chocolate, doesn't get enough of them, and develops diabetes. Not helped of course by medical advice insisting that chocolate does you no good.
Agricultural science is always ahead of human science in the field of nutrition and deficiency states - they've had to be, because they've had to find cost-effective ways of managing their livestock whilst maintaining their livelihoods. They had to find out what caused each disease and then find a way to fix it. Another example: stomach ulcers in pigs have been successfully being treated for more than 50 years, because they understood that they were caused by a bacteria called helicobacter pylori and a deficiency of a trace mineral called bismuth, yet for all that time we were told that stress was the cause and surgery the only cure; the American National Institutes of Health finally published this information in 1994, to great and quite undeserved acclaim. Another example, this one discovered via farmers, vets and turkeys - copper deficiency results in aneurysms, varicose veins and sagging skin (it's vital for maintaining elastic fibres in the body), and also grey hair. The list of modern diseases caused by deficiency states is enormous.
Cravings for any foods - or other substances for that matter - always indicate a deficiency state. The reason that pregnant women crave bizarre foods is because the foetus is pulling all the minerals away from the mother. Back in the 70's, there was a big issue about the use of lead-based paint because children were eating it off the walls; instead of recognising a deficiency state and addressing it with cheap mineral supplementation, the paint was expensively replaced with non-lead compounds. Cattle, especially dairy cattle, will eat fences, barbed wire, rocks, wood, pretty much anything unless they are being given mineral blocks to chew on instead; it's not a matter of boredom, it's a matter of mineral deficiency as the constant milking pulls all of the minerals out of these cows.
Cravings like these are known in veterinary circles as a disease called Pica. If you experience any cravings, it is a very clear sign that there is something your body is lacking something which it needs. And it isn't will power !
And lastly in the nutrition chain come vitamins. Again, we all know what these are, and we may even know about some of the deficiency states; B12 is linked to pernicious anaemia, vitamin C with scurvy, vitamin D with rickets, and so on. But there's more, of course. Fifty years ago, Alzheimer's was unheard of. It is a vitamin E deficiency. It's also remarkably common now. here are some others for you to be thinking about, in no particular order:-
Vitamin Deficiency / Sign:
M (folic Acid) - weakness, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, mental confusion,
premature birth
K - inability to clot blood, so excessive bleeding
D - bone pain, muscle weakness and spasms, brittle bones, osteomalacia
Choline (B vit) - nerve degeneration, thrombosis, fatty liver, mental
confusion
C - weakness, lassitude, muscle and joint pain, allergies, poor resistance
to infection
H (biotin) - smooth pale tongue, nausea, depression, sleepiness, hair
loss, loss of reflexes
Cobalamin (B12) - moodiness, paranoia, mental confusion, poor memory,
tiredness, menstrual disorders
Pyridoxine (B6) - migraine, scaly skin on face, splitting of lips, infant
convulsions, PMT
Riboflavine (B2) - bloodshot eyes, gritty eyes, light sensitivity, cracks
& sores round mouth, trembling
Thiamine (B1) - muscle weakness, nausea, tender calves, tingling and burning
in toes and soles of the feet, apain in eyes, dry eyes, poor sight, poor
hair, scaly skin and scalp, inflamed mucosa
What we have tried to do here is to provide you with some basic information about the need for good nutrition. All of the above will be covered in greater depth in a series of information leaflets. This is designed as an overview, just a little taster to get you thinking about the possibility of deficiency states being involved in your own health condition.
To summarise, then: nutrition isn't simply about the four food groups. It's about all the different chemical substances that our bodies need in order to perform all the functions of life. Every function in our bodies is the result of a chemical reaction or interaction. If the right nutrients aren't available to the body, functions fail, and it's as simple as that. Nutrition is about giving your body what it needs in order for it to be healthy. Nutrition is about life.