December 25, 2017
A new year of newsletters. As I stated last week, I have decided to start this year with a reboot of the weekly mineral and vitamin tutorial. The children that I see in clinic are frequently insufficient in critical micronutrients and it is very clear to me that Americans are consuming the wrong foods, leaving our cells wanting micronutrients that we do not provide. Ultimately, this causes our cells to work on a half tank of fuel, inefficient and dysfunctional!
Let us look at iron as an example. If you follow and consume iron according to the RDA or registered dietary allowance, you will have enough iron to produce red blood cells adequately for survival. What you don't know is that you likely do not have enough for complete cellular function.
The Institute of Medicine established the RDA level as a guide for micronutrient needs for the average human. At this level, however, many people are having neurologic issues and fatigue concerns. Restless leg syndrome, parasomnias, brain fatigue, low core temperature, weakened immunity and general malaise are all associated with insufficient iron levels.
Based on this example we are going to look at all of the necessary micronutrients that a healthy diet should provide. We will look at the function of the mineral, the source in the diet, the dysfunctional state and also disruptors to sufficiency.
One common theme that you will find is that most micronutrients are found in vegetables and fruits. It is hard to get a deficiency or insufficiency state when consuming a lot of vegetables and fruits.
I do not believe that supplementation is the answer long term. Diet is the key. Use supplementation as a restorative plan until and when that diet is functional.
On that note, magnesium is a power mineral that will kick off this series below.
Winter is good,
Dr. M
