Chocolate bars are usually full of sugar. Cocoa, the active ingredient in chocolate, provides significant quantities of the stimulant theobromine, whose action is similar to caffeine’s, though not as strong. It also contains small amounts of caffeine. Theobromine is also obtained in cocoa drinks like hot chocolate. As chocolate is high in sugar and stimulants, and delicious as well, it’s all too easy to become a chocoholic. The best way to quit the habit is to have one month with no chocolate. Instead, eat healthy sweets from health food shops that are sugar free and don’t contain chocolate. After a month you will have lost the craving.
Cola and “energy” drinks contain anything from 46 to 80 mg of caffeine per can, which is as much as there is in a cup of coffee. In addition, these drinks are often high in sugar and colorings and their net stimulant effect can be considerable. Check the ingredients list and stay away from drinks containing caffeine and chemical additives or colorings.
Changing any food habit can be stressful in itself, so it is best not to quit everything in one go. A good strategy is to avoid something for a month and then see how you feel. One way to greatly reduce the cravings for foods you’ve got hooked on is by having an excellent diet. Since all stimulants affect blood sugar levels, you can keep yours even by always having something substantial for breakfast, such as an oat-based, not-too-refined cereal; unsweetened live yogurt with banana, ground sesame seeds, and wheat germ; or an egg. You can snack frequently on fresh fruit. The worst thing you can do is go for hours without eating. Eating a highly alkaline-forming diet can reduce cravings for cigarettes and alcohol. This means eating lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. These high-fiber foods also help keep your blood sugar level even.
As we will see in chapters 12 and 13, vitamins and minerals are important too, because they help regulate your blood sugar level and hence your appetite. They also minimize the effects of withdrawal from stimulants and the symptoms of food allergy. The key nutrients are vitamin C, the B complex vitamins, especially vitamin B6, and the minerals calcium, magnesium, and chromium. Fresh fruit and vegetables provide significant amounts of vitamin C and B vitamins, while vegetables and seeds such as sunflower and sesame are good sources of calcium and magnesium. For maximum effect, however, it is best to supplement these nutrients as well as eat foods rich in them.
ARE YOU DEPENDENT ON STIMULANTS?
To find out if you are stimulant-dependent, complete the “stimulant inventory” below, for a week.
Add up your total number of “units.” The ideal is five or fewer per week. If you are having more than ten stimulant units a week, this is going to have an effect on your mental well-being. If you score thirty or more this could well be contributing to mental health problems. It is strongly recommended that you reduce or avoid all these substances for at least a month and see how this helps your symptoms.
A few simple steps you can take to reduce your intake of and addiction to stimulants and balance your blood sugar
Avoid sugar and foods containing sugar.
Break your addiction to caffeine by avoiding coffee, tea, and caffeinated drinks for a month, while improving your diet. Once you are no longer craving caffeine, the occasional cup of weak tea or very occasional coffee is not a big deal.
Break your addiction to chocolate. Once you are no longer craving it, the occasional piece of chocolate is not a problem, but choose the dark, low-sugar kind.
Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner—choosing low-GL foods—plus two fruit snacks in between.
Take a high-strength multivitamin, plus 2,000 mg per day of vitamin C and 200 mcg of chromium.
12
The Vitamin Scandal
Every survey of eating habits conducted in the U.S. since the 1980s shows that even those who said they ate a balanced diet failed to eat anything like the U.S., EU, or World Health Organization recommended daily allowances (RDAs). But these RDAs of nutrients are set by governments to prevent deficiency diseases like scurvy; they are certainly not designed to ensure optimal health, and there is a big difference between a lack of illness and the presence of wellness. For example, the average person gets 3.5 colds a year. In a study of 1,038 doctors and their wives, those who took 410 mg of vitamin C a day had the least signs of illness and lowest incidence of colds. This intake is roughly seven times the RDA for vitamin C.
RDAs are set by panels of scientists in different countries, based on what is known to prevent classic nutrient-deficiency diseases. The trouble is that the scientists cannot agree. From country to country there is often a tenfold variation in recommended levels of nutrients. Dr. Stephen Davies, a medical researcher, tested blood levels of B vitamins in thousands of people and found more than seven in every ten to be deficient.17 The RDAs do not take into account an individual’s circumstances, nor do they consider the question of what is optimal. For example, if you smoke; drink alcohol; live in a polluted city; are premenstrual, menopausal, or on the Pill; exercise a lot; or are fighting an infection or stressed out, your nutrient needs can easily double.
What is more, it is very difficult to eat a diet that meets the RDA levels. What most people conceive of as a well-balanced diet fails to meet RDA requirements. The Bateman Report, published in 1985,18 found that more than 85 percent of people who generally thought they ate a well-balanced diet failed to meet the recommendations. At the other end of the scale, 25 percent of women on income support take in smaller quantities of eight nutrients than the level known to result in serious deficiency diseases (Food Commission, 1992). In truth, fewer than one in ten people eat a diet that meets even UK RDA requirements.
While you might think that our diets are getting better, comparison with a similar survey in 1986–87 shows that our intakes of vitamins A and B12, iron, magnesium, and zinc have all fallen. These vitamins and minerals are vital for health and the evidence is that we need more, not less, for optimal health. B12, for example, is often low in older people and helps lower homocysteine thereby reducing risk for heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Yet if you give older people with raised homocysteine levels 10 mcg of B12, which is about twice the RDA, it neither corrects their deficiency nor lowers homocysteine. Only levels of 50 mcg (that’s over eight times the RDA) bring them back to optimal health.19
Empty calories
As much as two-thirds of the average calorie intake is from fat, sugar, and refined flours. The calories in these foods are called “empty” because they provide no nutrients and are often hidden in processed foods and snacks that usually weigh little but satisfy our appetite instantly. For instance, two cookies provide more calories than 1 lb. (0.45 kg) of carrots and are considerably easier to eat—but they provide no vitamins or minerals. If a quarter of your diet by weight, and two-thirds by calories, consists of such dismembered foods, there is little room left to accommodate the necessary levels of the essential nutrients. Wheat, for example, has twenty-five nutrients removed in the refining process that turns it into white flour, yet only four (iron, B1, B2, and B3) are replaced. On average, 87 percent of the essential minerals zinc, chromium, and manganese are lost. Have we been shortchanged?
This raises three questions. What is “need”? Are the RDA levels enough? How can we achieve the necessary intake?
Why feeling just “all right” is not all right
To date the evidence is that most people are being shortchanged on health, owing to inadequate intakes of vitamins and minerals. Since the 1980s, proper scientific studies using multinutrient supplements have shown that they boost immunity, increase IQ, reduce birth defects, improve childhood development, reduce colds, stop PMS, improve bone density, balance moods, reduce aggression, increase energy, reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease, and basically promote a long and healthy life. Most people are putting up with “feeling all right”—accepting the odd cold, headache, mouth ulcer, muscle cramp or bout of PMS, mood fluctuations, poor concentration, and lack of energy. Back in 1982 at the Institute for Optimum Nutrition we put seventy-six volunteers on
a six-month supplement program.20 At the end of this time, 79 percent reported a definite improvement in energy, 60 percent spoke of better memory and mental alertness, 66 percent felt more emotionally balanced, 57 percent had fewer colds and infections, and 55 percent had better skin.
What is optimum?
The RDAs are not enough for optimum health. Thanks to Dr. Emanuel Cheraskin and colleagues from the University of Alabama, we are getting closer to defining optimum nutrition.21 Over a fifteen-year period they studied 13,500 people living in six regions of the United States. Each participant completed in-depth health questionnaires and was given physical, dental, eye, and other examinations, as well as numerous blood tests, cardiac function tests, and a detailed dietary analysis. The object was to find which nutrient-intake levels were associated with the highest health ratings.
The results consistently revealed that the healthiest individuals, meaning those with the fewest clinical signs and symptoms, were taking supplements and eating diets rich in nutrients relative to calories. The researchers found that the intake of nutrients associated with optimal health was often ten or more times higher than the RDA levels. At the Institute for Optimum Nutrition we’ve continued this research and have identified the levels of intakes of nutrients that are optimum by looking at studies that prove better health with additional intakes of nutrients above the so-called “well-balanced diet.”
For example, ninety-six healthy elderly people were given a high-strength multivitamin and mineral supplement or placebo. Those on the supplement had fewer infections and their blood tests revealed a stronger immune system; in fact, they were healthier overall. Of twenty-two thousand pregnant women, some on supplements, some not, the group taking supplements gave birth to 75 percent fewer babies with birth defects.22 In another study, ninety schoolchildren were given a high-strength multivitamin and mineral supplement, placebo, or nothing. Seven months later the IQ scores of those on supplements were 10 percent higher than those of the other two groups.
A similar study was carried out on a group of ninety-six people over the age of sixty-five. They too had dramatic improvements in mental performance and memory.23 The same research group gave multivitamins to elderly people and found it halved their risk of infection.24 A professor of medicine examined all studies looking at vitamin C versus the common cold, selecting only those where 1,000 mg or more was given and involving a placebo group (known as double-blind testing).25 Of these tests, thirty-seven out of thirty-eight concluded that supplementing 1,000 mg, twenty times the RDA, had a protective effect. Professor Morris Brown at Cambridge University gave two thousand patients with heart disease vitamin E or a placebo. Those taking vitamin E had 75 percent fewer heart attacks.26
These are just some of the hundreds of scientific studies published in respected medical journals proving that an intake of vitamins above RDA levels enhances resistance to infection, improves intellectual performance, and reduces the risk of birth defects, cancer, and heart disease. By reviewing all this research, we have established our suggested optimal intakes of nutrients. At ION we call these levels the optimum daily allowances, or ODAs for short, shown on the next page. Also shown is what you can reasonably be expected to achieve from your diet. The shortfall between this and our ODAs is well worth supplementing.
Despite this, some “flat-earthers” continue to say that supplements are a waste of money. To quote one antisupplement survey of people who took supplements, published in the journal Nutrition Reviews, “It is ironic that adults who were not overweight and whose health was good used supplements more frequently than did less healthy individuals.” What a strange coincidence! I think of supplements like clothes—they are not strictly natural, although they are made from natural ingredients. They don’t have any downsides if used properly and, as every year passes, have more and more proven benefits. I think soon everyone will be taking them in addition to, I hope, eating a healthy diet.
Vitamin A
This vitamin is essential for reproduction and for the maintenance of epithelial tissue found in skin, outside and in, such as the lungs, gastrointestinal tract, uterus, and so on. Beta-carotene is the most active precursor of vitamin A, and in high doses, unlike vitamin A itself, is not toxic. Vitamin A is important in cancer prevention and treatment of precancerous conditions. It is also essential for vision. Many autistic children have problems with visual perception and don’t look straight at you. This is because there are more receptors for black and white vision—called rods—in the periphery of the eye. Give these kids natural vitamin A from fish oil and they look straight at you. In regard to cancer, people with low beta-carotene intake have a 30 to 220 percent higher risk of developing lung cancer, for example. The optimal intake of vitamin A is likely to be at least double the RDA. Even higher levels of beta-carotene may confer extra benefits.
RDAs versus ODAs and dietary intakes. This chart shows the differences between the RDA, (now shown as Dietary Value [DV] on labels) our average intake, and our ideal intake. The gray amounts are the levels we could reach if we ate a good variety of fruit and vegetables daily—that is, a good diet.
Using vitamin C as an example, the RDA is 60 mg. The average intake is 100 mg. If you eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, you could achieve 200 mg. The optimal intake is somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 mg. The ODA is set at the midpoint of 2,000 mg. The shortfall between a good diet (200 mg) and the ODA (2,000 mg) is 1,800 mg. This is the kind of level worth supplementing.
Vitamin B complex
This group of vitamins includes eight essential nutrients. These five are most commonly deficient.
B1 (thiamine) is unlikely to be needed at levels more than eleven times the RDA unless you are consuming a lot of refined carbohydrates. A study of 1,009 dentists and their wives found the healthiest to consume on average 9 mg of thiamine a day.
vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is needed in greater quantities by those who exercise frequently. To date there is insufficient evidence to recommend more than double the RDA.
vitamin B3 (niacin) is famous for its ability to help remove unwanted cholesterol but notorious for its vasodilatory or blushing effect in high doses. According to one study, the healthiest people consume 115 mg a day, which is about six times the RDA.
vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is another B vitamin that appears to have considerable benefit at levels ten times higher than the RDA. It is essential for all protein utilization and has been helpful in a variety of conditions from PMS to carpal tunnel syndrome (a strain condition affecting nerves in the wrist) and cardiovascular disease.
Folic acid is now recognized as essential for the prevention of neural tube defects in pregnancy, and the U.S. Public Health Service recommends pregnant women take a daily 400 mcg supplement. Optimal levels, especially in the elderly, may be much higher. There is one caution, however: folic acid supplementation can mask B12-deficiency anemia, so it is best to supplement extra folic acid with vitamin B12.
Vitamin C
This one is necessary for a strong immune system, for collagen and bone formation, for energy production, and as an antioxidant. In a study of 1,038 doctors and their wives, those with a daily intake of 410 mg of vitamin C had the fewest signs of illness or degenerative disease.27 This intake, roughly ten times the RDA, is close to that of our primitive ancestors. A large number of studies have found a reduced risk of cancer in those with a high vitamin C intake. Vitamin C status and bone density decline from the age of thirty-five. Numerous studies have shown vitamin C to be associated with improved bone density as well as keeping the absorption of iron, giving us good reason to increase our intake as we get older.
The protective role of vitamin C against various cancers, cardiovascular disease, and the common cold becomes significant only when the intake is above 400 to 1,000 mg a day. In a large survey in the United States, analyzed by Dr. Paul Enstrom and Dr. Linus Pauling, significant reductions in overall mortality and mortality from cancer and cardiovascular disease were reported in those
who took vitamin E and C supplements. Since 1,000 mg of vitamin C is equivalent to twenty-two oranges, supplementation is essential. The RDA for vitamin C is only 60 mg—the equivalent of an orange a day.
Vitamin E
One of the most essential antioxidants, vitamin E helps the body use oxygen properly. A number of studies have found low vitamin E status to be associated with high cancer incidence. Supplementation of this vitamin has been shown to boost immunity and reduce infections in the elderly as well as halve the risk of cataracts. The optimal intake of vitamin E is fifteen times the RDA.
Vitamins D and K
These are not commonly deficient. Vitamin K is made by bacteria in the gut, while vitamin D can be made in the skin on exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D is also found in milk, meat, and eggs. Deficiency is likely only in dark-skinned vegans who have little exposure to the sun.
The decline of fruit and vegetables
The sad truth is that food today is not what it used to be. Fruit and vegetables are only as good as the soil in which they are grown. Minerals pass from the soil to the plant and in turn help the plant grow and produce vitamins. The trouble is that modern farming, which relies heavily on artificial fertilizers and pesticides, robs the soil of nutrients and does not replace them. Phosphates found in fertilizers and pesticides bind to the minerals in the soil, making them less available to the plant. Through overfarming, the soil becomes nutrient-deficient anyway. However, adding fertilizer (nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium) enables plants to go on growing, but without the full complement of minerals. So the plant does not make its full complement of vitamins and we too end up deficient.
The New Optimum Nutrition Bible Page 11
