The Dilemma of Modern Food

Conventional wisdom teaches that we can obtain all the vitamins and minerals that our bodies need from a diet which consists mainly of natural carbohydrates, i.e. vegetables and fruit.

Take a look at "healthy" food, i.e. fresh fruit and vegetables off the shelf:

1. Beans and lettuce - contain 25% of the most important minerals that should be present when grown naturally, except for sodium, manganese, iron and copper. These minerals are virtually non-existent.

2. Cabbage - contains 30% of natural content but almost no sodium, manganese or copper.

3. Tomatoes - contain 20% calcium, 7% magnesium, 25% potassium but virtually no sodium, manganese, iron or copper.

4. Spinach - 500%* calcium, 23% magnesium, 3% potassium, almost no sodium, manganese, iron or copper.

Source: Rutgers University 1993: Study of Micronutrient Value of Commercially Produced Vegetables compared with Naturally Grown Products.

Core Finding: Modern fresh vegetables contain only 13%, on average, of the essential micro-nutrients that could be expected to be present in organically grown produce.

An even worse real-life scenario

The real-life situation is even worse than these figures suggest.

*For example, on the face of it the 500% calcium in spinach looks good. Bear in mind that the utility of calcium depends on a delicate balance between the amount of calcium, magnesium and potassium in your food. Note the dramatic upset in the ratio between these three minerals. This effectively reduces the value of the apparently high calcium content to virtually nil, because your body is unable to absorb and utilise the mineral calcium if magnesium and potassium are not also present but, very importantly, in the correct ratios.

To-day, fifteen years later, it is more than likely that the situation has deteriorated even further. It therefore comes as no surprise that JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association), the mouthpiece for conventional medicine and traditionally not well-disposed towards alternatives and supplements, published an article shortly after the turn of the millennium, which declared that every person should take a multi-vitamin and mineral each day.

There appears to be conclusive evidence that every man, woman and child in our society should be supplementing appropriately and regularly. Those who do not are more than likely to experience accumulating shortfalls that lead to escalating health problems as time goes by.

In our previous newsletter entitled "Ten Ways to get Robbed" guidelines were given to assist the reader to avoid the pitfalls when shopping for appropriate supplements and to ensure that you get good value for money.

Read these and other related newsletters on http://www.svelteslot.net or e-mail jan@verslank.net

for more details.

Quote: "People who don't know how to keep themselves healthy ought to have the decency to get themselves buried, and not waste time about it." Author: Henrik Ibsen 1828-1906, Norwegian Dramatist

Jan Greeff

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