doctormuse.com

Kenneth M. Schweitzer, DDS

For the umpteenth time “nothing else matters without your health.”  

When it comes to health and diet I can still hear my mother barking “you are what you eat, you are what you eat.”  Organic foods, whole grains, lean meat, low fat, low carb, low calorie, high fiber, leafy green vegetables, fish, one a day vitamins....can it be really that simple?  Doesn’t it all boil down to eating a nutritious diet?  Yes, but simply stated it isn’t as simple as it seems.  

Help!!!

The science of nutrition is, in part, a combination of biochemistry, physics, mathematics, physiology and pathology.  Learning the fundamentals of just one of these sciences can require a lifelong commitment to reading, researching and learning.  Trying to amalgamate these sciences and formulate recommendations for optimal nutritional intake based on evidence based research is as risky as munching on a greasy fat burger with extra salty french fries one week prior to quadruple bypass surgery.

Nonetheless, the public is relentlessly inundated with healthy food marketing from low fat dairy products to high energy nutritional grain products.  The list is endless, and as nutritionally conscientious as many of us are, we are no more in control of the manipulated scientific data as cattle are awaiting their slaughter.

What science does know is improper dietary consumption causes many diseases.  For example, excessive caloric consumption can lead to diabetes, vascular and heart disease and ingestion of certain food substances leads to greater risk of cancer (e.g. higher fat intake associated with higher incidence of colon cancer.)  We also know that our bodies use ingested micro nutrients, vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins and fats to nourish, protect and build our organs, epithelial, musculoskeletal, immune, neurological and vascular systems. Millions upon millions of scientific articles have been published establishing cause and effect relationships between a seemingly infinite number of dietary variables.  This data helps many of us organize our food preferences and dietary habits presumably enabling us to lead healthier lives.  On the other hand, the data also allows product marketeers to make uncorroborated  assumptions about the beneficial health effects of their product’s nutritional composition.

An unassuming public understands far less about how an individuals genetic makeup, environmental conditioning and the chemical interaction between food groups affects the absorption of ingested nutrients.  Whereas humans require essential nutrients to ensure proper metabolic function, the cellular uptake and enzymatic transport of these nutrients is quite variable amongst individuals.  For example, metabolic disorders like acid-base imbalance, lactose intolerance and coeliac disease, to name a few, affect the uptake and transport of nutrients in our digestive tract. Additionally, combining certain foods with medications can lead to complete neutralization of the medication.  

Another example of malabsorption that is somewhat counter intuitive is literature studying zinc deficiencies of children in third world countries.   It has been shown that dietary zinc fortification does not increase plasma levels of zinc.   Zinc deficiency has been seen in developing countries in which grain-based vegetable protein is consumed more often than animal protein.  “The reasons for the observed differences in plasma zinc response after zinc supplementation and zinc fortification are unclear, but may be due to the lower efficiency of zinc absorption that occurs when zinc is delivered with food, the level of fortification that was used or the duration of the intervention, the chemical form of the zinc fortificants, or interference with zinc absorption by other micronutrients.”

What is clear is an individual’s absorptive capabilities are quite unique and influenced by a wide variety of factors.  So whereas products touted for their nutritional excellence are recommended in specific portions, amounts or doses, their absorption cannot be predictably quantified without precise medical testing.  In short, 100 mg of vitamin C may be 100 mg entering your mouth but depending on genetics, overall health and environmental conditions it may be anywhere from 0 to less than 100 mg absorbed into your cells.

What’s an educated consumer to do?  Until body scans are optimized to identify an individuals absorptive makeup we all need to diet with moderation, know our own body chemistry, avoid expensive nutritional products that claim unique health attributes, minimize processed foods and above all use common sense when selecting food sources.

Mom, eating all those carrots made my skin turn orange so maybe you were right about “you are what you eat,” but there just might be more to it than meets the eye.