Simple solutions to human nutrition keep popping up in the media, in advertising, books and elsewhere; but proper human nutrition is complicated, and simple solutions can be dangerous.
"Everyone should take vitamin D supplements" (I read that in a recent article). Health practitioners throughout my life have told me all sorts of things about taking nutritional supplements.
- Physios and chiropractors have said to take magnesium regularly because it is good for muscle health; but then I read university research that indicated calcium and magnesium compete for absorption, and if magnesium levels are too high, you may start to suffer some calcium deficiency.
- I used to take vitamin C regularly because an MD told me to take it when I was sick to boost the immune system; but then an oncologist warned me off vitamin C because there were suggestions it may be implicated in stimulating cancer growth in some people.
- I know zinc interferes with development of viruses; so it would make sense to take zinc regularly so you don't catch a cold; but then, too much zinc can impact on iron and copper levels in the body; and over time, excess zinc can build up in the kidneys and cause very serious health issues.
Clearly the human body is far too complex for people to reliably self prescribe nutritional supplements -and yet they do, all over the world.
One further problem is that different people have different metabolic make ups. Depending upon our diet, genetics, lifestyle and possibly other factors; we all absorb nutrients into our bodies and end up with a very different nutritional status to everyone else. Each of us has blood flowing through our veins with a cocktail of nutrients that varies to the cocktail flowing through the next person.
While
a broad population sampling can show most people suffer a particular
deficiency; there can be many different reasons for that deficiency.
With vitamin D, for some, it may be that they don't get enough sunlight;
but for vitamin D issues can be tied up with levels of other things.
Unless levels of zinc, magnesium & some other things are proper,
vitamin D might not do what it needs to do -even if you take
supplements. Some people have a genetic tendency to process different
nutrients in different ways. Some allergens and toxins also interact and
affect nutrient balances.
Bottom line - This sort of
article makes interesting reading & stirs the interest of the media;
but it is also dangerous for people to just make an assumption and
start taking vitamin D. Vitamin D toxicity can be just as bad as a
deficiency -and the same goes for any other nutrient or mineral in the
diet.
Everyone wants a simple solution to everything in
this world -but the problem is when you deal with complex human bodies
and complex societies; the solutions can't be simple and universal.
If you want to improve the cocktail of nutrients in any one
individual, you need to understand everything that is unique about that
person -what is and is not in their blood; and what is not right in that
mix.
