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Myth: If one has a healthy diet, one does not need any supplementation.
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Fact: If a large group of people were to follow the exact same dietary lifestyle & exercise program, a certain number
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would still suffer from high or low blood pressure, high or low blood sugar, or high or low stomach acid, while the rest
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may develop arthritis, cardiovascular disease, cancer, mental illness, or other medical conditions.
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Most nutrition-related diseases in the Western world are not caused by nutritional deficiencies such as pellagra,
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scurvy, beriberi, or rickets, but nutritional imbalances, which are responsible for many common medical problems,
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while metabolic disorders can cause nutritional deficiencies following the malabsorption of certain nutrients.
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Age-related hormonal imbalances, and diminishing renal capacity also affect nutritional requirements in the body.
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Without adequate androgenic (DHEA) support, minerals such as zinc or potassium will frequently become depleted
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even when maintaining the same - and previously adequate dietary intake. Failure to compensate for these
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deficiencies contributes to the risk of developing blood sugar, blood pressure, weight, and/or a variety of hormone
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imbalance-related organic problems, including cancer. Neither a "healthy" diet, nor standard multi-vitamin / mineral
formulations will be helpful in these cases since the nutrients from these sources are not customized to match a
patient's specific requirements, so abnormal mineral levels or ratios remain the same.
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One's genetic background has an even greater impact to promote, or help resist the development of a wide range
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of medical conditions. As a result, only individualized supplementation, based on someone's cellular chemistry
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and genetic background has the best potential to resolve these medical disorders nutritionally, while specific dietary
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changes alone may be helpful in less serious medical conditions.
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Myth: After menopause, every female needs to supplement extra calcium.
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Fact: There is no magic age when either females or males suddenly need to adjust their calcium intake.
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In contrast to a number of other nutrients whose requirements tend to change with advancing age, requirements for
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calcium are dependent on multiple genetic, metabolic, and lifestyle factors, none of which are age or gender-related.
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Only with pregnant or lactating females it may be justified to increase their calcium intake by about 400 mg per day
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to cover additional needs for the baby.
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However, even then it is far better to assess individual requirements since that amount would be totally inadequate
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when there is a history of the mother being chronically calcium deficient, which increases the risk of birth defects in
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the baby, while at the same time there are plenty of pregnant women whose calcium levels are perfectly adequate,
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or even on the high side, without extra supplementation.
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This is no different than what applies to the general population, where some individuals (regardless of age or gender)
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suffer from chronic calcium deficiency and require rather large amounts of extra calcium to meet requirements, while
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the opposite applies to many other individuals who suffer from chronic calcium overload. So the "one-size-fits-all"
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recommendations used by most practitioners for post-menopausal women not only perpetuate the dilemma for those
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with calcium assimilation problems, but they also add to the woes of those who retain too much calcium.
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A younger body is generally much more forgiving when dealing with high calcium levels, however with every decade,
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excessive calcium intake, or excessive storage from a lack of calcium co-factors, will take an increasingly irreversible
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toll by calcifying an individual's organs, joints, and/or cardiovascular system, in addition to causing a negative impact
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on stomach acid levels, mood, energy, and general mineral balance.
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Myth: One may liberally supplement mega-doses of water-soluble vitamins since they - unlike fat-soluble vitamins -
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are not stored in the body, so they cannot cause any harm.
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Fact: Despite being water-soluble, Vitamin B6 can cause permanent, irreversible nerve damage when improperly
used, while an excessive intake of Vitamin C has the potential of eventually causing copper or calcium deficiencies
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in prone individuals. Many nutrients do not have to be stored in the body in high amounts to be able to cause, or
contribute to disease. While being metabolized, even water-soluble nutrients interact with other nutritional elements
either as synergists or antagonists, and thus are capable of creating abnormal mineral ratios or imbalances when
overdosed on, which over time will establish a more favorable environment to develop medical problems.
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Claim: Some researchers concluded that nutritional supplements either did not help, or worsened certain diseases.
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Fact: This is no less surprising than randomly choosing a drug, randomly treating any medical disorder, and then
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claiming that it did not help, or worsened the disease. One obviously needs to match the right nutrients - and the
right amounts to a patient's specific requirements if one intends to go beyond deficiency-preventive measures and
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attempt to rectify more difficult-to-treat medical situations!
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In contrast to Drug Research, which tends to focus on single, concentrated ingredients, Nutritional Research yields
much better results when using complexed nutrients. So instead of taking plain ascorbic acid, Vitamin C needs to
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be complexed with adequate amounts of flavonoids such as rutin and hesperidin, to duplicate more food-like benefits.
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The same applies to supplementing Mixed Carotenoids, which include alpha-carotene, lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin
and cryptoxanthin - instead of taking (synthetic) beta-carotene alone.
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Equally superior is supplementing a Vitamin E Complex in the form of alpha, beta, gamma, delta tocopherols, and
alpha, beta, gamma, delta tocotrienols, rather than taking large, single amounts of dl-alpha tocopheryl alone.
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Instead of presenting - or developing new concepts in Clinical Nutrition, some "researchers" are wasting everyone's
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time with negative, or misleading headlines, trying to impress the public with what is frequently rehashed old news.
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Real experts on nutrition are well aware that common vitamin pills, particularly the non-complexed or synthetic variety
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are no panacea for everything that ails society, and they would not make any claims to that effect.
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Resolving more complex medical conditions nutritionally requires equally more technically advanced resources that
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utilize a patient's cellular chemistry to establish precise, person-specific requirements - not population averages.
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Copyright © 2000-2008 Dr. Ronald Roth D.Acu. Cellular Nutrition
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