MODULE #4 - Lesson 3 - Amazon S3 · Module 4 - Lesson 3 Welcome to Module Four, Lesson Three. Just to warn you this is going to be a long lesson. The reality is I could spend 12 months

Vitamin and Mineral Deeciency and Toxicity

MODULE #4 - Lesson 3

2Super Nutrition Academy – MODULE 4 - Lesson 3

© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency and Toxicity

Module 4 - Lesson 3

Welcome to Module Four, Lesson Three. Just to warn you this is going to be a long lesson. The reality is I could spend 12 months talking about minerals because they’re so important, nonetheless, I’ve tried to make this as straightforward as possible.

What We’ll Be Covering Today Today we will talk about the importance of balanced mineral relationships. This is probably the most important thing we will discuss today. Next we’ll look at the most important minerals: calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, selenium and sulfur. That’s the road map for today’s lesson.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

What Are Minerals?

First we have to clarify what minerals are. A mineral is an element or a chemical compound that comes from the earth, result of geochemical processes, and then returns to the earth. It is normally crystalline and cannot be reduced to a simpler substance. That’s one definition of a mineral. Another way of looking at it is minerals are what remain as ash when a plant or animal decomposes. So if we were to burn away, everything that would remain as the ash of that decomposition that would be minerals. They are the building blocks of matter; roughly 4-5% of our body weight is made up of minerals and is mostly found in the skeleton, although we do store minerals in other areas. 75% of the 4-5% of our body weight is calcium, magnesium, potassium and sulfur.

We only have about one teaspoon of iron, a few teaspoons of salts, which is sodium chloride, a tablespoon of potassium and the rest are micro amounts. So we’re really talking about very, very minute amounts of compounds that really are essential to so many different things inside of us. And what’s really cool is that as human beings, we have almost the exact same mineral composition as the earth. So what I’ve just showed you here it’s almost identical in the earth, which is incredible and that makes sense because everything is a cycle. Life is a cycle. We grow from the earth, we die and kind of give back to the earth when we do so and so do all plants and animals and that’s why we are composed the way we are.

We have identified about 112 minerals and they are listed on the periodic table. 17 of these minerals are considered essential, which means that we cannot produce them within our body. We must obtain them for optimal health.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

MacromineralsMacro minerals are also known as the essential ones, really, and they make up 0.01% of our body weight. Calcium, phosphorus—those are the percentages that they make up of our body weight—potassium, sulfur, sodium, chloride, magnesium, silicon. There is a lot of interesting properties that silicon or silica provides to the health of our tissues.

So if you want nice hair, skin and nails, silica is pretty important. Chloride is an important component of sodium chloride, which is table salt. Chloride is also one of the electrolytes in our body that we lose during sweat, so those three electrolytes are potassium, sodium and chloride we lose those during sweat and we replenish them when we eat and replenish ourselves with different minerals.

Trace MineralsTrace minerals are much smaller. They make up less than 0.01% of our body weight. So the macro minerals make up more than that. The trace minerals make up less than that percentage right there and they include iron, fluoride, zinc and other smaller ones that are vitally critical including selenium, cobalt, iodine, manganese, chromium and molybdenum. Each one of them is really fascinating but I want to spend a good amount of time on the most important ones with respect to our health. And within the trace mineral category, toxic metals are also included in this. Lead, aluminum, cadmium and mercury are all trace minerals and obviously if they build up in our body, that is not a safe thing to have happen.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

What Do Minerals Do For Us?

First of all they are essential to our physical structure, they assist in energy production, and they assist in fluid and acid-base balance, they’re important for nerve transmission and muscle contraction, arguably the most important nutrients for your overall health. Now some experts have said that all disease stems from mineral deficiency.

I believe that’s true in a lot of cases. Part of the problem is that we don’t have the knowledge of where we stand with respect to our minerals in our body. We don’t know if we’re deficient in zinc or we don’t know if we’re deficient in calcium or if we have too much calcium. And unfortunately, the only way to do that is to do a little bit more of an expensive tissue-mineral analysis test and it’s not as simple as going to your doctor and saying, “Hey, can you run this blood test for me?” It’s a little bit more involved.

Nonetheless I’d still recommend that everyone do that because it’s important to have a good idea as to where you are with respect to your minerals. Without that knowledge, we really can’t move forward in making healthy decisions in terms of whether we supplement or whether we need to and to really assess where we are from a health standpoint.

Minerals are also much more commonly deficient than vitamin deficiencies because we don’t produce them in the body and our soils are depleted of them. So we’re not getting them from our foods as we used to. Most foods, are enriched with only vitamins and in some cases they are enriched with a few minerals but really again, it’s not in a balanced proportion. And minerals are tougher to liberate from digestion. If that’s not enough there is more uptake competition between minerals and we’ll look at that next.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Mineral Relationships

So this is the most important thing you need to understand about minerals before we even get into the individual ones. Deficiency of one mineral can negatively impact the entire body, rendering other minerals ineffective or useless and the same thing happens if we have too much of one mineral. These relationships are tightly interwoven.

For example, the calcium to phosphorus ratio needs to be 10:4 or about 2.5 times. If phosphorus decreases two units, the functional calcium decreases as well, to five units because we have to maintain that ratio. The excess calcium then becomes dangerous, however, if calcium were to increase to 12 units but phosphorus remains at four units, so it would be three times more calcium than phosphorus, then the extra two units of calcium can become toxic as


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

well because remember—there is a functional relationship at that 10:4 ratio. Anything above that or below it—really the excess of, outside of that ratio—does not become functional anymore. It just kind of sits around and floats around and that becomes dangerous. So what’s interesting is you can have both a deficiency and toxicity problem at the same time, simply based on these tight relationships that are required within different minerals.

So the calcium for instance that would be above and beyond this 10:4 ratio, if we had too much calcium and not enough phosphorus or the other way around too much calcium can cause kidney stones, arthritis, hardening of the arteries, gallstones, bone spurs, cataracts and tooth plaque. So when we hear we need calcium, we need calcium for strong bones and teeth and growth the reality is we don’t. The reality is that we need more minerals in a normally balanced relationship.

So here is an interesting diagram that is called the “Mineral Relationship Wheel” and this is what is most important. It’s not the individual minerals; it’s the relationship between these minerals. Now all these arrows, I’m going to describe what these mean here. So you’ll notice that there are arrows pointing between all the different minerals. So here is how this works. Let’s say we have a line between calcium and zinc, for instance. If the line has arrows pointing only away from a specific mineral, they only react with another mineral and influence that mineral’s activities. So in this case calcium tends to react with zinc but it influences zinc’s activity as opposed tot the other way around. However, if lines have arrows each way, both partner minerals need each other and obviously affect each other’s roles and absorption and all that kind of stuff.

So we see this probably most commonly within this diagram, so like calcium and phosphorus, where calcium here is at the top. These are all just obviously their short forms so CA is calcium; P is phosphorus. We see a double-edged double arrow there, going both ways. FE is iron to CU, I believe, is copper again, going both ways. Calcium to Manganese, MN, is a one-way arrow toward Manganese. Calcium to magnesium is a two-way road. All you have to get from this is that all these minerals interplay with each other and when you affect one, you affect a lot of the others as well.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

So deficiency isn’t the only problem. The homeostatic equilibrium is just as important. This point of balance that our body is trying to achieve and this is really what’s important when it comes to mineral relationships. That’s why supplementing with a single mineral like calcium is a very bad idea. A mineral cannot be affected without affecting at least two other minerals, each of which will then affect two others. So it becomes a cascade of events, so everything in the body becomes affected. And these relationships also extend to vitamins, hormones and neurological functions as well. Each of these minerals has relationships with vitamins, with specific hormones and with specific neurological functions from different parts of the body.

So within these mineral relationships we have both synergistic, which means that they work together and this is usually found metabolically so within the cells and we have antagonistic relationships, which means that they compete with each other and this relationship the antagonistic one is usually found at the absorptive level, so at the level of absorption in the small intestine. It’s also sometimes found in the metabolic scenario, which would be kind of in the cells and that’s what we’re going to explore next.

Mineral SynergiesSo here is where we have a synergism between the elements and this occurs largely on a metabolic level, so within the cells themselves. Examples: Iron needs copper since sufficient copper is required for iron utilization. So copper and iron are obviously very important together. Magnesium functions in concert with potassium by enhancing its cellular retention. Calcium, magnesium and phosphorus work together to maintain and build bone. And that’s just three of 12 total minerals that are pretty much important for bone-mineral density. You don’t hear people talking about magnesium for healthy bones or phosphorus for healthy bones.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Mineral AntagonismsNow mineral antagonism, so this is where minerals antagonize or compete with one another, and these occur largely at the level of absorption, where excess intake of a single element can decrease the intestinal absorption of another element. So here are some examples: High intake of calcium depresses intestinal zinc absorption. This is partly why zinc deficiency is one of the biggest deficiencies in North America because we drink way too much milk, far too much calcium and obviously it depresses zinc absorption. However, excess intake of zinc can depress copper absorption.

Now antagonisms can also occur at the metabolic level when an excess of one element interferes with the metabolic functions of another or contributes to its excretion due to compartmental displacements. So if you have too much


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

of one mineral at the cellular level, it can actually displace another mineral, kind of like, “Hey, you know what? Get out of here. I’m going to take over this whole area.” That’s what can happen at the cellular level. This is often seen with zinc and copper, cadmium and zinc, iron and copper, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. It’s tough to comprehend a lot of this stuff but I just want you to get the idea that this tightly regulated relationship in the body at both the absorption level as well as the cellular level is really important.

Mineral Deficiencies Absolute mineral deficiencies are rare today, however, what are most important are the relative deficiency states that are more common. For instance, if you do a tissue-mineral analysis it might say that you are deficient in zinc. But are you deficient in zinc or are you deficient in zinc relative to iron or relative to another mineral. It’s not the absolute number that’s necessary, the absolute mineral deficiency. It’s the relative deficiency. So if you’re deficient in a lot of minerals, that’s obviously an issue but what is probably more important is the relative deficiency between those minerals. So the message here is that you get your minerals, not your calcium, not your zinc, not your iron. You get your minerals. You want minerals—not calcium, not iron. Everything works together. We need to keep it in a balanced state.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Calcium

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body. About three pounds is stored in bone. With low levels we’ve seen in the previous lessons that parathyroid hormone is secreted to release calcium from the bones because its goal is to maintain blood calcium levels. Adequate intake—we’re looking at about 1,000-1,400 milligrams per day. Too much can be deadly because—if you don’t know this already I’m going to tell you—CA or calcium is used to harden concretes and depending on the type of calcium that you ingest, obviously you don’t want to… There are certain forms that are better than others but needless to say, too much calcium can be not a good thing.

It helps the development and maintenance of bones and teeth along with Vitamin D, exercise, phosphorus and magnesium. Those are some very, very important components along with calcium, for bones and teeth. It’s involved in muscle contraction. It influences nerve and cell membranes and the release of neurotransmitters.

Calcium’s RolesWe talked about the development and maintenance of bones and teeth. So the bones provide calcium to the blood when we become deficient or overly acidic so again, when the blood calcium levels drop or we need to use calcium to buffer too much acid in the blood, calcium will be taken from the bone to buffer that out. It’s used in obviously muscle contractions as well, including the heart. It influences nerve and cell membranes and the release of neurotransmitters.

Understanding Calcium BalanceSo let’s understand calcium balance here for a second. So this is a diagram/flow chart, on the left is the intestine. And diets—this indicates one gram coming from the diet, absorbed as 0.7 grams. 5 grams is stored, 2 of that in bone, 3 between the extra cellular fluid and interstitial fluid. So this just basically shows the different compartments and how everything is kind of flowing and


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

where things are going. Not that you have to really know this but I just wanted to kind of bring this out. So we have three pools of calcium.

First of all we have the gut, so we have about 1 gram per day, so 1,000 milligrams from our diet but only about 700 milligrams is absorbed. So that’s why here we see 0.7. So the net reabsorption is 100 milligrams since most of it reenters the gut. So just if we follow this here, diets right up here-- 700 milligrams or 0.7 grams is absorbed but through this whole cycle some of it is stored, some of it goes through the bones, the blood and we come back out with 0.6 grams back into the gut, going out into the feces. So really we’re absorbing 100 milligrams out of 1,000—so one tenth.

So we have an exchangeable calcium pool, which is about 5 grams and this is the second column here. And here we have 2 grams which are present in the bone, on bone surface specifically here, and 3 grams in body fluids, so the extracellular fluid and the intracellular fluid. This pool interacts with the other two compartments so it’s kind of like the intermediary between the gut as well as the stable calcium in the bone.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

And then we’ve got the third compartment, which is the biggest compartment here, stable bone, which is about 1,000 grams but only 0.5 grams exchanges daily. So this is like your savings account, it just kind of sits there and grows interest. Well that’s kind of what the stable calcium in bone is like. And you might have some shorter term investments, which might be this exchangeable compartment, so this column here where you have some short term investments that are very liquid so you can exchange them and kind of trade them in really quickly and that’s really what’s happening in this exchangeable pool. And then the gut obviously is how we get our calcium in.

We don’t absorb all the calcium we take in. If we take in 1,000 milligrams a day, we’re really only retaining about 100 milligrams of that.

The homeostasis of calcium is complex because the gastrointestinal tract, the bones and the kidneys all affect calcium balance. The intracellular fluid calcium is 0.0001 micromoles per liter versus the extracellular fluid, which is 1.2. So there is more calcium outside the cell than inside the cell, as a result we need more calcium outside the cell than inside the cell—but too much calcium inside or outside the cells can become problematic since it’s very reactive and can bind to almost anything.

So I put CA with two positives here. This is essentially the ionized form of calcium. Basically that represents two electrons so it’s the activated ionized form of calcium, which is the one that kind of floats around and does a lot of damage. It becomes more of an ion so that’s why it’s called ionized as opposed to stable, kind of stored form of calcium. If there is too much of it inside or outside of the cell, it becomes problematic because it’s very reactive. It has these two free electrons and like with omega-3 fatty acids, it’s very, very reactive and it can bind to almost anything within the body. With respect to calcium, because it is so reactive, it can lead to calcification. That’s why you can get calcification of bone tissue, of muscle tissue, of anything if there is too much calcium floating around.

In the blood, calcium is found in two forms, CA2+, which is the ionized form or bound to protein carriers and together these make up total plasma calcium. Now in acidosis, what happens here when the blood is too acidic hydrogen ions bind to binding sites on the protein where calcium would normally attach,


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

which means that now more ionized calcium is in the blood. So less calcium is stored in the protein carriers, which is a safer means of calcium, if you will, in the blood. However, when there is acidosis, we have hydrogen ions that are competing for the binding sites where calcium would normally bind to these protein carriers. So now we have more of the free floating ionized calcium in the blood, which becomes a problem because calcium can then form kidney stones, hardening of the arteries; and bone spurs.

So the total plasma calcium—let’s say it’s fixed at 100, however let’s say that there is a certain level of acid in the blood so therefore instead of it being 50/50 where 50% of that would be bound to the protein carriers and 50% of it would be in the ionized form, now of that 100%, let’s say 70% become ionized whereas only 30% is in the protein because hydrogen ions are taking up the binding sites on those protein molecules where calcium would normally bind. I hope that makes sense. So it doesn’t change the total level of calcium; it’s just the ratio of ionized to protein bound calcium.

Types of CalciumThe first thing to realize is that calcium in food is seven times as effective in raisin serum ionic calcium levels. So that’s a good thing, just from an absorption standpoint and an effectiveness standpoint. It’s also a more balanced form. Now non-food types of calcium, which are really inorganic types, like stones and crystals. Calcium ascorbate—and this is the main form used in non-food supplements.

Calcium carbonate is found in Tums. This is known as limestone so if you were to go and go excavate in the Great Lakes that’s what calcium carbonate is. Chalk is also a form of calcium carbonate. Calcium chloride, calcium citrate, calcium gluconate-- so here’s another big one that’s pretty common, that you want to avoid—calcium hydroxyapatite, which is really crushed bone. That’s essentially what this is. And the problem with that is that this can lead to calcium hydroxyapatite crystal disease, in which undissolved hydroxyapatite accumulates in joints, which leads to inflammation and pain and studies have also shown that this particular form of calcium is linked to breast cancer. So here is what I’m trying to get across here is that we don’t want to be ingesting crushed bone or cartilage or whatever other types of calcium supplements


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

that might be promoted to you simply because they’re calcium. We really have to look at the type of calcium because a lot of these calciums, unless it’s coming from food, are coming in crystalline forms and these are dangerous inside the body.

Best Sources of CalciumWe’re going to look at the best sources of calcium and we’re going to look at the commonly held myth that milk is an amazing source of calcium. So I want to clear the air here and give you the facts, the truth. This information comes from the USDA—the United States Department of Agriculture, just so we’ve cleared that.

Okay, so let’s first of all look at 2% milk with added Vitamin A and D, which is fortified, okay? This is a commonly found type of milk in a grocery store. Now one cup of this—one cup of this 2% milk—contains 293 milligrams of calcium.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Remember we talked about our Recommended Daily Intake or adequate levels or adequate intake levels are about 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day so based on that, we would need three to four cups of milk per day to reach those levels and I’m going to tell you why that’s actually not even true in a couple slides. So let’s just compare that.

First of all, sesame seeds—one cup equals 1,404 milligrams of calcium. That’s four times more—remember cup per cup, if we’re comparing apples and apples here to milk. Are you going to consume one cup of sesame seeds per day? Not unless you’re making a huge bowl of hummus. So the reality of getting this amount of calcium from sesame seeds is obviously less feasible than drinking one cup of milk. However, there are some other very feasible options. Collard greens, rhubarb or rhubarb greens can be steamed or cooked and eaten raw for that matter and they provide much more calcium than milk, for the same level—one cup, one cup, 357 and 348. Sardines are an incredible source of calcium-- just three ounces is 325 milligrams. Spinach, turnip greens—again one cup still provides more calcium than milk. Black-eyed peas provide about 211 milligrams. Kale, about 179 per one cup cooked. Soybeans, which I don’t recommend eating unless they’re organic, 175 milligrams of calcium per one cup cooked.

So this chart just shows you that there are other alternatives and if you’re getting a lot of green, leafy vegetables, whether they’re in the raw form or in the cooked form, you are going to be getting more calcium than you would from milk. So again, our daily intake—we’re looking at about 1,000 milligrams, so that would lead to maybe two to three cups of cooked leafy, green vegetables. If you can do that every day, in addition to some other things you will be getting enough calcium into your body. Now again, they don’t have to be steamed. They can be raw. In some cases steamed can be a little bit better from a calcium issue because phytates can bind calcium. Phytates are kind of like an anti-nutrient that is present in some vegetables, which can bind to calcium and reduce its absorption. Nonetheless, I want you to realize that if you’re getting enough greens and even sesame seeds, you will get more than enough calcium and in a much more balanced fashion. Because we talked about the relationships, right?


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

The Milk Fallacy

So cow’s milk has four times more protein than human breast milk, which makes it very acidic because we talked about how protein ash in the body is one of the reasons why we develop acidosis. Cow’s milk has 1018 milligrams of calcium per 100 grams versus human breast milk, which only has 33 milligrams per 100 grams. So that’s three and a half times more calcium from cow’s milk. So the National Dairy Council and doctors believe that because obviously cow’s milk has way more calcium than breast milk, you need to be drinking cow’s milk because it’s good for you. Well it gets better.

Cow’s milk has calcium to phosphorus ratio of 1.27:1, which is very acidic. The ideal was 2.5 times—10:4. Look at cow’s milk—1.27. That’s a lot different. Human breast milk is much better—2.35:1, so it has more calcium in relation to phosphorus. Human breast milk is the ideal for humans. Cow’s milk has a lot more protein and a lot more calcium because it’s needed to feed baby cows not baby humans or adult humans. Cows grow to about one ton in one year. Therefore, they need way more protein and way more calcium. Humans take forever to reach 100 pounds. We don’t need that amount of protein or calcium.

So let’s go on back to ratios here. The sesame seeds have a ratio of calcium to phosphorus of 1.6:1, which again is still a little bit more on the acidic side but if we look at spinach-- the ideal ratio—2.5:1. So that’s when we have to look at these mineral relationships because it’s not just the calcium. It’s the relationship of the calcium and the phosphorus that is important because calcium absorption is inhibited by too much phosphorus in the digestive tract. So even if you have cow’s milk, which has a lot of calcium, it also comes with a lot of phosphorus, which in and of itself will inhibit the absorption of calcium. Human breast milk—2.35:1, spinach and other green, leafy vegetables—2.5:1-- these are the ideal relationships. Sesame seeds—1.6:1-- again, that’s not the ideal ratio. So even if it has a lot of calcium, it’s still going to provide a little bit more phosphorus to inhibit some of that calcium absorption. As I just mentioned, phosphorus inhibits calcium absorption in the human stomach.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

So let’s continue on this journey of the milk fallacy. So a review of the literature by the American Journal of Medicine in 1988 showed that today the average consumption of calcium is 740 milligrams per day—and this was obviously in 1988 so it’s probably changed a little bit. It’s probably increased. Calcium intake of our Paleolithic ancestors was between 1,500-2,000 milligrams per day and they never drank milk. It wasn’t even available at this point in time. These are Paleolithic people so hunter-gatherers. Farming agriculture did not exist. There weren’t domesticated cows so they weren’t even drinking milk. They were drinking breast milk at a very young age and then consuming lots of plant based foods.

Calcium and Bone HealthCalcium is just one of 12 minerals in the bone. More calcium is not the answer to stronger bones, as we’ve just kind of mentioned and I’m going to show this to you now. So the Nurse’s Health Study, which is probably one of the largest studies ever conducted, looked at 122,000 women and found that those with the highest calcium consumption from dairy products actually had substantially more fractures than women who drank less milk. A 2009 study showed that


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

post-menopausal women using calcium supplements showed that although calcium loss from bone was slowed, bone loss was still occurring. There are other minerals in bone. That’s why we call it bone-mineral density—not bone-calcium density. A 2007 study showed that calcium from dietary sources has more favorable effects on bone health than calcium from supplements among post-menopausal women. So calcium from food-- better than supplements.

So here is something interesting and this is the projected prevalence of osteoporosis or low bone mass of the hip in women 50 years of age or older. In 2002, I’m just going to use osteoporosis as the example, 7.8 million people and this is from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is out of the US, 2010, 9.1 million, 2020, 10.5 million. There are two things here. This doesn’t mean there will be more osteoporosis as time goes on. It kind of reflects that as the population ages, there are going to be more people, more baby boomers, over this age so more of them will be predisposed to developing osteoporosis. Estrogen inhibits both the uptake of calcium into the bones and the deportation of calcium from the bones. So there is no estrogen, or very, very low estrogen—compared to when you were younger if you are a female. So with less estrogen, there is less uptake of calcium into the bone but there is also less breakdown of calcium from the bone. That’s one of the reasons we’re seeing increased osteoporosis over the next couple of years as more people are aging.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

How Excessive Calcium Causes Bone loss

As I just mentioned, estrogen is a protective factor. So that’s why osteoporosis increases in post-menopause because estrogen inhibits both the uptake of calcium into the bones and the breakdown of calcium from the bones. With less estrogen production and activity of osteoclasts and osteoblasts increases, remember osteoblasts, with the B? These are the bone cells that increased bone remodeling that increased bone building. Osteoclasts, with the C break down bone. So when estrogen is present the production of these is really kind of muted.

However, with no estrogen or with less estrogen, we have increased activity of both. So there is more bone building and more bone destruction. The more osteoblasts that are stimulated, the more they die off. So 50-75% of these osteoblasts die in the composition of bone matrix. So essentially what this is showing is that the more these osteoblasts are stimulated via for instance having too much calcium or not enough estrogen, the quicker these guys will die off. So thus estrogen prevents their death.

If you consume high amounts of calcium-- for instance through supplements-- all of your life, the replacement of osteoblasts may increase during this time. The osteoblasts will be building bone. You’ll have higher bone-mineral density but since the number of times and osteoblast can be replaced is fixed. This is called a replicative capacity. This replicative capacity will be exhausted sooner if too much calcium is absorbed on a regular basis because if you have more calcium coming in, those osteoblasts have to work harder. It’s kind of like working on a conveyer belt at a factory. If you have more stuff coming through, as a worker you have to do more and more work and as that conveyer belt increases, you have to do more and more and more and more work. And over time, you will wear down and you will break down.

So since only osteoblasts can compose bone matrix, too little new bone matrix can be composed. So as you age, as these osteoblasts are worn out, we can’t create new bone. So without this matrix, the calcium cannot be used, even if you’re still taking calcium in, new bone cannot be composed, while


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

old bone is constantly being turned over to be replaced by new bone. So we have this bone matrix, which is the inside of the bone. This matrix cannot be reconstructed over time because the osteoblasts are worn out and dead because they have been so heavily taxed earlier on in life.

So with this lack of pre-calcified bone matrix upon which to build, replacement cannot occur. So bone replacement cannot occur and thus porous holes begin to appear and this is what causes osteoporosis. So in osteoporotic bone, the osteoblasts cannot be replaced adequately anymore-- they’ve just been exhausted-- and thus less osteoblasts are available and/or their activities impaired. In osteoporosis dead cells cannot be replaced and micro fractures cannot be repaired. Again, this is step-by-step physiology, which has been shown in numerous studies in the Journal of Clinical Pathology and the Journal of Bone and a number of other different places that are showing not only this physiology but the actual implications in study subjects of what’s happening here.

If you have calcium coming in, it needs to be processed by the osteoblasts, which build bone. Too much calcium will exhaust those cells because they can only replicate themselves a certain number of times. The more often they’re worked the quicker they’re going to die off and the less effective they’re going to be at remodeling bone. So if you have too much calcium earlier on, even though you have a higher bone-mineral density, over time you’re not going to have sufficient osteoblasts to continue remodeling bone and therefore your body is simply going to take from bone as opposed to building it.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Does Dietary Calcium Cause Osteoporosis?

Only if too much calcium is actually absorbed into the bones. As with all minerals, the body absorbs as much calcium as it needs. Only about 200 milligrams is absorbed into the blood, on average, whether we consume 300 milligrams or 700 milligrams or more on a daily basis. I showed you then those earlier compartments with the three pools, where we have this net absorption of about 100 milligrams. So it’s about 100-200 milligrams, which is actually absorbed into the blood. So in order to absorb the right amount of calcium, the absorption rate decreases when we consume more calcium, which makes sense. If you have 5,000 milligrams of calcium a day, well then your absorption rate is going to go down because you only need 100-200 milligrams. However, with too much calcium the absorption rate cannot be sufficiently decreased. So if you have too much calcium the absorption rate decreases but then with way too much calcium, you can’t even sufficiently decrease the absorption rates of calcium.

So about 5% of dietary calcium on top of 1,500 milligrams a day is absorbed into the blood. We don’t want to have too much calcium coming into the blood. In addition, our bones will only hold onto what they need. More calcium will not lead to excess calcium in the bones. You’re not going to just continue remodeling and building forever. Our bones only hold onto what they need. The big problem is that too much calcium leads to more frequent processing by these osteoblasts, which means that they’re going to be exhausted or die off quicker, which means little new bone matrix later in life. So you’re going to have little bone-mineral density later in life.

Now in rats, a lower calcium intake throughout adolescence has been shown to both retard or delay and prolong longitudinal bone growth like our femur. A lower calcium intake has been shown to prolong and slow or kind of mediate bone growth in rats. On the flipside, high calcium intake increases bone-mineral density in the short term. This is found in countries with the highest


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

milk consumption have highest bone-mineral density but it also leads to greater prevalence of fractures down the road. So you might have a lot of calcium coming in then your doctor says, “Your bone-mineral density is really rock solid” but is this compromising the future health of your bones?

Milk and Bone FracturesDrinking milk is the easiest way to get too much calcium and high levels of phosphorus. In Greece, the average milk consumption doubled from 1961 to 1977 and was even higher in 1985 and during that period the age adjusted osteoporosis incidence almost doubled. In Hong Kong in 1989, twice as many dairy products were consumed as in 1966 and osteoporosis incidence tripled in the same period. Now their cow’s milk consumption level is almost European and so is their osteoporosis incidence. It is very simple. Where the most milk is consumed, the osteoporosis incidence is highest. Compared to other countries, the most milk is consumed in Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and the Netherlands where they’re consuming about 300-400 kilograms per year, per person and osteoporosis incidence in these countries has skyrocketed. Like Australians and New Zealanders, Americans consume threefold more milk than the Japanese and hip fracture incidence in Americans is therefore two and a half times higher. Among those within America that consume less milk, such as the Mexican Americans and Black Americans, osteoporosis incidence is twofold lower than in White Americans and this is not due to genetic differences.

In Venezuela and Chile much less milk is consumed than in the US, Finland, Switzerland and the hip fracture incidence in Venezuela and Chile is over threefold lower. Chinese consume very little milk—about eight kilograms per year—again, as opposed to 300-400 kilograms per year and hip fracture incidence is almost among the lowest in the world. Hip fracture incidence in Chinese women is six fold lower than in the US. Essentially the less milk consumed, the lower the osteoporosis rates. In other countries where very little milk is consumed for instance in Congo, Guinea and Togo, they only drink about 6 kilograms per year and osteoporosis is rare. In the Democratic


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Republic of Congo, Liberia, Ghana, Laos and Cambodia—even less milk is consumed—about 1-3 kilograms per year and age related hip fractures are almost unknown. So again, these numbers are coming from journals like Osteoporosis International, Bone, and Tropical Geography.

So here is a graph that really sums it up. So on the bottom here we have calcium intake—up to 1,400 milligrams per day, which is the high end of what the Recommended Daily Allowance is kind of suggesting. And up here we have the fracture rates in fractures per 100,000 persons per years. So as we can see Singapore, South American Blacks, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea very low levels of fractures and their calcium intake is very low—200-400 milligrams per day. Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Finland, the US, United Kingdom, Denmark—all above 1,000 milligrams per day and their fracture rate is almost 200 fractures per 100,000 people. Again, a lot of these numbers, a lot of these trends are based on milk consumption.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

U.S. Milk Consumption Patterns

In 1909 versus 2001 so about 100 years ago we were drinking 34 gallons of milk per person. 27 of those gallons were whole milk and seven gallons were lower fat. Now we’re actually drinking a little bit less milk—23 gallons of milk per person. Eight gallons of that is whole because we’ve obviously adopted that fat is bad for us. 15 gallons lower fat. 100 years ago, we were eating four pounds of cheese per person. Now we’re eating 30 pounds of cheese per person. 1909 two pounds of frozen dairy products per person. Now 28 pounds of frozen dairy products per person, we’re talking about ice cream, so even though milk consumption itself has decreased and we’re drinking less of the actual good, whole milk versus all this other reduced nonsense, we’re eating a lot more cheese and a lot more frozen dairy products.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Calcium and Heart Disease

A 2010 Meta-Analysis done in the British Medical Journal—showed that calcium supplements without co-administered Vitamin D to kind of keep things in check are associated with increased risk for heart attack. A 2008 study—again, in the British Medical Journal—found that calcium supplements are associated with a greater number of heart attacks in post-menopausal women. And a 2004 study showed that people with excess calcium in their coronary artery and who take statins, like Lipitor, have a 17 times greater risk of heart attacks than do those with lower arterial calcium levels and the researchers concluded that the two most definitive indicators of heart attack were LDL levels—so that bad cholesterol protein carrier—and calcium build up.

Why? As these pictures show, here is what’s happening. Calcium is used to harden concrete and build bone as well. But it does the exact same thing anywhere else in the body, including your arteries. So calcium supplements acutely increase serum calcium levels to a modest degree and increased risk of heart attacks with calcium supplements emerges quickly due to increased coagulation or altered vascular flow, plaque formation and hardening of the arteries. That’s what this picture shows here. So on the top here we have a healthy blood vessel—healthy artery. Here we have this plaque formation and this hardening of the arteries leading to kind of stenosis, which is a shrinking of the arterial lumen.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

So the actual space where the blood can flow decreases, which increases blood pressure. So we have a hardening of the arteries, we have increased plaque formation; we have reduced blood flow and increased blood pressure.

Ingestion of equivalent doses of calcium from dairy products has a much smaller effect than calcium supplements on blood calcium levels. So even though we just destroyed milk and why we should not be drinking it—at least from cows—it actually has less of an effect than calcium supplements on blood calcium levels. Calcium supplements are probably even worse than cow’s milk, so how about using neither of them?

Calcium Bottom LineToo much calcium isn’t doing your body good. Get your calcium from whole foods—greens, sardines, sesame seeds—other than cow’s milk, and weight bearing exercise and Vitamin D—sunlight—are very important elements to strengthening and preserving your bone throughout life. If you are worried about osteoporosis, you need to strength train. You need to be doing weight-bearing exercise to stress your bones. If you don’t use them, you will lose them. It’s like going to space for a week. You come back and you’re going to have much, much lower bone-mineral density simply because there is no weight bearing activity in a zero gravity environment. The exact same thing happens on Earth here. If we’re not using, if we’re not stressing our muscles and we’re not stressing our bones, we will lose them as we age.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Magnesium

Magnesium is kind of like the anti-calcium—not that it’s bad but it does the opposite thing almost. So in order to function properly, it must be balanced by calcium and phosphorus, potassium and sodium chloride.

It’s known as the anti-stress mineral. It relaxes you. Development of bones—about 70% of body magnesium is in the bones. It’s a crucial part of many enzymes, involved in energy production and respiration, transmission of nerve impulses, release of nerve tension, it relaxes smooth and skeletal muscle, which are found in the internal organs—the arteries, heart, digestive tract—and that’s really important and skeletal muscle as well. So if you’re constantly in a spasmodic state with your muscles, then that could be a magnesium issue. Regulation of body temperature and pH balance and helps the absorption and utilization of calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, Vitamin C, E and D—so very important stuff. And its Recommended Daily Allowance is about 400 milligrams per day. We will investigate whether this is enough or if this is too low and it’s really at a ratio, it should be at a ratio of about 1:2 versus calcium.

Types of MagnesiumMagnesium from food is better absorbed and retained. This has been demonstrated numerous times. So other types include magnesium glycinate. This is a magnesium salt processed with glycine. It is used in non-food supplements. Other non-food forms include magnesium carbonate, chloride, citrate, oxide and essentially we want to stick to the food-based stuff with respect to magnesium.

Best Sources of MagnesiumSo what are some good magnesium sources? Well again, anything green will be an incredible source of magnesium because as this picture shows on the right, this is a chlorophyll molecule and in the middle of it is MG—magnesium. It is the base molecule or it is a central component of the base molecule of all plants.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

So any plant source will be a good source of magnesium. Pumpkin seeds are one of the highest, spinach, Swiss chard, black beans, quinoa, sesame seeds, and cashews. You can easily attain magnesium if you’re eating a plant-based diet. So a quarter of a cup of pumpkin seeds—again, you’re not necessarily going to eat that much on a daily basis—but you can easily get one cup of spinach. Multiply that by two—you’re already at your Recommended Daily Allowance for magnesium.

Magnesium DeficiencyMagnesium deficiency can lead to high blood pressure and heart disease, heart attacks, coronary artery spasms and kidney stones because remember it’s supposed to balance out calcium. If there is not enough magnesium, too much calcium can come into play and obviously calcium has those same impacts. So a deficiency in magnesium—the symptoms of that are the exact same things as having too much calcium. Early symptoms of deficiency in magnesium include fatigue, irritability, insomnia and muscle twitching. So if you’ve ever had those muscle twitches at night that could be an indication of magnesium deficiency. It’s more common in those who eat a processed


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

food diet-- which makes sense because they’re not eating a lot of fruits and vegetables—boil most of their food—since magnesium is easily lost in water—drink soft water…

Soft water has less magnesium in it, just the way it’s been softened. There was study done in the Annuals of Internal Medicine, which found that in Newfoundland and South Carolina, they have the highest kidney stone and heart disease levels. They’re also the two areas of Canada and the States that have the highest amounts of soft water. And deficiency is also very common in those who drink lots of alcohol, caffeine, sugar or diuretics-- because they all stimulate going to the bathroom and kind of urinating more, so you’re going to lose a lot more magnesium that way—and through the use of birth control pills.

Magnesium ToxicityToxicity is almost unknown but it may occur if calcium intake is too low. I’ve never heard of magnesium toxicity so it’s pretty much nonexistent. Up to 1,000 milligrams a day shouldn’t be a problem but can cause diarrhea due to its laxative effects. Remember we talked about how it relaxes the smooth muscle in your digestive system—it will relax those muscles and make you want to go number two.

Calcium and MagnesiumI mentioned earlier that calcium to magnesium should have a ratio of 2:1; otherwise calcium excess can occur inside and outside the cells, which leads to bad issues. The body needs to retain more magnesium if this happens to compensate for calcium excess. For this to happen adrenal function must be suppressed, leading to a weaker immune system, lack of energy, ongoing sodium depletion, which affects the function of the sodium pump in the cells, which is vital for energy production. If we don’t have enough magnesium through our diet, then we’re going to have too much calcium. But because we have too much calcium inside or outside the cells, then the body needs to retain more magnesium. But in order to do that, it must compromise the adrenal gland function and that leads to a whole other cascade of events.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Magnesium Absorption 400 milligrams per day might not be enough. Only about one third of magnesium is absorbed from dietary sources, therefore, a daily magnesium intake of about 1,200 milligrams per day has been recommended by some researchers. This means that we need to significantly increase our intake of fruits and veggies. The traditional 2 parts calcium to 1 part magnesium could therefore be increase to 1:1. I firmly believe that if we get too much magnesium, we’re better off than getting too much calcium. If you eat more plant-based foods you will get a balance of both.

Calcium, Magnesium, and the Heart

This is an example of how calcium and magnesium work in the heart and in muscle contraction.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Actin and myosin are two fibers that stimulate contraction in our muscle cells. Actin fibers are stimulated by calcium and relaxed by magnesium.

When muscles contract we get something called cross-bridge movements where these filaments attach to other filaments and row boat fashion. They row across creating a muscle contraction.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

This is happening at the microscopic level within our muscle cells. So the contraction is stimulated by calcium, relaxed by magnesium. An electrical charge produced by magnesium then pushes the calcium to the opposite side of the cell and the calcium helps to produce the heartbeat and magnesium regulates it. Calcium stimulates the electrical charge, pushes calcium to the opposite side of the muscle cell so therefore calcium helps to produce the heartbeats through its contraction and magnesium helps to regulate it through its electrical kind of impulse.

This diagram shows the muscle fibrils. Within the muscle fibers we have muscle fibrils. Within those muscle fibrils we have sarcomeres.

What this diagram shows is that we have this that is stimulating a muscle fiber or a muscle fibrin which is basically known as a motor unit. So the nerve is stimulated and the muscles contract through neurotransmitters that come in. When they come in they stimulate a release of calcium and then all this great stuff happens.

So during cardiac stress some magnesium is moved out of the cell accompanied by an influx of calcium into the cell. Cardiac muscle shows a 20% decrease in magnesium and a four and a half times increase in myocardial calcium. The loss of magnesium and influx in calcium seriously disrupts the energy potential of the affected muscle. 24% less magnesium has been found in ischemic hearts than in non-cardiac cases. So in those who have heart attacks, there has been about one quarter less magnesium inside the heart muscles than in those who have healthy heart muscles. Magnesium is needed to relax the heart muscle and really all muscles for that matter. If there is less magnesium inside the cell and too much calcium inside the cell, we’re going to have much stimulation and not enough relaxation. This can be a factor in heart attacks.

The relationship between death rates from coronary heart disease and the average dietary calcium to magnesium ratio. In this graph we are looking at the calcium to magnesium ratio. What we find in the countries that have the highest milk consumption and the relationship of calcium and magnesium in milk is not the same as 2:1, there is a higher rate. This rate is associated with a high calcium to magnesium ratio while the low mortality rate is associated with an almost 1:1 ratio. If we look at Japan it’s almost 1:1, calcium magnesium.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Finland almost has a 4:1 ratio of calcium to magnesium so way more calcium than magnesium. This is one of the issues.

The other issue is that of the protective factor within Japan is that the low calcium to magnesium ratio has a protective effect simply by the alkalinity that is provided by this better relationship. Both calcium and magnesium are alkaline minerals but in that kind of ratio it does seem to be more cardio-protective. So just before we go to potassium, the ideal ratio, again, should be 2:1, calcium to magnesium. If you’re drinking a lot of cow’s milk it is way off way off the charts with respect to the calcium to magnesium ratio. So in countries that have a lot of milk consumption, we’re going to see more heart related issues.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Potassium

Potassium is readily absorbed from the small intestine about 90% so very easily absorbed but it is also easily destroyed by cooking and processing.

Potassium works as an electrolyte, as I mentioned along with sodium it regulates water and acid-base balance. It’s an important regulator of blood pressure and has a role in muscle contraction and energy metabolism. It helps convert glucose to glycogen so it helps take glucose in the blood and it helps store it as glycogen in the muscle, and it has a role in growth and muscle building as well.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

The RDA is about 2.5-3.5 grams per day though there isn’t really an RDA it’s agreed upon that this number is required. If you’re eating fruits and vegetables you’ll get this no problem.

Best Sources of Potassium So one cup of Swiss chard, lima beans, potatoes, yams, spinach, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, banana. When people think about potassium, they think about bananas. Well bananas really aren’t that great of a source of potassium when you compare it to some of the green, leafy vegetables or sweet potatoes, which are almost more than double the amount of potassium in those foods versus one banana.

Deficiency and Toxicity Deficiency is much more common, especially with aging or chronic disease, and that’s simply because digestive issues occurs. Problems that can occur from this are hypertension, congestive heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, depression. If you remember back to Module One we talked about the sodium potassium pump and its role in electrical action potentials or the action potentials that create muscle contraction and all communication in the body. If potassium is deficient it doesn’t work properly.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Fatigue is the number one symptom of potassium deficiency and then muscle weakness and slow reflexes occur a little bit later. In combination with a high sodium diet, it can lead to water retention, which can lead to an increased blood volume, which can lead to higher blood pressure. So if we have less potassium and too much sodium, where do you think this might occur? Yes, in the Western diet where we don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables and we eat more processed foods, which are higher in sodium. When we eat sodium and less potassium we’ll retain more water, which will increase the amount of blood volume you have and if there is more blood volume, then it’s going to put more pressure on your arteries, which means increased blood pressure.

Alcohol, coffee and diuretics cause potassium loss because we excrete it through the urine. And diarrhea and vomiting can also increase potassium loss. So if you are in a third world country and you get some kind of bug then you will lose significant amounts of potassium as well. And toxicity is rare since the kidneys easily excrete excess potassium. However, it may be an issue for those who have kidney disease.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Iron

Iron is found in every cell of the body in very small amounts and is usually combined with protein. It is poorly absorbed from the small intestine about less than 10% of it but can be improved with Vitamin C. However nonheme iron, found in plants, is poorly absorbed, where the heme iron, found in animals, is better absorbed at about 10-30%. Now phytates and oxalates can bind with iron, almost like they can with calcium, and impair absorption but again, it’s debatable as to whether they are really an issue. The phytates are found in specific grains. Oxalate or oxalic acid is found in specific green vegetables. Is it an issue? I don’t really consider it that much of an issue.

Major FunctionThe symbol for iron is FE because you’ll see ferritin and ferrous.

Ferritin is the stored form of iron in the body. 70% of iron is found in the hemoglobin, 5% in myoglobin, which is like hemoglobin inside the muscle cells and 25% bound to ferritin or ferric oxide.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

The majority of it is found in hemoglobin so that’s why the major function of iron is the formation of hemoglobin. On the left here, we have this molecule, which is hemoglobin. And if you remember, it’s the exact same molecular structure as chlorophyll. The only difference is that chlorophyll has magnesium in the middle and hemoglobin has iron. This picture shows you how red blood cells carry hemoglobin and hemoglobin attaches four molecules of oxygen to each one. Those sit in the red blood cells and the red blood cells then carry the oxygen to the cells and they provide energy. On the right side here we have an anemic amount of red blood cells. So if you have iron deficiency anemia you’ll have less blood cells so you’ll have less oxygen being carried and you’ll produce less energy. That’s why anemia leads to feeling fatigued.

The Best Sources of Iron

If we’re looking at comparing apples to apples here, soybeans, lentils, spinach, quinoa across the board, one cup cooked—8.8 to down to 6.3 milligrams. Now in terms of what you need—if you’re a male, 11 milligrams per day, 15 milligrams per day if you’re female if you’re post-menopausal. Women on a vegetarian


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

diet need a little bit more—about 33 milligrams per day. However, that’s an interesting recommendation based on the fact that post-menopausal women don’t need a lot of iron because they’re not losing a lot of blood anymore. I wouldn’t even recommend that level because that does seem a little bit high and we’ll talk about the toxicity effects of iron in a second.

Pumpkin seeds, kidney beans, venison and cumin. Two teaspoons of cumin—the spice cumin—actually has 4.6 milligrams of iron. Thyme—two teaspoons of thyme is 3.6 milligrams of iron. So there are some herbs and spices that have some powerful mineral content. Cumin and thyme are just two examples. And then at the bottom here we have calf liver, beef, pork and lamb. So you might get confused here because a lot of people say, “Well, the best source of iron is red meat” and that’s true because first of all you don’t need as much meat. You only need about three ounces of beef to get 2.3-3 milligrams of iron whereas you need one cup of soybeans, which is a little bit more. Remember with plant based sources you’re getting the nonheme iron, which is less absorbed and from animal sources you’re getting the heme iron, which is more readily absorbed. So take that into consideration as well. So generally animal sources are better for iron. Plant sources are good as well but you’re going to need more of them to get the same amount, if at all, as the heme source from animal.

Iron AbsorptionSo iron absorption increases with increased need. So during times of growth spurts, pregnancy or lactation, if you’ve lost blood, you will increase more absorption during those times. You will increase iron absorption during times of increased need. However, it can take several months to restore normal blood levels of iron after, for instance, giving blood. So if you’ve given blood to a donor bank, it can take up to three to four months to restore those iron levels after that. So it takes some time.

Natural ferrous, which is FE++, the ionized form, is better absorbed than the iron in ferric form. So you’ll see like FE++ or FE+++. The FE++, which is the ferrous it’s the more natural form. Hydrochloric acid and Vitamin C also improve iron absorption. Cooking with an iron skillet—you may have heard this before—can actually add iron to your dietary intake and that’s actually


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

a pretty good thing in some cases but not so good in other cases. But also remember high calcium intake competes with iron so if you go crazy with the calcium supplements, you’re going to be depleting your body’s ability to absorb iron. So keep that in mind.

Iron Deficiency Along with calcium and zinc it is the most commonly deficient mineral in our diet but most are actually deficient based on poor quality soils. This is the most vulnerable deficiency among infants, adolescents, pregnant and lactating women, vegetarians, people on diets, pre-menopausal women and those with bleeding problems-- pretty much everyone other than men and post-menopausal women. If you’re a man or a post-menopausal woman, your chances of becoming iron deficient are slim unless you are a strict vegan. If you’re menstruating, about 30-40 milligrams of iron is lost during menstruation. If you’re breastfeeding you lose about 1-2 milligrams per day from that, of iron. And breastfeeding itself transfers 500-1,000 milligrams to the baby. So mom needs more iron during this time since less than 500 milligrams is stored in the bone marrow and other tissues inside our body—inside your body.

Iron Deficiency AnemiaThis is the most common thing we think about with iron deficiency and it’s characterized by microcytic or small red blood cells and hypochromic or pale red blood cells or simply fewer red blood cells. So you’ve got a pale looking red blood cell, a smaller or simply fewer of them. So this can be determined by doing a simple blood test or blood count. You’re going to be looking for hematocrit, hemoglobin and total red blood cell count. Serum iron—so ferritin, which is the protein-bound one—should be measured to ensure that it is iron related. So you want to be measuring your iron levels—serum iron levels—your ferritin levels as well so you know that this deficiency—the anemia—is not a B12 anemia, it’s not a B6 issue—it’s related to iron. So you want to make sure of that as well.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Iron Toxicity Serious concerns with this because the body holds onto iron. The problem with too much iron is that it oxidizes susceptible tissues in your body through free radical damage. And again, do a simple blood test.

Look for your serum ferritin test to look at your blood levels of iron. So this test measures the carrier molecule of iron, a protein found inside the cells called ferritin, which stores iron. If your ferritin levels are low it means your iron levels are also low. So a healthy range of serum ferritin is between 20-80 nanograms per milliliter. Again, these are all ridiculous unison measurement that you’ll never remember but 20-80 is what you’re after.

Below 20 would represent an iron deficiency and above 80 becomes an iron surplus which can be associated with atherosclerosis, especially in men. So the ideal range is between 40-60. So just to be on the safe side we want to be between 40-60 nanograms per milliliter and again, you can ask your doctor to do a serum ferritin blood test. If you’re too high donating blood will lower your levels.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Men and Too Much Iron By age 45 men are said to have four times more store iron—ferritin—than women and that’s because women obviously get rid of iron because they lose blood every month when they’re menstruating and men don’t. It’s very easily recycled and stored in the body and this might be associated with an increased risk of heart disease. One theory says that iron activates free radicals, which cause inflammation in blood vessel walls. That increases atherosclerosis, kind of like having too much calcium in there. Now iron may also change the LDL—those bad cholesterols—through oxidation to a form that causes more damage to the arteries that lead to the heart. So too much iron can cause free radical damage to the LDL, which actually can lead to foam cells, which we’ve looked at, which build up in the arteries, which can lead to heart attacks.

The Harvard School of Public Health study found that consuming large amounts of iron from meat sources increased the risk of heart disease in men. Total dietary intake of iron was not a factor. Only heme iron obtained from animal sources increased the risk. Meat based sources of iron are better absorbed into the human body but too much of it, especially among men, is a risk factor for heart disease. There are other things associated with that saturated fats, how the meat was prepared and so forth. So just another reason to balance things out with a good plant based diet.

Supplementation Best PracticesSome experts advise iron supplementation during times of increased need. Men and post-menopausal women do not require extra iron and if taking a multivitamin or mineral, ensure that no iron. I made the mistake of taking Amy’s prenatal vitamins for a few days just to test them out but then I realized, “This actually has iron in there” and I quickly stopped taking it. So if you’re a guy, do not take a female multivitamin-mineral or if you’re post-menopausal, same thing applies. If supplementing, choose the natural forms of iron, which would be ferrous fumarate, ferrous gluconate, which are really the best ones because they’re organic—they’re found in living tissues—or you also have ferrous sulfate, which is more of an inorganic form but it’s still okay. Do not use the ferric form since the natural forms—the ferrous forms—have better absorption and utilization in the body.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

As an example, 325 milligrams of ferrous sulfate contains about 120 milligrams of elemental iron, which is essentially that which is available for absorption. So with a slightly greater than 10% absorption rate, that would give you 12 milligrams of iron into the body. That’s pretty much what you need per day. So you don’t need to go crazy with this supplemental stuff.

And this graph just shows the differences between the ferrous fumarate, sulfate and gluconate. Ferrous fumarate has the highest amount of elemental iron, which is the amount of iron that is available for absorption and that just goes to show you that this might be the best form of iron if you’re taking a supplemental form.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Zinc

Zinc is one of the most commonly deficient minerals due to impoverished soils. It’s water-soluble so it’s easily lost due to rainwater in the soil and it’s also lost in foods due to cooking and boiling and the processing and refining of foods such as grains. Foods often fortify with iron but not with zinc and that’s a problem because zinc and iron work hand in hand and obviously their relationships are important.

It’s a powerful antioxidant. It’s needed in more than 100 enzymes. It’s involved in more body functions than any other mineral. Growth and development and maintenance of body tissues, sexual and immune function—so it’s a building block of testosterone—so it’s really important for that. It’s important for detoxification as well.

Other Important Roles It supports blood sugar balance and metabolic rate. When foods do not provide us with enough zinc, insulin response decreases and therefore our blood sugar becomes more difficult to stabilize. So less insulin in the blood and we have higher blood sugar levels.

When zinc is deficient in the diet metabolic rate also drops along with hormonal output by our thyroid gland. Zinc and selenium work hand in hand sometimes and in the thyroid they work pretty closely together as well. And the thyroid is the master gland of the metabolism and I’ll tell you more about that when we look at selenium in a second.

Gustin is a small protein that is directly involved in our sense of taste. Zinc must be linked to gustin in order for our sense of taste to function properly. Impaired sense of taste and smell are common symptoms of deficiency. And supporting immune function. Many types of immune cells appear to depend on zinc for optimal function and deficiency has been shown to compromise white blood cell numbers and immune response while zinc supplementation has been shown to restore conditions to normal.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Best Sources of Zinc

Oysters are incredible at 74 milligrams per three ounces. That’s by far the highest source, compared to any other food source-- calf liver is up there, venison, beef, lamb. So again, small amounts of animal—good quality animal sources—are very good sources not only of iron but of zinc as well. Sesame seeds—a quarter cup, pumpkin seeds—a quarter cup provides a decent amount—2.5 milligrams or so. Per day—and again, we’re looking at about the same levels as we are for iron, although in this case men actually need a little bit more than women do—so 11 milligrams per day in men, mainly because it’s used to produce testosterone and slightly lower—8 milligrams per day in women and a little bit higher if you’re breastfeeding or if you’re pregnant. So again, you can just copy this chart down if you want.

Forms of ZincZinc is predominantly found in foods as zinc peptide complex, such as that complex with superoxide dismutase, which is a type of enzyme antioxidant. Zinc in yeast containing foods—and you’ll often see this in a good multivitamin—a food based multivitamin will say like S. ceravisiae. This is actually the yeast that is used in the natural multivitamin that Amy uses. It’s a yeast containing


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

food. It’s derived from this yeast as ceravisiae. So zinc from yeast containing foods are better absorbed and in a better form for humans than inorganic forms like zinc gluconate, orotate, sulfate or picolinate.

Deficiency is characterized by growth retardation, loss of appetite and impaired immune function. In more severe cases causes hair loss, diarrhea, delayed sexual maturation, impotence, hypogonadism in males which is small testicles, eye and skin lesions. Deficiency is more common in infants, adolescents and the elderly and obviously can be influenced by the following: pregnancy, aging, growth spurts, PMS, stress, burns, infections, alcohol, diuretics, psoriasis, malabsorption, kidney disease, vegetarianism. Anything that impoverishes absorption is going to have an issue and if you’re not consuming enough zinc that will be an issue too. As well if you have skin issues—skin is very dependent on zinc—so if you have heavily burned skin or psoriasis or acne, that’s going to deplete zinc quicker because zinc is needed to repair a lot of that.

The thing with zinc is the nutritional status is difficult to measure because laboratory tests don’t really… Zinc is found mainly in the proteins and nucleic acids inside your cells. So if you get a blood test, that’s not going to show up. So the best thing to do is have a tissue or a hair mineral analysis because they are more accurate.

Signs of DeficiencyAlso you can look for some signs of deficiency. First of all—the most important thing—impaired sense of taste or smell. That’s probably the biggest thing. I once was dating a girl whose father totally lost his sense of smell. At the time, I had no idea but that was one of the biggest telltale signs of a zinc deficiency. Lack of appetite, depression, growth failure in children, frequent colds and infections because obviously it plays a big role in the immune function and also if you just look at your nails and if you see those white spots—kind of like this picture shows—it’s not a calcium deficiency. That has nothing to do with calcium. That is a zinc deficiency. So if you’ve got white spots on your nails, you could be deficient in zinc.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Zinc Toxicity So the upper limit of zinc has been set at 40 milligrams per day due to the ability of zinc, particularly in a supplemental form, to impair the status of other nutrients, especially copper and calcium. However, zinc also helps Vitamin A work more efficiently. So again, it’s all about balance. Again, a metallic, bitter taste in the mouth can be indicative of zinc toxicity, as can stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, cramps and diarrhea mixed with blood—all great things we’d like to see, right? So that is zinc.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Selenium

Selenium is a mineral that was previously considered a toxin. Now we know it is a powerful antioxidant. Its main function is to convert hydrogen peroxide to water. This is important for cellular health. All of the body’s tissues contain selenium but it is most plentiful in the liver, kidneys, spleen, pancreas and testes-- so again, the organs.

Selenium works synergistically with Vitamin E to protect tissues and cell membranes in the production of antibodies and help to maintain a healthy heart and liver. So it’s essential minerals that give us disease-fighting selenoproteins. It’s these selenoproteins that that are what we’re after. So example is selenium—or these selenoproteins—are needed for the activation of glutathione peroxidase, which is one of the most powerful antioxidants in the human body, which helps protect cell membranes from lipid peroxidation or lipid damage to the fat, if you want to call it that, and it renders toxic molecules to less harmful forms in the liver-- really important stuff.

To recap the main antioxidants, vitamins A, C, E and the S would be selenium and zinc. Those are your main antioxidants from food. Selenium and Vitamin E are often found in supplemental forms because they work synergistically in a lot of different roles. As an antioxidant it also prevents and slows the biomechanical aging and hardening of tissues and good for youthful looking skin. It’s helpful for cardiovascular and cancer prevention. It helps maintain the integrity of the arteries, stimulates antibody formation in response to vaccines by up to 30 times in conjunction with Vitamin E, and it’s an important building block for thyroid hormone T3 regulation.

Selenium and cancer There is an inverse association between selenium levels and cancer incidence, especially among cancers that are also associated with high fat, low fiber diets such as breast, colon and prostate. If you have a lot of fat, you need to protect that fat inside the body so it’s not oxidized by free radical damage, selenium and Vitamin E do that.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

So this graph shows that we have hazard ratio for mortality, so the incidence of mortality up here on the Y-axis and the selenium levels in the blood on the X-axis. These different lines are cancers—colorectal and prostate. The solid one is the average of the two and basically, as we see, the more selenium in the blood—up to a certain point—is a protective factor against cancer. There is less cancer if there is more selenium in the blood because selenium is a powerful antioxidant that helps prevent things from becoming malignant and dangerous, which is a sign of cancer.

Selenium’s role in activating glutathione peroxidase, the primary enzyme protein that converts hydrogen peroxide to water and thus helps prevent lipid peroxidation, which is damage to fats, is very important especially when it comes to our cell membranes.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Best Sources of Selenium

So the best source of selenium is Brazil nuts.

Only one to two brazil nuts is all you need to meet your RDA of 55 micrograms per day if you are a female or male and a little bit more—60-70—if you’re breastfeeding or pregnant.

Brazil nuts are hands down the best source of selenium. I wouldn’t even recommend any of these other ones because it’s just so easy to eat Brazil nuts. However, if you’re like me and you have sensitivity or an allergy to Brazil nuts, then you can’t eat them so there is a bit of a compromise there. Cod, sardines, salmon—so the seafood—is generally a really good source of selenium, as is turkey and beef, barley, brown rice, sunflower and sesame seeds are also good sources of selenium. But again, look at the difference here. One ounce of Brazil nuts. It’s crazy.

Brazil Nuts vs. SupplementationThere was a study done in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2008, which looked at the Brazil nuts versus supplementation for selenium. So this was done in New Zealand and they studied the Brazil nuts efficacy to that of


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

selenomethionine, which is a supplement, in increasing selenium status in 59 New Zealand residents with low selenium. So Group One ate two Brazil nuts each day, which is estimated at about 100 micrograms of selenium. Group Two took a supplement of this selenomethionine providing again, 100 micrograms of selenium per day. And Group Three served as the control so they were given a placebo pill.

After the study they measured blood levels at two, four, eight and twelve weeks. They had measured levels of selenium and glutathione peroxidase. So by week twelve, blood levels of selenium had increased by 64.2% in Group A—those who ate just two Brazil nuts a day, 61% in those taking the supplement and 7.6% in the placebo group. Plasma levels of glutathione peroxidase increased by 8.3% in the Brazil nut group, only 3.4% in the supplement group and -1.2% in the control group. And whole blood glutathione peroxidase—again, just very similar numbers—13.2, 5.3 and 1.9 respectively. So what they concluded is that one to two Brazil nuts per day-- but no more because you don’t want too much selenium—is sufficient to prevent deficiency and maintain adequate selenium levels. And again, this is important for thyroid function, for cancer prevention and overall antioxidant status in the body.

Selenium Deficiency and ToxicitySelenium is a commonly missing mineral in our food supply due to poor quality soil so deficiency can be pretty common. Early signs include weakness or pain in the muscles, discoloration of the hair or skin, whitening of the fingernail beds. Toxicity—high blood levels of selenium greater than 100 micrograms per deciliter—can result in a condition called senalosis, which includes symptoms like gastrointestinal upsets, hair loss, white, blotchy nails, garlic breath odor, fatigue, irritability and mild nerve damage. So therefore, to prevent toxicity they have set an upper limit of 400 micrograms per day. So remember when I showed you the food sources and one ounce of Brazil nuts was 544 micrograms of selenium? Well that would be a little bit too much so that’s why it’s recommended only one to two Brazil nuts per day to get all the selenium you need for optimal health.


© S

uper

Nut

rition

Acad

emy.

com

Coming in Lesson 4So that is our lesson on minerals. We’ve again, covered a lot of ground. Go through this lesson again in order to really digest what we’ve talked about. We’ve talked about calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, selenium and sulfur, so 7 of like 112 minerals that we know of. So we’ve only scratched the surface but I wanted to give you an overview and a deeper look at the most important ones that we typically think about when it comes to our health. No assignment today because again, we’ve gone through a lot. Your assignment will be to go back through the presentation and just kind of reiterate a lot of the stuff we’ve learned.

Now coming in Lesson Four we’ll be talking about the “great debate” whole foods versus supplements. I’m sure you already know where this debate is going to go and which side I will be on and the side that the research shows is most powerful. So we’re going to give you everything you need to know about understanding whether whole foods are better than supplements and in some cases if you need to supplement, what you should be looking for. So that’s coming your way in the next lesson. It’s been a lot of fun and I look forward to seeing you in Lesson Four.

Documents

MODULE #4 - Lesson 3 - Amazon S3 · Module 4 - Lesson 3 Welcome to Module Four, Lesson Three. Just to warn you this is going to be a long lesson. The reality is I could spend 12 months