Dave Asprey
Why should you take supplements:
1. Your Diet is not nutritious enough
Grains and most forms of modern dairy can deplete nutrient stores and interfere with nutrient absorption. They are toxins in themselves, which increases your nutrient needs.
2. Soil Depletion
Improper farming practices deplete the soil of nutrients. When plants are repeatedly grown on the same land, the soil loses nutrients faster than they can be replaced. Over time, the plants have fewer nutrients to grow. Fertilizer contains just enough nutrition for the plant to survive until harvesting, but not enough to support human health. This results in plants that have 75% fewer micronutrients. In addition, most plants are not harvested fresh. They sit on trucks, shelves, and counters for weeks before being eaten. Over time, the nutrient content of these plants decreases.
Most modern fruits and vegetables are grown to increase their sugar content, not their nutrient value. As a result, most of the common fruits and vegetables are artificially high in fructose and sugar and lower in key nutrients.
When plants contain fewer nutrients, the animals that eat these plants are also malnourished. A study published in the Journal of Nutrition and Health found copper levels in the UK have dropped by 90% in dairy, 55% in meat, and 76% in vegetables.
3. Water Depletion
Water is also depleted of minerals due to modern production methods. There is a huge variation in the mineral content of bottled and tap water, with tap water generally having more. Water filters remove important minerals such as magnesium, which was a main source of magnesium for early humans. If you don’t use a filter and you don’t have a well, it’s likely you’re consuming dangerous amounts of fluoride and/or are deficient in magnesium. This could explain why people who drink water higher in calcium than magnesium develop more myocardial infarcts and ischemic heart disease.
4. Low Calorie Diets Are Low Nutrient Diets
Consuming a low calorie diet means you’re consuming fewer total micronutrients. Humans are designed to consume a large amount of calories, and it doesn’t make you fat. When you eat less (as everyone says you should), it’s easy to become malnourished. When you’re consuming low quality foods, you have to eat even more to obtain the right amounts of nutrition. This is one more example of why food quality matters.
What do we mean by low calorie? According to this study most diets require 27,575 calories to supply all the essential micronutrients. If you’re eating less than that, you’re deficient in nutrients.
Animal foods are generally higher in calories and nutrients, so it’s no surprise that’s where the majority of calories came from in early human development. Since the modern trend is to reduce the consumption of animal foods, people are consuming fewer nutrients.
Pesticide-treated vegetables are lower in phenolics than organic ones. This is because polyphenols are produced as a defense against bugs and pathogens. When there is no reason to defend themselves, the plant stops producing polyphenols. Fresh fruits and vegetables grown at home in well fertilized soil are going to be higher in nutrients than USDA organic versions.
There is also evidence that glyphosate – RoundUp herbicide – chelates minerals in crops on which it is sprayed. Unfortunately, organic is not always possible due to financial or logistical reasons. Even when you can find organic foods, they aren’t necessarily better.
6. Grain-fed Meat & Conventional Dairy
Compared to grass-fed meat, grain-fed meat is abysmally low in antioxidants, micronutrients, fatty acids, minerals, and vitamins. Grains are not a food for humans or herbivorous animals. When herbivores are fed grains, they become malnourished, just like humans. Grain-fed meat and farmed seafood can also serve as a carrier for more toxins, which increases nutrient needs.
Raw, unpasteurized, unprocessed, full-fat dairy can be good for you, but the kind most people buy at the grocery store is not healthy. The majority of nutrients in milk are found in the fat (cream). When you remove or reduce the fat, you are removing and reducing the nutrient content. Pasteurization destroys some of the nutrients in both skim and full fat milk. Conventional dairy is also high in aflatoxin and other mycotoxins that were in the cattle’s feed.
If you eat grain-fed meat or conventional dairy – supplementation is a good idea.
7. Toxin Exposure
Your body needs nutrients to deal with toxins. When more toxins are present, you need more nutrients. If you’re living in a cave or the garden of Eden, this will be less of a concern. If you’re like the rest of us mortals – you’re exposed to a litany of toxins on a daily basis.
Here are just some of the things your body has to contend with:
- Xenoestrogens (plastics, BPA, some molds, petroleum products).
- Industrial solvents and cleaners.
Our bodies weren’t designed to deal with these toxins using only nutrition from food. They just weren’t. So if you plan to get your nutrition only from food, you should plan to get your toxins only from the Garden of Eden. Good luck with that.
8. Nutrient Absorption Declines With Age
Several studies have shown kids need more nutrients to support growth, and older people need more nutrients due to malabsorption. As people age, they often begin taking medications which can interfere with nutrient absorption. This means you need to take more nutrients in the most absorbable form possible.
9. Exercise Increases Nutrient Needs
Athletes often think tons of exercise is the key to a long and healthy life (it’s not). They are among the first to denounce supplements as unnecessary, often with the idea that exercise is the best medicine. I don’t advocate high amounts of exercise, but this is an important point. If you’re doing enough exercise to substantially deplete energy reserves, you’re also using more nutrients for energy production and recovery. As a result, athletes are at an even higher risk of nutrient deficiencies. Since many athletes eat a low nutrient, high toxin diet – this is a serious concern.
10. Supplements May Help You Live Longer
Aging is a natural process, but it’s not fun. If there are supplements than can delay this process, why not take them? There is good reason to believe a higher intake of nutrients may prolong life. If supplements can buy you a few more years of quality life, why not take them?
11. Expense & Health
Whether we like it or not, our diet is not sufficiently nutritious. Avoiding supplementation due to the cost factor is false economy.
Choose supplements wisely and Stay Healthy.