Interaction of different nutrients

[Guest guest]

People often believe that there are specific supplements/nutrients (like the miracle drug) that are needed to restore their health. But what they do not understand is that irrespective of how much (quantity) of supplements/nutrients that we take, the body can absorb only so much and how much the body can absorb cannot be calculated and depends on variety of factors (like whether other nutrients are present, the present state of the immune systems, etc). For example, it is found that vitamin-D increases absorption of calcium by the body (or calcium without vitamin D may not be useful). And who knows what other nutrients will enhance or decrease the absorption of calcium by the body?

So if people understand the above, then the often asked question is how do I know what is best to eat. And we don't have to search anywhere for the answer and its right here from Nature: Eating Whole and Natural foods is the best way to restore and maintain health i.e., eating foods from nature as-is, with minimal processing.

--------------------------------Q: Can the way different nutrients react with each other be problematic for your health?A: If you are asking this question very broadly-not necessarily in the

context of food-the answer is definitely " yes. " Nutrients can undergo

what are called " antagonisms " with each other. Nutrient antagonisms are

interactions that prevent each nutrient from being fully active in our

metabolism. (The opposite of nutrient antagonisms are called

" synergisms. " Sometimes nutrients cannot be fully active unless they

are present in combination.) There are literally hundreds of nutrient

antagonisms-so much so that very large research volumes (like Bodwell

and Erdman's Nutrient Interactions, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1988) have

been written on this topic.

However, if you were asking specifically about food and food

nutrients, I would not ordinarily worry about the interactions based

upon levels of nutrients that are present in natural, whole foods.

All whole, natural foods contain many different nutrients, and

there will be natural antagonisms and synergisms among nutrients found

within every whole food. There may be situations in which you want to

avoid some foods specifically because of the nutrient antagonisms

involved. For example, if you were very deficient in copper, but very

well nourished in zinc, you might not want to regularly consume

zinc-rich foods because zinc and copper are minerals that can interfere

with each other metabolically. However, this type of situation would be

unique to a particular individual at a particular time for reasons of

personal health history, lifestyle, and genetic predisposition. A

balanced Healthiest Way of Eating focused on whole, natural foods could

not create this type of imbalance. One of the reasons I like whole,

natural foods is that nature has taken care of the nutrient

interactions for us. Nutrients are supposed to interact with each other

while we are digesting food and also after we have absorbed it. In

fact, the nutrients found in food were interacting with each other long

before the food was ever harvested. Provided that a food is whole,

natural, organically grown, and carefully handled post-harvest and

during the preparation of a meal in our kitchen, I trust the naturally

occurring nutrient interactions to work in support of our health.