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You are Closer to Being
Vitamin C Deficient Than You Think
by Dr. Randy
Wysong
Okay, so you think you are doing pretty well with your
diet. You prepare most of your meals at home, don’t eat much junk food and
aren’t a fast food eater only rarely. You think vitamins are pretty much
nonsense—particularly since you are eating so well—and besides, you
feel pretty healthy.
Well let me rain on that parade a little.
Consider this. In order for nutritional researchers to determine the required
levels of nutrients, diets must be designed of known nutrient content with a
specific deficiency in the nutrient being studied. Then varying doses of the
nutrient can be added to the diet to determine at what level symptoms of
deficiency disappear.
In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a
vitamin C-depleted real meal menu is described. The diet consists of the
following choices:
Breakfast: Apple Juice, Applesauce, Raisin Bran,
Shredded Wheat, Unprocessed bran, Hominy grits, Cream of Wheat, Eggs (scrambled
or hard poached), Cheddar cheese, French toast, Syrup, Yogurt (plain or
strawberry), Bran muffin, Glazed doughnut, Mini bagel, Cream cheese, White
toast or bread, Wheat toast, Margarine, butter, Honey, Peanut butter, Sugar
substitutes, Low-fat cream cheese, Coffee (regular or decaffeinated), Tea
(regular or decaffeinated), Cream, White milk (whole, 2%, or skim), Chocolate
milk, Buttermilk.
Lunch: Chicken noodle soup, Cream of chicken soup,
Croutons, Escalloped chicken, Pork chops, Brown gravy, Garlic herb pizza,
Grilled cheese sandwich, Tuna chunks, Yogurt (plain, vanilla or blueberry),
Rice royale, Black beans, Rice, Pretzels, Applesauce, Diet Jell-O™,
Cookies (chocolate chip or sugar), Ice cream (vanilla or chocolate), Bread
(white or wheat), Saltines, Margarine, Butter, Sour cream, Peanut butter,
Mustard, Mayonnaise, Sugar substitute, Relish, Coffee (regular or
decaffeinated), Tea (regular, decaffeinated or iced), Cream
Dinner:
Chicken and rice soup, Cottage cheese, Croutons, Fried shrimp, Roast beef,
Brown gravy, Macaroni and cheese, Cheeseburger, Chicken salad, Yogurt (plain or
peach), Pinto beans, Rice, Diet Jell-O™, Vanilla ice cream, Angel food
cake, Bread (white or wheat), Margarine, Butter, Peanut butter, Coffee (regular
or decaffeinated), Cream, Tea (regular, decaffeinated or iced)
Evening
Snacks: Peanut butter crackers, Graham crackers, Chocolate chip cookie,
Popcorn, Ginger ale, Diet cola
If you review these choices you should
note something familiar. They are the very foods that the majority of people
now consume! By eating these foods a person will restrict vitamin C intake to
less than 5 mg per day. The bare minimum RDA (Recommended Daily Alolowance) so
far established for vitamin C is 90 mg per day for men and 75 mg per day for
women -- and this is highly contested as being far too low. There is a huge
body of research now demonstrating that humans need several hundred milligrams
(some believe more than a thousand) per day to achieve optimal health.
Vitamin C is a critically important nutrient for humans since our bodies are
unable to synthesize it. In the wild, fruits and vegetables would be the main
source. Vitamin C bolsters the immune system and is critical to connective
tissue integrity and health. In its absence, the nutritional disease scurvy
occurs resulting in a sort of meltdown of the basic structure of the body.
Teeth fall out, internal bleeding occurs and it can cause a miserable death. In
days gone by, ancient mariners feared the disease more than capsizing. But left
out to sea long enough with only bread and salted meat they were almost sure to
suffer it to one degree or another.
Heart disease is a leading killer in
modern society. Dental disease is epidemic. Both of these conditions can be
initiated or fostered by vitamin C deficiency. There presence may in fact be
the very marker that vitamin C deficiency is widespread. Coronary and cerebral
vessels lose their integrity leading to heart attacks and strokes, and
periodontitis (gum recession, bleeding and oral infection) leads to loss of
teeth, foul breath and seeding of the body’s organs with
pathogens.
Vitamin C is not a silly nutrient to be ignored or played
with. Don’t assume that because you seem healthy at the moment that
chronic degenerative disease is not incubating within. In fact, if you are
eating exclusively processed modern fare, you can count on it.
Convert
the diet to more fresh and raw foods (See authors
The Thinking Person's Master Key to Health (CD), Note that
there were no fresh foods in the test diet. And certainly taking daily vitamin
C supplements (500-1000 mg per day) is prudent insurance given that normal
dietary fare is clearly vitamin C deficient.
. (Am J Clin Nutr, 1997;
65(5):1434-40.)
About the Author: Dr. Wysong is a former veterinary
clinician and surgeon, college instructor in human anatomy, physiology and the
origin of life, inventor of numerous medical, surgical, nutritional, athletic
and fitness products and devices, research director for the present company by
his name and founder of the philanthropic Wysong Institute. He is author of The
Creation-Evolution Controversy now in its eleventh printing, a new two volume
set on philosophy for living, several books on nutrition, prevention and health
for people and animals and over 15 years of monthly health newsletters. He may
be contacted at Wysong@Wysong.net and a
free subscription to his e-Health Letter is available at
http://www.wysong.net
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Randy_Wysong
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