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Do You Have One Of These Common Vitamin Deficiencies?
With advances in modern commerce, we've all come to take certain things for granted that never were possible before.
For example, when else in the history of the world have we been able to get foods from virtually any place on earth at any time of the year?
At the same time, modern commerce has ushered in the age of fast food along with the idea that convenience matters when it comes to eating. By contrast, imagine a cave man complaining that it was too much work to go out and collect dinner. We have obviously come a long way.
The Hidden Perils of Modern Living
But the effect of this progress may not be universally beneficial. A case in point is the surprising fact that many people in modern culture are deficient in certain vitamins and minerals. And, to make matters worse, these deficiencies can lead to serious health consequences.
You might well ask how this could happen. Consider the following:
- Modern processing removes much of the real nutritional value of foods. If you buy it in a jar, a can, a box, a bottle or a package, you can be certain that it's been processed and thus has reduced nutritional value. As far back as the the early 1900s, people like Dr. Weston A. Price clearly identified the increase in health problems associated with greater intake of processed foods.
- Modern commercial farming techniques are designed for efficiency over nutritional value. Fertilizer only restores 3 nutrients to the soil, leaving many agricultural soils sadly deficient in important nutrients after years of use. Particularly missing are minerals. Dr. Al Sears, M.D. estimates that our foods contain as little as 10% of the nutrients the same foods had 100 years ago. Depleted soils are the culprits.
- Even though many processed foods are 'fortified' by adding specific nutrients back into them after processing, these added nutrients aren't generally high quality, aren't in naturally-present proportions, and may not even be the most useable forms for our best nutrition. In addition, it is impossible to replace everything that the processing removes.
We'll talk about the ways you can circumvent these problems in the next installment of this article. But before we do that, let's look at some of the more common dietary deficiencies and their consequences.
Vitamin B12
Crucial for many biological processes, Vitamin B-12 is also one of the most common deficiencies. This is especially true for people over 50. The reason is that as we age we have less of the so-called intrinsic factor in our stomachs that allows us to absorb B-12 from our foods.
Extreme cases of B-12 deficiency create pernicious anemia, which is rarely found. However lesser degrees of insufficient B-12 can create impaired memory, confusion and difficulty thinking. It is also crucial for reducing levels of toxic homocysteine in the blood.
Magnesium
This is the fourth most abundant mineral in the body. It is crucial to regulate heartbeat, absorb calcium and deal with stress. Without enough stomach acid you can't absorb magnesium well. This may indicate that people taking acid blockers can't get enough magnesium.
Symptoms of magnesium deficiency include constipation, muscle problems (ticks, spasms and cramping, including "restless leg syndrome"), and irregular heartbeat. Extended periods of stress as well as excessive physical exertion deplete magnesium even more.
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