Chapter 3: Good Nutrition

Opinion: Too much influence on medical decision-making comes from the pharmaceutical industry. …… Too much inherent conflict of interests.
(Revision changes are in orange, and revision dates are at the end of the chapter).

The mainstay of good nutrition is intake in appropriate quantities the following:
• Amino acids in general, and essential amino acids in particular.
• Vitamins and minerals.
• Water.
• Sufficient fat.
• An energy source of either fat or carbohydrate.
• Roughage, vegetables and fruits.and fruits.
The first three are relatively easy to explain, but the others are more complicated.

Amino Acids and Essential Amino Acids.
The amino acids are those substances present in proteinous foods such as fish, chicken, turkey, eggs, dairy products, etc. When we eat such foods they will be digested into the body as amino acids. The amino acids are absolutely essential for building most body tissues and can be used indirectly as an energy source after being transformed into glucose. They are also necessary for making hormones and enzymes. These last two: hormones and enzymes are substances that control the production of other tissues, organs, life rhythms and energy production from different biological fuels.
To illustrate the tie in between protein (amino acids) and tissue formation it is easy to understand that unless there is protein intake there can't be formation of muscle. The last is formed mostly out of protein itself, so without the building blocks there is no building.
Another illustration of the role of amino acids is formation of hormones, which have effects on other organs to enable their function. Amino acids are the precursors (raw materials) for many different hormones. An example is tryptophan which is an amino acid present in many animal and plant proteins, in the body is transformed into 5-HTP and then into serotonin and to a controlled degree into melatonin. The last is an important hormone necessary for promoting natural sleep. And so on for almost every hormone in the body.
The next question is: how much is necessary to sustain health? The current recommendation is an intake of 0.8 gm of protein per kilogram body weight per day for adults. I think that number should be at least that much to ensure prevention of illnesses like coronary artery disease, common migraines and fibromyalgia/chronic fatigue syndrome. This statement will be clarified in later chapters. I am comfortable with the 45 grams of protein present in 170 grams of canned tuna fish (equivalent to the 6 ounce can of tuna fish) per day. This probably will provide less than what is required by a 70-kilo (154 pound) adult, but I believe the remainder of a person’s food intake will make up the rest of the necessary protein.

Vitamins and minerals.
Much ado is made about vitamins and I think justifiably so. Vitamins are necessary substances for our health which allow and promote building of our tissues, utilization of different fuels in energy production, efficient functioning of cells in our body and protection against cancer.
The recommended dietary allowances of current day are levels below which illness may happen. Given the way these levels were arrived at I don’t believe they are applicable to all different age groups. Additionally the needs vary a lot with what kind of nutrition is being consumed. For example the more carbohydrate intake the higher would be the need for vitamin B1.
A special situation applies to two vitamins. This situation concerns their difficulty in gaining entry into the body. The two vitamins I am talking about are vitamin B-12 (cyanocobalamin) and vitamin B-1 (thiamin). Both of these vitamins are water-soluble but to get absorbed via the gastrointestinal tract requires complicated processes, which are energy dependent and they are not absorbed with ease. Also vitamin B-12 requires the availability of other locally produced substances. In other words their entry into the body isn't as easy as you might assume. Hence with aging or becoming unhealthy the amount or route of intake would have to change. My advice is to get those two vitamins by injection from age 35 and on. The vitamin B-12 (cyanocobalamin) form which dissolves under the tongue looks promising.
To ensure a sufficient intake of vitamins my advice in addition to above is to take as follows:

-Copper 2 mg daily (NOT acceptable in a multivitamin, and don't take on an empty stomach) [more to follow].
-Vitamin C 100 - 250 mg daily (acceptable in a good quality multivitamin)
-Vitamin A 4000 units daily (acceptable in a good quality multivitamin)
-Folic acid 0.4 mg up to 1 mg daily (acceptable in a good quality multivitamin)
-Calcium 500 mg + vit D (100 to 200 units) twice to thrice daily
-Multivitamin tablet one daily
-Vitamin B-12 (cyanocobalamin) 250 mcg daily [if not taking it by injection or sublingually] – I prefer the injection modality once a month or even less frequently.
-Vitamin B-1 100 mg daily [if not taking it by injection – again I prefer the latter]
-Niacin 100-250 mg daily [this frequently will cause hot flushing and itchiness of face and ears until the body becomes accustomed to it. Taking it with a meal lessens this side effect.] (acceptable in a good quality multivitamin)
(Since initial publishing I have revamped a couple of things and changed the quantities).

The vitamin A, I believe plays a role in prevention of cancer in general but not against any specific form of cancer. The folic acid participates in a major way in prevention of coronary artery disease. The calcium and vitamin D are necessary for bones and functioning of many other tissues such as muscles and nervous tissue. The multivitamin tablet is to blanket cover the body’s needs. The vitamin B-12 (cyanocobalamin) is essential for energy, nervous system function and heart disease prevention. The vitamin B-1 is essential especially for energy production and nervous system function.
There are many other vitamins and minerals, which I think, are sufficiently provided for by our nutrition. This opinion can change if more facts concerning them come to my attention.
On the other hand I think the importance of vitamin E is overrated and the same for vitamin C (but both have high merit when taken in reasonable quantities). A word of [13] caution about vitamin C is that when you take a more than necessary amount regularly and you stop taking it suddenly, you will feel tired or even depressed.
Another word of caution concerning taking vitamins or minerals more than indicated can be dangerous, as in the case of vitamin A and D. The entire mentioned above is for adults. Please consult with your doctor before using any of them.

Water.
Many texts and dietary regimens promote the intake of water in formidable quantities. I agree with a good intake of water always. This agreement is based on the importance of water in all bodily functions and just by knowing that the body content is around 65% by weight you can surmise that water has to be available to a person in order to stay healthy.
The only advisory comment I will make here is to take in enough water (or other fluids), which will make the color of the urine off white or very light yellow. When that color has been attained in a normal person that should indicate a healthy level of hydration in the body. There are conditions, which can be harmed by too much fluid intake. Please consult with your doctor.

Sufficient fat.
I believe a certain minimum of fat is necessary to preserve health. The rationale behind this is that there are many vitamins that require fat to be present in our diets to enable their absorption from our gastrointestinal systems. These vitamins are necessary as I described briefly above. This minimum fat intake, I believe should be above 30 % of daily calorie intake. Fortification of this belief is for example the lower the fat intake the higher the incidence of breast cancer in adult females, and vice versa the higher the fat intake the less the incidence of breast cancer. Another example is the incidence of stomach cancer in Japan, which is markedly high. Their fat intake averages about 11% of their daily calorie intake.
On the other hand the fear of fat intake causing heart disease is pretty much unfounded when scrutinized closely. Most studies that have designated fat intake to be dangerous to the heart and/or lead to elevated cholesterol don’t look at the calorie intake at the same time. Looking at the caloric total is of the utmost importance in deciding on importance of different food elements for the heart. When the calorie content is examined in relation to cholesterol levels in the blood and other indices of health in the blood, all of the indicators point without doubt toward a higher proportional fat intake being better for the heart and cholesterol levels. That would be in comparison to a high carbohydrate diet of equal caloric content.
Another highly important issue to look at within this context is that there are two glaring examples where high fat intake (even the saturated form) is associated with lower myocardial infarction rates compared to low fat intake than the rest of the studied world with the exception of Japan. The first one is that of France where they intake approximately 43% of their calorie intake as saturated fat but they have six times less heart attacks than that of the United States. The latter takes in about 37% fat calorie wise in their diets. The example I like to quote most often though is that of the Eskimos. They take in around 47% saturated fat daily plus approximately 900 mg of cholesterol daily (the recommended amount in the USA is less than 300 mg per day). They have no heart attacks at all. This holds true only when they ingest their traditional diets. When they move to other westernized cultures and partake of the local diets they start getting heart attacks as frequently as the local population. Note to doctors – therefore genetics are not the explanation for the phenomenon observed in the Eskimos.

An energy source of either fat or carbohydrate.
Fat is an excellent source of energy. Any bodily function, which requires a sustained supply of energy, is usually dependent on fatty acids (fat). That includes the beating of the heart and sustained muscular activity of the limbs and torso. The muscular activity of the respiratory muscles also depends significantly on fat. Even by numbers the amount of calories present in fat per weight exceeds that of carbohydrates and proteins.
On the other hand I don’t think carbohydrates pose any threat to health as long as their intake doesn’t exceed their utilization as a fuel in an ongoing way. However if we have an excess of carbohydrates then what isn't used quickly will be forced inside cells and some amounts of glycogen are formed and stored in certain cells and the remainder will be transformed into triglycerides and thence stored fat and cholesterol. Ultimately we will result in higher levels of cholesterol also. Another drawback of excess carbohydrates then it will signal negatively to the adrenal glands and in effect “tell it to take a rest and don’t produce adrenalin because the body has a sufficient energy supply”. Continued excess of carbohydrates will ultimately result in diabetes mellitus type 2 (more later).
My preference for health reasons would be fat. I would hesitate with this opinion if the fat is of animal origin in countries that allow their animals to be injected with growth hormones.

Roughage, vegetables and fruit.
The necessity of roughage and fiber in our diets stands to reason just merely by the fact that the nutrition of our forefathers during certain seasons contained a high amount of such. The actual tie in as to how it is good for our health isn't clear to me yet. Statistical data would seem to support its importance at this point. But statistics are statistics and they aren't definitive scientific proof.
So my current advice would be to have enough roughage and fiber in our diets to allow a comfortable bowel motion once daily.
Concerning fruits and vegetables they are an important part of our diet with very important constituents in them. They have different powers and benefits and only now are coming to light. Suffice it to say at this time that daily consumption of fruits and vegetables are very important for health maintenance. The question of how much to consume I will leave alone for now.
On the other hand I think relying on vegetables alone isn't healthy. The reason I say that is I believe it becomes too difficult to obtain sufficient protein that way. Additionally there will be an absence of vitamin B12, which isn't available in plant products.
To cap things off about nutrition I would like to say something about the number of meals one should take per day. I don’t think a fixed number for all human beings apply. I do believe it to be essential that a person should try and be regular in their eating habits. Regular in timing and number of meals. This will enable the body to have another rhythm promoting factor available to get the body in a stable biological rhythm. This number could be 1-3 depending on the person’s energy expenditure and what they eat. The previous and current advice of eating a good breakfast, having a midday meal and then a supper (which by the way I used to think was true), I think is incorrect and doesn’t apply to all human beings by any means.

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Revision to this chapter November 27, 2009