According to John B. Marler and Jeanne R. Wallin, researchers at the Nutrition Security Institute in Washington, D.C., this mineral depletion of our cropland is the primary cause for the decline in the nutritional value of American foods. Because of topsoil erosion and other effects of poor farming practices, American cropland has been depleted of 85 percent of its mineral content, as compared with soil from a century earlier. As the authors state in their paper, “Without minerals, soil loses the ability to support the growth of nutritious food. Soils without minerals cannot produce plants with minerals. Foods grown on soils depleted of minerals do not contain the minerals needed to maintain human health.”
Marler and Wallin’s findings were supported by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, who investigated the effects of modern farming methods on the nutritional values of over forty vegetables, along with melons and strawberries. By comparing data of the crops grown in 1950 with data of the same crops grown in 1999, they found that overall the nutrient content of the 1950s foods were as much as 38 percent higher than that of the 1999 crops. Overall, the mineral content of American farmland is estimated to be one-sixth of what it was in the 1950s, the decline effected almost entirely by commercial farming methods. And this problem is further compounded by the commercial methods used to transport and store foods across our nation.
The decline in food’s nutritional content is not only due to the poor quality of our soil. Other factors play a role in leaching out nutrients from our food supply, especially the development of new cultivars (plants cultivated by selective breeding). These new cultivars often sacrifice quality for quantity. That is to say that although these newer cultivars are bred to be more productive in terms of their yield—generating more plants per dollar for the farmer—they increasingly lack the ability to draw nutrients out of the soil, resulting in fewer health benefits per plant for the consumer.
The important point to remember about this is: Depleted mineral supplies in cropland means reduced levels of all nutrients in the crops that are grown on that land.
The trend toward nutrient depletion extends to our nation’s commercial meat, poultry, fish, and dairy industries. Unhealthy chemicals are involved at every stage of the production processes in these industries. Early on, the animals from which our food products are derived are given injections of growth hormones to make them grow bigger, faster; they’re also given antibiotics to counteract the very unsanitary conditions in which the animals are raised. Antibiotics are used in a similar fashion in the farmed fish industry, pumped into the water in which the fish are forced to circulate, along with food dyes to confer the proper color. Once the fish and animals are slaughtered, the foods produced are often irradiated.
In addition, despite industry claims, a growing body of research now indicates that genetically modified (GM) foods contain far lower concentrations of nutrients than non-GM foods. For example, as seen in the documentary film Genetic Roulette, the widespread use of the herbicide Roundup actually prevents plants from absorbing magnesium and other vital nutrients as they grow. Roundup is typically used in commercial farming on crops that have been genetically engineered to be “Roundup-ready,” meaning that they are resistant to Roundup’s active ingredient (glyphosate) and cannot be killed by it (unlike the weeds and other plants that are Roundup’s target).
Not only does this practice substantially decrease the nutrient content of the plants harvested, but because high residues of glyphosate remain on the surface of the plants, these foods are also potentially toxic. GM corn, for example, has been found to contain glyphosate in concentrations nearly twenty times—that is, 2,000 percent—the level considered safe by Environmental Protection Agency. This is significant because, according to the research of Don M. Huber, emeritus professor of plant pathology at Purdue University, concentrations of glyphosate higher than 40 percent of the “safe level” have been shown to cause organ damage in animals.
Fortunately, there is a growing trend towards organic farming and healthier methods for producing meats, poultry, fish and dairy foods. But we still have a long way to go before we can expect to have foods available to us that are as nutrient-rich as the foods to which our ancestors had access.
Poor Daily Diet
Most people realize that the standard American diet (SAD)—based around processed foods full of fats, simple carbohydrates, sugar and artificial sweeteners, and other unhealthy food additives—is a major contributing factor to our nation’s escalating healthcare crisis. Such a diet is not only greatly deficient in vital nutrients, but also forces your body to use up what nutrients it still has in order to assimilate and detoxify these food-like substances!
The failings of the standard American diet are borne out by government surveys, which continue to show growing nutrient deficiencies, including magnesium and other minerals, within the American populace. Studies conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for example, reveal that the vast majority of people, not only in the United States, but in other affluent Western nations as well, fail to meet 75 percent of the dietary reference intakes (DRIs) for many essential minerals. Despite this data, the need for a daily mineral intake that is adequate for optimal health continues to be overlooked, not only by the general public, but by many healthcare professionals.
What are the culprits in magnesium depletion? Food processing is a particularly significant magnesium thief. Processed food comprises not only “fast” and “junk” foods, but even certain treatments of grains, vegetables, fats and oils. This fact was made known in 1982 by Finnish researcher Heljä Pitkänen, who warned that the industrial processing of these food groups resulted in magnesium deficiency. The refining of wheat, for example, removes the “germ,” or the embryo of the grain, which contains most of its essential nutrients. Without the fatty germ, wheat stays fresher and whiter for longer periods of time. This is good for the businesses that produce and sell flour with refined wheat, but not so good for the people who eat it. It is estimated that up to 82 percent of wheat’s magnesium is lost in the refining process, bringing the nutritional value of refined wheat down to nearly nothing when one considers the low level of minerals the wheat started out with due to the vacuous nature of the soil.
Various popular beverages can also deplete magnesium levels. Among the biggest “beverage bandits” is soda, due to its phosphoric acid content, and commercial sports drinks, due to the high-fructose corn syrup and other additives they contain. These beverages should be avoided at all costs. Alcohol, coffee, and other caffeinated drinks also affect your body’s magnesium stores because of their diuretic effects. In addition, alcohol interferes with the ability of magnesium to be absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract and causes significant magnesium loss in the kidneys. While studies show that there are health benefits to drinking wine and coffee, the key is to do so in moderation—no more than one or two glasses of beer or wine and two eight-ounce cups of coffee per day. When you do consume such drinks, be sure to increase your intake of magnesium through daily supplementation.
The lack of healthy fats is another significant factor. Contrary to popular belief, your body needs a regular supply of healthy fats, including animal fats, in order to be healthy and generate energy. Without sufficient levels of these fats, your body will most likely lack vitamin A, an essential vitamin that plays many important roles in the body and is necessary for the efficient uptake, transport, and use of minerals, especially magnesium.
Low- and high-protein diets pose other challenges. These trendy diets place added demands on the body’s magnesium stores. People who take in too little protein (less than 30 grams each day) have been shown to have a reduced ability to absorb magnesium; people who take in too much risk having their magnesium stores excreted and depleted.
Similarly, following a diet based around foods that are acid-forming—including meats, poultry, fish, starches, sugars, and simple carbohydrates—also depletes your body’s magnesium stores, since magnesium is one of the pri
mary minerals your body uses to neutralize excess acid and prevent pH imbalance. The standard American diet is the epitome of a highly acidifying and unhealthy diet; thus it is no wonder that so many of us have magnesium deficiencies.
Poor Food Absorption and Food Preparation Methods
You might think that you could get enough magnesium just by moving away from the standard American diet, adding more magnesium-rich foods to your diet, and eating them more regularly. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
For one thing, many of the nutrients in our foods are not bioavailable; that is, these nutrients can’t be properly absorbed and used by our bodies. This is particularly true of magnesium. Research shows that the human digestive system is only capable of absorbing between 35 to 40 percent of this important mineral when it is consumed; the rest of the magnesium is not absorbed, and is instead eliminated when you go to the bathroom.
Nor is bioavailability the only issue. Research also shows that most people suffer from some level of impaired digestion due to various factors such as enzyme deficiencies, a lack of sufficient stomach acid, insufficient diversity of healthy gut flora, food allergies, or other gastrointestinal conditions. These factors further diminish your body’s ability to completely absorb and use the magnesium and other nutrients it obtains from the foods you eat.
Other dietary factors can also significantly reduce the volume of magnesium you obtain from your diet, even when you make it a point to eat well. Many people mistakenly overcook their food, a practice that leaches out vitamins and minerals, including magnesium. To best preserve their nutrient content, lightly steam or broil vegetables, or simmer them in water—taking care to drink the resulting broth, which will contain any nutrients drained from the vegetables. Also, try to eat at least one portion of your vegetables uncooked.
There are also many foods that are rich in magnesium, but also contain other chemical substances that inhibit its absorption. Two of the most troublesome are the classes of compounds known as phytates and oxalates. Both of these compounds occur naturally in many vegetables, nuts, grains, and legumes (beans). Phytates bind up with magnesium and other mineral nutrients, preventing them from being absorbed and forming toxic substances during this binding process. This can cause health problems and deplete your energy levels as your body is forced to divert some of its resources to eliminating the toxins formed. Soaking grains and legumes overnight minimizes the harmful effects phytates can cause.
Oxalates also bind to magnesium and prevent it from being used by our bodies. In addition, oxalate deposits can build up in the kidneys, causing kidney stones, kidney infection, and other problems. Accordingly, people who are prone to kidney stones are often advised to avoid or minimize eating foods high in oxalates, including spinach, Swiss chard, beet greens, and collard greens, as well as quinoa, cocoa and dark chocolate—all foods that are also good sources of magnesium.
Thus even with the best of intentions, a diet seemingly rich in nutrients is simply not sufficient for getting your daily dose of magnesium. This is not to say that you should give up on eating healthy foods—far from it! You should continue to give your body a fighting chance by supplying it with a well-balanced diet of organic, nonprocessed foods. Any amount of magnesium helps. As you will read in Chapter 4, by following an appropriate diet and supplementation regimen, you can easily rectify any magnesium deficiency.
Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements
Of all the magnesium thieves, calcium and vitamin D supplements are perhaps the most surprising. While it is certainly true that both calcium and vitamin D are important for optimal health, the method and quantity of your intake of these vitamins exert significant influence on your body’s uptake and use of magnesium. You’ll recall that magnesium is a cofactor for both calcium and vitamin D, meaning that it is required in order to activate the benefits of these substances. As you take in calcium or vitamin D, free magnesium binds to these nutrients and is thus lost for other metabolic uses.
The benefits of calcium are well known; among other advantages, it is essential for bone health. For years, doctors and nutritionists have emphasized calcium at the expense of magnesium, recommending that calcium intake be twice as much as that of magnesium (a 2:1 ratio). Now we know better. Excessive use of supplemental calcium blocks magnesium from being absorbed and thus renders it useless, while excess magnesium actually enhances the absorption and storage of calcium. The ideal ratio between calcium and magnesium should be 1:1, just as it is in most vegetables, seeds, and nuts—the food groups that are richest in these minerals. Additionally, unlike magnesium, calcium requirements can be met almost entirely through dietary sources.
In recent years there has also been an explosion of news stories touting the many benefits of Vitamin D—it encourages calcium absorption (at the expense of magnesium absorption), promotes and regulates bone growth, reduces inflammation, and boosts the immune system. Because exposure to sunlight allows our bodies to produce all of the vitamin D we need, in theory, we would not need these supplements as long as we spend adequate time outdoors—fifteen or twenty minutes each day is all that is required for most people.
Regrettably, there are several problems that make it difficult or impractical to produce vitamin D from sun exposure alone. For one thing, our busy lifestyles often prevent us from getting access to the sun. When we do go outside, we are likely to put on sunblock, which protects us against the risk of skin cancer but can prevent us from receiving the UVB rays that are needed to produce vitamin D. If you do choose to meet your vitamin D requirements through sun exposure, avoid putting on sunblock until fifteen or twenty minutes after you’ve been outside, and try not to wash exposed body parts with soap after sun exposure—it can take up to forty-eight hours for vitamin D to be produced in your skin and absorbed into your bloodstream.
Because of this inconvenience, alternative methods of vitamin D intake are often suggested. Many doctors currently recommend that their patients supplement their diets with synthetic forms of vitamin D at daily dosages of 1,000 International Units (IU) or higher. But other forms are available. Long before synthetic vitamin D became a hot topic in the media, many doctors advised their patients to take a tablespoon of fermented cod liver oil, a particularly rich source of food-based vitamin D.
That said, vitamin D in any form can interfere with the uptake of magnesium in the body. Magnesium is the primary cofactor involved in the production of vitamin D, which means that vitamin D cannot even be made unless magnesium is present. The more vitamin D you take, the more magnesium your body must use in order keep the vitamin D activated, depleting critical magnesium stores.
With this in mind, doctors often recommend adding magnesium supplements if you are already taking vitamin D pills. There is no reason to suspend your vitamin D intake, although it may make sense to have your vitamin D levels checked by a doctor to ensure that you are not getting too much and thus depleting your magnesium stores.
Caloric Restriction
More than half of all Americans today struggle with obesity and other weight issues. As a result, we tend to be a society of dieters. The foundation of most diet plans is calorie reduction. Most popular weight-loss diets typically advise women to reduce their total daily caloric intake to no more than 1,500 calories—500 calories less than the amount recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)—and men to confine theirs to 1,800 calories or less—800 short of the USDA’s recommendation.
While reducing caloric intake can help shed unwanted pounds, these kinds of diets can also reduce the amount of essential nutrients, including magnesium, that your body needs to achieve optimal health. When you account for the various other factors that diminish the nutrients contained in food, including those outlined above, it becomes increasingly unlikely that dieters are obtaining all of the nutrients they need. Additionally, caloric restriction puts the body under enormous stress, accelerating the rate at which you burn magnesium and thus depleting your stores of this nutrient e
ven more quickly than usual.
If you need to lose weight, don’t just cut calories; instead, make a conscious effort to eat better. Eliminate junk and processed foods, along with white flour and other simple carbohydrates, and limit your intake of other starchy carbohydrates such as breads and pasta. Instead, focus on eating moderate amounts of whole grains and legumes, along with plenty of fresh vegetables, and moderate amounts of protein foods. Also avoid high-calorie beverages, including sports drinks, commercial fruit juices, and alcohol. If you need additional help losing excess weight, consult with your doctor, nutritionist, or trainer.
As this chapter has shown, conscientiously following a healthy diet is not in itself enough to ensure proper nutrient absorption. It is, however, an important step to take in the ongoing process of optimizing your health.
Pharmaceutical Drugs
Many pharmaceutical drugs can seriously deplete the body’s magnesium stores. One common culprit is proton pump inhib itors (PPIs)—including Nexium, Prilosec, Prevacid, Protonix, and Aciphex—which are frequently prescribed to reduce the stomach acid implicated in gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Long-term use of a proton pump inhibitor can result in serious magnesium deficiency. Accordingly, people who take PPIs for a year or more are advised to have their magnesium levels checked by a doctor; magnesium supplementation will almost definitely be warranted.
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