by Charles Gant MD, PhD, NMD
Because of our unusual modern world circumstances, I recommend that you consume five kinds of supplements every day for as long as you are alive.
1. Multivitamin/multimineral supplement - Due to the demineralization of soils and processing of foods that strips our diet of essential nutrients, this is an important aid to health, prevention of disease and of aging. Even the American Medical Association (AMA) agrees that many ingredients in a vitamin and mineral supplement should now be supplemented regularly by everyone.
2. Probiotics – One of the reasons that breast fed babies are healthier is due to the intestinal inoculation of friendly (probiotic) flora from breast milk. The good flora should last for a lifetime and protect our intestinal lining from bad, disease-causing flora. Due to toxin exposures from mercury fillings, antibiotics (by prescription or in food), food preservatives, fluorine and chlorine-laced drinking water, all intended to kill potentially harmful flora, the friendly flora in our intestines can also be destroyed.
3. Enzymes – Many fruits and vegetables are quietly being genetically engineered to remove the natural enzymes so that they will not ripen as quickly, thus extending their shelf life. Our ancestors depended on plant enzymes for proper digestion and these should be supplemented regularly.
4. Phytonutrients — Phyto (plant) nutrients, like enzymes are dissolved, cooked, frozen and otherwise processed out of modern diets. Tens of thousands of phytonutrients have been discovered, many of which have been shown to have extraordinary healthful benefits for the brain and body. Most have not yet been studied for such potential health promoting benefits, and undoubtedly, many tens of thousands, perhaps millions are yet to be discovered and studied. Based on my clinical experience, I would recommend that everyone should generally not underestimate the amazing potential of phytonutrients and enzymes. As with all nutrients, but especially for enzymes and phytonutrients, which are often relatively large molecules, phospholipids (lecithin) are useful to administer simultaneously to assist in the assimilation into the bloodstream.
5. Omega 3 and omega 6 essential fatty acids – Our ancestors have generally lived around lakes, streams, rivers and oceans and we might not have survived as a species were it not for a diet that was high in fish. They also depended on raw seeds and nuts. These foods contain essential fatty acids and over eons we have lost the ability to make these oils in our body. They must be in our diet. Since nuts are often cooked (destroys the essential oils) and fish can be contaminated by PCBs, dioxin and mercury (regardless of the assurances you receive), a clean, distilled, concentrated fish oil supplement is recommended.
