Outstanding article! Thank you for the time you take to educate us on complicated topics to help us live healthier lives. I will feel even better about my daily dose of almonds and/or walnuts. Thanks for highlighting your past articles on this topic as well. You are a true gift to the world of healthy living!!
I'm so glad I have fellow nerd-girls like you reading my posts! I know this level of detail is not for everyone, but I find the workings of the human body, and our complex relationship with food, absolutely fascinating!!!
After writing this article I've decided to track my daily phytate intake for a couple of days, to see if it's possible to hit the level of intake that would be required to reach 3 mM. Forget 10,000 steps - that goal is for pussies 🤣🤣🤣🤣.
You know the reason I like what you do is, at some point after citing multiple studies, you get down to what has become my favorite phrase; mechanism of action. What do you think the phytate poo-pooers say is the mechanism of action for why phytates should be avoided? Additionally, is there really a concern over anti-nutrients, e.g., lectins? Finally, I’ve read that for those who eat red meat, which is high in phosphorus, they should increase calcium intake to neutralize it. I know you’ll probably say don’t eat red meat, but…
Mmmmmmmechanism of action! You're a LastBattleStation after my own heart :). The fact that phytate binds tightly to minerals is the reason why many people believe that phytate consumption has a negative effect on mineral metabolism. In single-meal studies, it is true that iron absorption from a high phytate meal is lower in people with a habitually low intake of phytate. But in people who routinely eat high phytate diets, iron absorption ramps up. In other words, the human body ain't stupid, and it adapts its nutrient absorption rate depending on what is being eaten.
The lectin panic is so dumb, it makes my head hurt. There are a handful of lectins that are toxic, but the vast majority are neutral or even beneficial. I think this is worthy of a post, so thanks for asking the question.
On the phosphorus/meat issue, it is absolutely the case that the calcium:phosphorus ratio in meat is very high. But the same is true for many other minerals including magnesium. So you shouldn't be taking a calcium supplement; you should be backing off on the meat intake and eating more foods with a mineral balance that is line with the evolutionary history of human beings who, let's not forget, are primates not carnivores.
Many thanks for this incredibly interesting article Robyn. The more I read articles like this that delve into the incredible complexity of how our body works, I think I become drawn even more strongly towards Dr T Colin Campbell's general advice about what food to eat. When asked by Chef AJ in an interview what does his diet consist of he replied "whatever my wife puts on my plate". He elaborated though to mention eating a wide variety of whole plant foods is pretty much his only rule. He doesn't seem to believe in 'superfoods' 'nutrient dense foods' and specific nutrients. He cautions against even bothering with trying to understand how everything interacts in the body as it is so complex and changes in milliseconds due to all sorts of factors, such as our mood, that it can never be fully understood and has just too many variables. Vitamin B12 seems to be his only supplement.
I've also heard Dr Wes Youngberg reply to the question, "which of the 8 pillars of health is the most important?" While he puts nutrition at the top, he mentions it's all a waste of time if you don't have adequate and high quality sleep in particular.
Your recent Vitamin D series was a good example of the futility of trying to resolve that incredibly complex issue. I heard Youngberg mention how he spent 14 years in tropical Guam, getting plenty of sun on his white skin and then found he had low vitamin D. (although who knows what the right level is though and what's the best way to measure it) It turns out it was possible that by swimming or showering soon after sun exposure, all the Vit D was being washed off the skin before being absorbed. How many of us get good sun exposure but perhaps undo all the good work by showering with soap too soon after.
Dr Campbell's book Whole should be required reading for anyone interested in nutrition, and certainly for anyone teaching nutrition or practising as a nutritionist. It had a profound effect on my personal approach to eating, as well as my practice. Of course, Dr Campbell spent his entire professional career conducting reductionist research, which he fully acknowledges the importance of conducting, but very few researchers then take a few steps back from the reductionist level of detail to ask the all-important question, 'How do these details fit into the whole picture?'
I remember looking at a chart of all the known biochemical reactions that occur in the body, which was on the wall of my biochemistry lecturer's office. The labels were in roughly 8 point print, and the chart covered half the wall. Each reaction interlocked with other reactions in a web of unfathomable complexity that left me absolutely reeling. The idea that we can improve our health by consciously manipulating these reactions, by taking drugs or supplements, is just laughable.
On the vitamin D-Wes Youngberg front, I've been delving into the subject of water soluble (otherwise known as sulphated) vitamin D, which I didn't get to in my vitamin D series but will probably have to write a Part 7 for! Sunlight exposure generates sulphated vitamin D, but this doesn't show up on the blood test for 25-OHD. So Wes was probably getting tons of vitamin D but being misled about his vit D status by the test.
Outstanding article! Thank you for the time you take to educate us on complicated topics to help us live healthier lives. I will feel even better about my daily dose of almonds and/or walnuts. Thanks for highlighting your past articles on this topic as well. You are a true gift to the world of healthy living!!
I'm so glad I have fellow nerd-girls like you reading my posts! I know this level of detail is not for everyone, but I find the workings of the human body, and our complex relationship with food, absolutely fascinating!!!
After writing this article I've decided to track my daily phytate intake for a couple of days, to see if it's possible to hit the level of intake that would be required to reach 3 mM. Forget 10,000 steps - that goal is for pussies 🤣🤣🤣🤣.
You know the reason I like what you do is, at some point after citing multiple studies, you get down to what has become my favorite phrase; mechanism of action. What do you think the phytate poo-pooers say is the mechanism of action for why phytates should be avoided? Additionally, is there really a concern over anti-nutrients, e.g., lectins? Finally, I’ve read that for those who eat red meat, which is high in phosphorus, they should increase calcium intake to neutralize it. I know you’ll probably say don’t eat red meat, but…
Mmmmmmmechanism of action! You're a LastBattleStation after my own heart :). The fact that phytate binds tightly to minerals is the reason why many people believe that phytate consumption has a negative effect on mineral metabolism. In single-meal studies, it is true that iron absorption from a high phytate meal is lower in people with a habitually low intake of phytate. But in people who routinely eat high phytate diets, iron absorption ramps up. In other words, the human body ain't stupid, and it adapts its nutrient absorption rate depending on what is being eaten.
The lectin panic is so dumb, it makes my head hurt. There are a handful of lectins that are toxic, but the vast majority are neutral or even beneficial. I think this is worthy of a post, so thanks for asking the question.
On the phosphorus/meat issue, it is absolutely the case that the calcium:phosphorus ratio in meat is very high. But the same is true for many other minerals including magnesium. So you shouldn't be taking a calcium supplement; you should be backing off on the meat intake and eating more foods with a mineral balance that is line with the evolutionary history of human beings who, let's not forget, are primates not carnivores.
Many thanks for this incredibly interesting article Robyn. The more I read articles like this that delve into the incredible complexity of how our body works, I think I become drawn even more strongly towards Dr T Colin Campbell's general advice about what food to eat. When asked by Chef AJ in an interview what does his diet consist of he replied "whatever my wife puts on my plate". He elaborated though to mention eating a wide variety of whole plant foods is pretty much his only rule. He doesn't seem to believe in 'superfoods' 'nutrient dense foods' and specific nutrients. He cautions against even bothering with trying to understand how everything interacts in the body as it is so complex and changes in milliseconds due to all sorts of factors, such as our mood, that it can never be fully understood and has just too many variables. Vitamin B12 seems to be his only supplement.
I've also heard Dr Wes Youngberg reply to the question, "which of the 8 pillars of health is the most important?" While he puts nutrition at the top, he mentions it's all a waste of time if you don't have adequate and high quality sleep in particular.
Your recent Vitamin D series was a good example of the futility of trying to resolve that incredibly complex issue. I heard Youngberg mention how he spent 14 years in tropical Guam, getting plenty of sun on his white skin and then found he had low vitamin D. (although who knows what the right level is though and what's the best way to measure it) It turns out it was possible that by swimming or showering soon after sun exposure, all the Vit D was being washed off the skin before being absorbed. How many of us get good sun exposure but perhaps undo all the good work by showering with soap too soon after.
Dr Campbell's book Whole should be required reading for anyone interested in nutrition, and certainly for anyone teaching nutrition or practising as a nutritionist. It had a profound effect on my personal approach to eating, as well as my practice. Of course, Dr Campbell spent his entire professional career conducting reductionist research, which he fully acknowledges the importance of conducting, but very few researchers then take a few steps back from the reductionist level of detail to ask the all-important question, 'How do these details fit into the whole picture?'
I remember looking at a chart of all the known biochemical reactions that occur in the body, which was on the wall of my biochemistry lecturer's office. The labels were in roughly 8 point print, and the chart covered half the wall. Each reaction interlocked with other reactions in a web of unfathomable complexity that left me absolutely reeling. The idea that we can improve our health by consciously manipulating these reactions, by taking drugs or supplements, is just laughable.
On the vitamin D-Wes Youngberg front, I've been delving into the subject of water soluble (otherwise known as sulphated) vitamin D, which I didn't get to in my vitamin D series but will probably have to write a Part 7 for! Sunlight exposure generates sulphated vitamin D, but this doesn't show up on the blood test for 25-OHD. So Wes was probably getting tons of vitamin D but being misled about his vit D status by the test.