The Five Essential Nutrients For Healthy Skies

There are few vocations where good health is as important as in aviation. Even something as innocuous as cramps or light-headedness at the wrong time could spell disaster.

Unfortunately there is no magic pill, and I do not purport to have one. Overall good health takes a little work, inlcuding diet considerations, exercise and, lastly, supplementation. Having said that, my experience of a number of years in the nutrition industry has led us to our foundational belief that modern research has made a very strong case that, of all the micro-nutrients necessary for good helath, there are five in particular that are most vital. I call these The Five Essential Nutrients, and The Pilot's Super Supplement is designed to include all of them--something no other individual supplement on the market accomplishes.

The Five Essential Nutrients are:

1. Enzymes
2. Probiotics
3. Vitamins
4. Minerals
5. Antioxidants

My hope with this article is to demonstrate the need for restoring these five nutrients on a daily basis. I will discuss each one in turn, so if you're interested in reading about just one right now, you can scroll down to that part now.

In years past it would have been easy for the average family, with average means, to ensure a proper intake of these nutrients through their diet. However, today, with diets high in processed foods, constant exposure to chemicals by both humans and their food sources, the introduction of GMO foods, and the degredation of the level of nutrients in our soil, it has became more difficult to receive an appropriate amount of these nutrients through regular foods. Hence, it has become more crucial to provide your body with additional nutrients with quality supplementation.

1. Enzymes

Enzymes are minute protein molecules that are found naturally in foods we eat. These protein molecules serve a vital purpose. They are catalysts that make possible the chemical reactions that digest our food and break it down to useable, absorbable nutrients. Enzymes are the life force that is found in foods and then transferred to our bodies to keep every system functioning optimally.

Because they lack enzymes, cooked and processed foods are perhaps the single most detrimental deterrent to optimal health. That’s a pretty bold statement when you consider the many health hazards that we deal with on a daily basis, but it’s not an exaggeration. Your body has to work extra hard every time you eat cooked and processed foods—which, for most people, is every time they eat a meal or a snack!

Problems arise because most of the foods we eat are enzyme-deficient. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 118 degrees (F) and above. That means that almost any kind of food preparation method destroys enzymes. Anytime you cook, microwave, fry, bake, grill or otherwise process your foods, you subject yourself to the dangerous consequences of eating enzyme-deficient foods. How bad is that really and just what happens when you eat foods that are devoid of enzymes?

Mother Nature must have known we wouldn’t eat all of our foods raw, so our bodies do have a backup supply of digestive enzymes to draw from. However, that supply is limited and depleting this supply places undue stress on the body. In other words, whenever we eat cooked or processed foods (which for most people is every meal!); we cause our bodies to work harder than necessary.

When the body’s resources are being commandeered to accomplish digestion, they aren’t readily available to do other things—such as warding off disease or delaying the aging process or burning stored body fat. That’s right. Eating an abundance of cooked and processed foods can lead to frequent sickness, premature aging and increased storage of body fat--and countless other problems.

Cooked and processed foods are so hard on the body that they actually bring on a condition called digestive leucocytosis. The body considers cooked food to be a foreign substance, an unwanted invader and eating cooked food causes the white blood cell count to rise just as it does when the body is sick or has ingested poison!

Further, if enzymes are not present in the food you eat, not only is the body overtaxed, but also food is often only partially digested. This causes additional problems, including allergies, lethargy and deadly plaque build-up in the blood vessels.

Eventually, as your body’s "bank" of digestive enzymes are depleted, you become unable to digest certain foods at all. For example, if you were to use up your supply of lactase enzymes (from eating enzyme-deficient milk products) you would soon become lactose intolerant.

All the while that we are inordinately using up our digestive enzymes by eating enzyme-deficient foods, the body is trying to compensate in yet another way: by next pulling from its supply of metabolic enzymes. These enzymes can be called upon to facilitate digestion, but their primary purpose is to run every other process of the body.

Effects of Enzyme-Deficient Foods

As, over time, more and more people consume cooked and processed (and, therefore, enzyme-deficient foods) the rate of disease and degeneration increases proportionately.

Plainly, it is not a good thing to be using metabolic enzymes to accomplish digestion. They are supposed to regulate the heart, lungs, or kidneys instead. However, that is exactly what happens. The body places a priority on digestion and goes to great lengths to do whatever is necessary to make sure foods are properly broken down and assimilated.

Some experts recognize the extreme toll this places on the body. They believe that enzyme deficiency is a factor in all disease and even determines lifespan. Dr. Edward Howell, who studied enzyme nutrition for over 50 years, wrote: "Humans eating an enzymeless diet use up a tremendous amount of their enzyme potential in lavish secretions of the pancreas and other digestive organs. The result is a shortened lifespan (65 years or less as compared with 100 or more), illness, and lowered resistance to stresses of all types, physiological and environmental."

Initially, the body may react to enzyme deficiency with what we call “indigestion.” Minor discomforts—of burping, heartburn, abdominal pain and bad breath as well as excess gas, skin problems, diarrhea, constipation and more—can be linked to consuming foods that are devoid of enzymes. Headaches, mental fatigue, nervousness, lack of concentration, memory loss, insomnia and nightmares can all result when the body doesn’t have enzymes readily available in the foods we eat.

A lack of enzymes also interferes with hormone production, inhibits cellular repair and causes chronic digestive problems. These types of problems are common! One in thirteen hospitalizations is a result of chronic digestive disorders.

There is an ironic twist in this whole scenario. Most people, when they experience the first signs of indigestion, have no idea that those signs are tied to enzyme deficiency and are a signal that digestion is compromised. Rather than looking for a way to promote digestion and make sure the burden is taken off the body, most people who experience indigestion further interfere with the process by taking antacids or acid blockers, which stop the digestive process in its tracks. While this may dissuade the symptoms, it doesn’t solve the problem, and is detrimental to overall health and well being.

The need for restoring the body’s enzyme supply is unquestionable. Taking supplemental enzymes preserves the body’s own vital enzyme stores. Many people who take an enzyme supplement notice that they aren’t lethargic or sleepy after a meal, the discomfort of indigestion is gone and—for many—food allergies disappear. Enzyme supplementation has been shown to alleviate mild, and even severe or chronic, digestive disorders. Many people—who may not have noticeable digestive problems but who understand the benefits of enzymes—say they take enzyme supplements as a way to ward off the aging process, bolster the immune system and protect themselves from the incredible toll cooked and processed foods can place on the body.

Obviously, in today’s world, it is virtually impossible to eat a diet of only raw foods; and, if you—or any other individual who has lived on the typical North American diet—were even to start doing that today it is still likely you would need a way to restore the enzymes that have been depleted to this point if you are to experience optimal health.

Along with changing your diet and adding more raw foods, the way to preserve the body’s vital enzyme supply is by taking an enzyme supplement each time you eat foods that are cooked or processed. In recent years, as more and more people become aware of the need for enzymes, many products have cropped up on the market. While some have value, many others are incomplete, and, thus, ineffective.

In order to promote complete digestion, an enzyme supplement must contain the full complex of enzymes. Pineapple enzymes or papaya enzymes are single plant enzyme products and are devoid of the enzymes needed to completely digest food. Likewise, products that contain protease only initiate the process of protein digestion. Protease breaks protein down to a peptide. In the peptide form, protein can’t be used by the body and can actually cause more harm than good. To break peptides down to useable amino acids requires peptidase as well.

Amylase will break carbohydrates down into disaccharides. Since disaccharides are still not in a form the body can use—and, like peptides, can cause havoc in the system—cellulase, lactase, maltase and invertase must also be included to finish the job and break the carbohydrates all the way down to useable simple sugars.

Similarly, lipase, the enzyme that digests fat must have certain minerals present in order to accomplish its job.

Many products on the market contain animal enzymes, such as pepsin. While animal enzymes may, indeed, promote digestion, they have a limited pH range. This limited range means that they work in only one stage of the three-stage process of digestion. In addition, animal enzymes don’t work in conjunction with the natural processes of the body. Rather than restoring the body’s enzyme supply and allowing it to function at optimal levels, animal enzymes supplant (or take the place of) this supply and cause the body to stop producing enzymes of its own.

Taking an enzyme supplement helps the body in yet another way. Not only does a complete, pure plant enzyme supplement help break foods down, enzymes also assist with the absorption and delivery of vitamins and minerals, making these nutrients readily available for use in the body.

You now understand the dangers of enzyme depletion and how to avoid the side effects of eating cooked and processed foods. It’s now up to you to choose to be healthier by increasing your intake of raw foods--and supplementing with enzymes.

Choose to be free of indigestion and chronic digestive problems, to preserve your enzyme stores for important metabolic function, to promote optimum nutrient absorption and fat metabolism by doing what I call “eating responsibly.” When you eat foods that are cooked and processed and, therefore, devoid of enzymes, make sure you don’t let enzyme deficiencies overtax your system and deprive you of the optimal health you want and deserve. Avoid the many health hazards on the enzyme deficiency disadvantage—distractions such as lactose intolerance and inability to digest milk products, fat intolerance and the resulting dangers of heart disease, sugar intolerance and the precursory steps to diabetes, and the ravages of lethargy, food allergies and toxicity that can result from undigested food particles.

The Pilot's Super Supplement keeps you flying healthier by providing a variety of pure plant enzymes in each capsule, along with the minerals necessary to activate them with each meal.

2. Probiotics

The next essential nutrient is probiotics. Probiotics—also known as "flora" or "friendly bacteria"—is a nutrient receiving a lot of publicity as of late. Most of us are unfamiliar with the benefits of probiotics and the danger we put ourselves in when we fail to take advantage of those benefits.

What are probiotics, and why the need?

Let's start with the opposite of probiotics. Everyone is familiar with antibiotics which have been used for a number of years to fight infections and ward off harmful bacteria. Antibiotics means “against or opposed to life.”

Probiotics, on the other hand, means “promoting or favoring life.” Probiotics are living organisms that colonize and flourish in the healthy intestine. These friendly bacteria are vital to health and to the proper functioning of the intestinal tract. In fact, the healthy intestine contains approximately three pounds of friendly flora.

These bacteria strains function as a backup to our body’s immune system. They promote health by secreting antibiotic-like substances, such as lactic acid, acetic acid, hydrogen peroxide and others. Though these substances are produced in tiny amounts, they have a wide-range of activity against salmonella, pseudomonas, E. coli and other harmful food-borne bacteria.

When the intestine is flourishing with friendly bacteria, there is no room for the harmful, disease-causing strains to implant and grow.

Not only do probiotics help to detoxify and suppress pathogens, they also promote proper digestion. Certain strains are particularly beneficial as they produce abundant amounts of the enzyme lactase; and, thus, are effective in helping many individuals tolerate dairy foods.

Unfortunately, this is another area that has been generally dealt with in a way that has further exaggerated the problem, rather than addressing it.
Consider the problem: As stated above, the healthy intestine requires the presence of friendly bacteria. However, common dietary and lifestyle factors destroy those bacteria.

Stress—with daily pressures of family life, work and finances that seem to be a fact of life for most of us—is to blame for much of the probiotic depletion each of us experiences today. Probiotics are also depleted by strong antibacterial herbs, cortisone, carbonated drinks, lack of sleep, laxatives and birth control pills. Poor diet, toxins in the blood stream and emotional upset further rob the body of the flora it needs. Natural aging also takes a toll on our probiotic stores.

Studies show that most North Americans have less than half the amount of flora needed for optimal health. As bowel flora is depleted, the body is subject to numerous diseases, including colitis, diabetes, meningitis, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid disease and even bowel cancer. A deficiency in friendly bacteria can bring on a host of additional problems associated with bowel toxicity.

Following the route that depletes probiotics has taken thousands of people further and further from optimal health. The results have been staggering. Infectious diseases that once were considered to be under control have reemerged with more ferocity than ever. Flu and cold symptoms are more frequent, more debilitating than ever.

Whenever an individual experiences the results of a depleted probiotic supply, their doctor’s first inclination is often to treat the resulting infection or virus with an antibiotic. Ironically, the strategy used to protect us from disease further complicates the situation and actually puts us at greater risk. Antibiotics not only kill the bad bacteria, they also wipe out the good strains (those same strains that have already been depleted by the lifestyle and environmental factors noted above).

Females may be all too familiar with this vicious cycle. How many women have gone to the doctor because they had a cold or ear infection, were given an antibiotic, and within a few weeks have had to go back to see the doctor, this time with a yeast infection? The antibiotic may have done its job of killing the bacteria that caused the cold or infection, but at the same time, it depleted the stores of friendly flora that keep the yeast overgrowth in check.

Yet, still, antibiotics are often prescribed indiscriminately, even for minor ailments, without any thought as to whether they are really necessary for that situation. Don’t think that because you haven’t taken an antibiotic lately that your probiotc supply is fine.

Even though you haven’t had a written prescription for an antibiotic, chances are you have still taken significant amounts of antibiotics during the past few months. You see, animals (including cows, pigs and chickens) are fed antibiotics in order to keep them well and to promote growth. In fact, in North America, half of the antibiotics produced—over 20 million pounds each year—are fed to animals. Dairy products as well contain high levels of antibiotics.

What is the answer then, if our lifestyles and environmental factors are taking away from our supply of friendly flora? How can an individual continue to win without a constant supply?

The Game of LIFE, then, requires probiotic supplementation. Many products on the market (acidophilus or salivarius supplements) are single-strain products, that do not provide the combination of benefits that can come from a blend of several different strains.

When selecting a probiotic supplement, look, also for stabilized strains of bacteria. Stabilized strains of bacteria are hearty and resilient, able to survive the many changes in pH and temperature encountered before reaching the lower intestine where the bacteria can grow.

As the friendly flora grows and fills in the spaces in your intestine, there will be no “vacancies” where bad bacteria can implant. You can protect yourself from toxins and harmful bacteria and the resulting infectious diseases by restoring your friendly bacteria. Nutritionally, flora can be restored by eating yogurt and other fermented foods. However, unless you are eating such foods on a daily basis, you are most likely not getting enough flora to make up for what is lost due to dietary and environmental factors.

With the factors of constant stress, overuse of prescription antibiotics, and antibiotics in our foods, flora supplementation is really the only way to ensure optimum bacteria balance. Remember, flora supplementation is particularly important if you are under stress. Your flora supply should also be restored through supplementation if you have recently taken antibiotics or are planning for or recovering from surgery. Flora supplementation can be particular beneficial for individuals who are lactose intolerant. Also, anyone who is frequently sick, has recently been exposed to an infectious disease, or is experiencing symptoms of bowel toxicity may find flora to be extremely helpful.

Don’t mess around this inning in the Game of LIFE. Make a choice to improve and protect your immune system from the ravages of stress and lifestyle, rather than leaving yourself open for any bacterial invader that comes your way every time you eat, drink or breathe. It will serve you well and take you closer to your success of health if you will make flora supplementation part of your Game winning strategy.

3. Vitamins

By taking enzymes and flora, you will have a significant advantage in the Game of LIFE. What about the more traditional nutrients that you have always heard about such as vitamins and minerals? Was your mother right when she told you to eat your vegetables to get these nutrients?
A U.S. Department of Agriculture study substantiates what your mother may have advocated. It found that most Americans are getting well below the Recommended Daily Allowances for most vitamins. Another survey showed that 97% of Americans have some sort of nutritional deficiency. Where has all the nutrition gone?

First, take a look at the modern diet. Many people seem to be getting by on junk food diets of high-fat fast foods, salty snacks and sugar-loaded desserts. One research study found that on any given day almost half of the American population doesn’t eat even one piece of fruit. Eighteen percent have neglected to eat even one vegetable. To make matters worse, even the fruits and vegetables that we do eat are often canned, frozen or otherwise processed.

The same processing methods that destroy the enzymes in foods also take a toll on the other nutrients. Add to that the poor crop rotation, depletion of the soil, the use of pesticides, the presence of environmental toxins, the practice of harvesting foods before they are ripe and many other commonplace farming practices and you end up with foods that are seriously lacking in the nutrients.

While it was once easy to come by vitamins and minerals from our foods, in today’s environment, even selecting food properly may not ensure that you are getting all the nutrients you may think.

Cabbage once contained high amounts of vitamin C. Now, with current growing and processing methods, it has none. The protein content of wheat has dropped from 17 percent to only about 9 percent. Even the same foods can vary in nutrient content simply because of growing conditions. One study showed that the vitamin A content in tomatoes can vary from 640 CIU to over 3,000 CIU depending upon where they are grown.

Somehow, we need to find a way to take up the slack and restore the vitamins and minerals that our bodies must have if we are to enjoy optimal health.

Now you may think that you can get along just fine with a minor nutrient deficiency. Think again! Minor deficiencies manifest themselves first as something as seemingly insignificant. Your hair may lose its sheen. Your fingernails may have ridges or your lips may crack. You may bruise easily or you may feel unusually sluggish in the afternoon. Soon, however, those minor deficiencies can develop into major problems.

Vitamins have been described as “missing keys,” and like a key, “they fit into tiny chemical locks that free the body’s…regulatory networks, each vitamin is a complex organic molecule that fills in specific missing links throughout the body’s chemistry.”

What happens when certain “chemical locks” are left locked, simply because you haven’t supplied the body with the necessary vitamins? What may begin as a minor deficiency symptom can quickly elevate into a significant problem and health concern. Knowing that vitamins are key, it becomes obvious that they are, indeed, crucial. Their role is significant as they supply the keys necessary to balance and nourish the body, support it in its hundreds of processes and promote its healing and regeneration. In the body, vitamins work in tandem with enzymes and with minerals, assisting these other nutrients to perform their roles.

As noted previously, the general public is often misled by marketing mires to bend the rules. In terms of vitamin supplementation, this is again the case. First, many people have been led to believe that vitamin supplementation is simply not necessary. This is definitely a dangerously mismarked byway. The Food and Nutrition Encyclopedia puts the matter to rest, saying, “There is no question that nutrient supplements, used properly, are critical to restoring and sometimes to maintaining human health.”

Even those who understand the need for vitamin supplementation fail to comprehend the subtle—but significant—difference between whole food vitamins and synthetics. In order for the vitamin (the key) to be of any use in the body, it must be absorbed into the cells. The fitting of the missing keys into their tiny slots in your biochemistry takes place within the trillions of cells that make up the body. Unfortunately, if you were to take any one of many commercially produced vitamins on the market you could still be malnourished, simply because the vitamins in these supplements are only fractions of the complete key, and, thus, are not useable on the cellular level.

In actuality, synthetic or chemically purified substances that are labeled and sold as vitamins are not really vitamins at all. They are only fragments of the key the body needs. In this fractionated, incomplete form, the so-called vitamin becomes a non-food and, rather than a nourishing, sustaining effect in the body, it acts like a drug. Synthetic vitamins are unrecognizable in the body. In their fractionated form, they don’t fit into the keyhole.

Whole food vitamins, on the other hand, are alive. They are moving, functioning composites that contain all the co-factors necessary to perform their role within the body.

Synthetic vitamins have the exact opposite effect than you would want from a vitamin supplement. For example, alpha-tocopherol is sold as “vitamin E.” Actually, this is only a portion of the complete vitamin E complex and in this form it loses up to 99 percent of its potency or function. In essence, it is no longer vitamin E. This is obvious when you realize that, in its whole food form, vitamin E supports bone health and strength. However, large doses of alpha-tocopherol actually cause the bone to release minerals to compensate for this incomplete, synthetic source of vitamin E.

The way the body handles these nutritional fractions is to use up its own reserves to create the entire complex (the key that will fit the lock).

For example, taking ascorbic acid (a portion of vitamin C) instead of whole food vitamin C would force the body to use its own reserves of J factor, K factor, rutin, and the other portions of the complete vitamin C complex. The result could actually deplete the body’s supply. This means that taking synthetic vitamins may not replenish nutrients, but could very easily cause a deficiency.

In addition to improper function and inability to perform a role in the body, fractionated vitamins stimulate nerve activity and increase blood sugar pickup (a drug-like reaction). These vitamin forms are rushed through the body for elimination (which may cause a temporary euphoric feeling, but doesn’t encourage repair or regeneration).

Though synthetic vitamins are the most prevalent kind of the market today, consumers beware! These vitamins are the most inexpensive form to produce and market. The companies who put them on the shelf are much more interested in your wallet than in your wellbeing.

Hold out for whole food vitamins. You can now make an informed decision that will allow you to have the benefits and balance of bounteous whole food vitamin stores. Supplement your diet with a whole food vitamin source to steer clear of the minor vitamin deficiencies that can result in major problems. By restoring your critical vitamin balance, you’ll notice that your skin, hair and nails are healthier. You won’t have constant mood swings and you will no longer crumble under the daily stresses you have to face. Vitamin balance can help you experience the advantages of increased energy, greater mental clarity and fewer aches and pains. Since whole food vitamins support the body’s natural healing processes, every illness or disease responds more favorably if the right kind of vitamins are available to the body.

This is an area where too many people try to bend the rules of the Game. They reach for a one-each-day type of vitamin, thinking they are doing themselves a favor, and don’t realize that they are reducing their potential to win. Still sick and tired, they wonder what’s wrong, thinking to themselves, “But, I take my vitamins!”

Don’t fall by the wayside with this way of thinking. Add back what is missing due to current lifestyle and environmental factors by taking whole food vitamins and experience the added benefits for health!

4. Minerals

Once almost an afterthought, just a nice addition to a daily dose of vitamins, mineral supplementation has now come into its own. Minerals have become popular in the gym scene, where individuals are trying to find ways to add muscle mass and increase strength without steroids. They are also receiving added attention from women over the age of 35 who are beginning to understand the risks associated with osteoporosis. Still others look to minerals as a way to alleviate symptoms of arthritis, enhance immunity and improve mental function.

Mineral experts and proponents of mineral supplementation remind us, “Lacking vitamins, the system can make some use of the minerals, but lacking minerals, the vitamins are often useless. While our bodies can manufacture some of the vitamins we need, they must rely completely upon outside sources for an adequate supply of minerals.”

Minerals are essentially tiny rocks. Found in the soil, minerals are taken up into plants and delivered to our bodies in the foods that we eat. Though they make up only about 4% of our total body weight; minerals are involved in more body processes than perhaps any other basic nutrient.
As we discussed earlier, enzymes play a crucial role as catalysts, as the life force behind every bodily process. Let’s now take that concept a step further. Understand that minerals are the catalysts behind these catalysts. Minerals are necessary in order to activate enzymes so that they can perform their important duties in the body.

As enzyme catalysts, minerals help our bodies grow and maintain themselves, they regulate body processes and they supply us with energy. If there are only slight changes in the normal mineral composition inside the cell, “the alteration may result in profound physiological consequences.” It is minerals that provide the medium for cellular activity, determine the osmotic properties of body fluids, and regulate electrolyte balance. That’s a lot of big words that simply mean that bone formation, blood formation, nerve function and proper composition of the body’s fluids all depend on the minute particles known as minerals. Deficiencies in these minute particles can be manifest in a number of ways, from aching joints, brittle fingernails, and prematurely gray hair. For women, menstrual cycles can become irregular. Long-term mineral deficiencies can contribute to atherosclerosis and heart problems, prostate problems, and ulcers and can even increase the risk of cancer.

Obviously, minerals are important. However, the question comes to mind, “When minerals are needed in such tiny amounts and are available in the foods we eat, why do we need to take a mineral supplement?”
Ah, welcome to what may very well be the most controversial section in the Game book for LIFE. In fact, many people think this section for LIFE is still “under investigation” because there seem to be so many twists and turns and divergent plays to make. Here you will have to watch the Game carefully to stay in the lead and sort fact from fiction.

To begin, let’s take a look at just why the body’s mineral reserves need to be restored. As noted above, minerals are found naturally in the foods we eat. However—just as is the case with the vitamins that are available from our foods—many minerals are in short supply. Soil depletion means foods simply don’t absorb as many minerals to begin with. Then, the refining and processing of foods further diminishes the available minerals.
Chromium is deficient in the American diet largely because of refining of sugar, flour and fats. The refining of raw cane sugar also removes “89% of the manganese, 98% of the cobalt, 83% of the copper, 98% of the zinc and 98% of the magnesium.”

Similar mineral loses can be seen when wheat is refined into white flour. This process removes “40% of the chromium, 86% of the manganese, 76% of the iron, 89% of the cobalt, 68% of the copper, 78% of the zinc and 48% of the molybdenum, all trace elements essential for life or health.” Also lost during the refining process are large amounts of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and sodium.

Along with poor growing and processing procedures, other factors can diminish our mineral stores. Imbalances of vitamins, amino acids and other nutrients can decrease the body’s ability to absorb minerals. Stress, white flour products and other processed foods, lack of sleep and prescription drugs all pull minerals from the body, leaving a void that must be filled.
However, in recent years, the misconceptions have multiplied.

Audiocassette tapes, billboards and magazine ads perpetuate bogus claims about the benefits of colloidal minerals or some other “hot” mineral of the moment. Each successive ad seems to become bolder, some saying they contain “over 40 minerals,” others claiming “72 essential minerals,” and one ad indicated they had 90 minerals in their product.

Many people have altered the rules; even though “everything but the kitchen sink” and “the more minerals we can supplement the better” approach is erroneous and dangerous.

To stay ahead of the curve, we must evade the misconceptions about mineral supplementation and focus on the plays ahead. We have established the need to restore our mineral supplies... so, just how do we go about that in a way that doesn’t create even greater distraction for our health?

For many years, scientists have known that minerals are present in animal and human tissue, but these minerals were believed to be contaminants. As methods of scientific analysis have improved, many of these minerals have now been shown to be essential to life and health. Others, however, have been tagged as the toxins that they are.

How do you know which minerals are essential and which are purely poison to the system? Basically, minerals are considered essential if a deficiency in a mineral results in impaired biological function and if that impairment is preventable or reversible by taking that particular mineral. Scientists deem a mineral as “essential” if it meets the following criteria:

a) it is present in all healthy tissue

b) its concentration from one animal to the next is generally constant

c) its withdrawal from the body results in reproducible physiological and structural abnormalities

d) its addition prevents or reverses those abnormalities

e) the deficiency-induced abnormalities are accompanied by specific biochemical changes

f) the biochemical changes can be prevented or cured when the deficiency is prevented or cured

Essential minerals are essential in that they directly or indirectly function in supplying energy, they aid in growth and maintenance of the body tissue, and they assist in the regulation of body processes. Yes, minerals are essential, but this isn’t to say that 40 or 50, or even 90 minerals are needed for health. According to the National Research Council there are only 17 minerals or elements of substantiated nutritional value. Eight others may have some relevance, but “evidence for requirements and essentialness is weak… essentialness to the human diet has never been demonstrated.”

As clear as the research is on the benefits of these particular minerals, it also plainly proves the dangers of taking minerals that are not essential. For example, some marketing magicians have conjured up clever campaigns touting the benefits of taking supplemental silver. Yet, why would anyone recommend taking silver when the toxic effects are well documented? And, furthermore, why would anyone who is concerned about his or her health think of taking in a mineral that is most often written about in toxicology books as if it were a poison?

Similarly, gold, which is also touted as a beneficial mineral, has been shown to be extremely detrimental to the kidneys, the immune system, the skin and the bone marrow, even causing bone marrow failure.
Rather than supplementing minerals based on hearsay and twisted rationale, why not take a look at what research and logic clearly prove.

As noted above, research shows that there are only 17 minerals that are essential for health. Of that 17, there are three that are prevalent enough in the typical American diet. The others, however, must be supplemented, and they must be supplemented in a form that the body can assimilate.

When we drink or eat fruits and vegetables, we take in minerals that were once in the soil. In this natural form, minerals are bound to amino acids. In this form they are referred to as “chelated” minerals, from the Greek work, “chele,” meaning, “claw.” The amino acids “claw” onto the minerals, facilitating their transport into the cells of the body.

It is important to remember that these minerals are rocks, and, as such, they must have the assistance of amino acids in order to travel to the sites where they are needed and penetrate the cell walls where they will do their work.

Minerals that are not chelated (oyster shells and other forms on the market) are not absorbed and used by the body. Because these mineral forms are not assimilated and used by the body, they can build up in the system and create toxic effects. Could this be why you have heard reports of iron toxicity or other toxic reactions to minerals? Most likely, the reports stem from a person having taken minerals that are not being absorbed.

Taking non-chelated minerals puts additional strain on the body, since the body attempts to supply the necessary amino acids required for the chelation process. In other words, the body will attempt to chelate minerals itself, but this overtaxes the system and robs amino acids that should be used for other processes.

Seeing the importance of chelation, some companies have responded with claims that their products contain “chelated” minerals. (Again, this stretch of the inning gets a little treacherous. Don’t be fooled.) Indeed, some have bound their minerals to picolinatic acid (chromium picolinate) or some other inferior binding agent. Studies show that increased intake of a mineral picolinate caused more of the same mineral to be excreted in the urine. In other words, the minerals were not metabolized and incorporated into the tissues.

Keep yourself healthy—and the skies safer—by choosing to ignore the many false claims on the body. Rely only on minerals that are bound to amino acids. As noted above, these kind of minerals can be found in foods and are known as "chelated minerals" when put in supplement form. One company, Albion Laboratories, has studied and perfected this process and holds over 50 international patents into the chelation process. Extensive studies by independent researchers prove that amino acid chelated minerals from Albion are far superior to any other supplemental form of mineral. This is the only type of mineral used in the Pilot's Super Supplement. (Though this form of mineral is available for purchase from Albion by any supplement manufacturer, most opt to include minerals that are far less effective, simply because they are cheaper.)

The amino acid chelated minerals from Albion work exactly like the chelated minerals found in foods. Because of this fact, they are absorbed much better (up to 400 times better), and more of the mineral is retained in the tissues for use by the body. Since they are actually derived from food sources, they are also safer to the human body than any other form on the market.

Calcium is probably the mineral that has been studied the most relevant to absorption. Repeatedly, it has been demonstrated that the form of calcium that is amino acid bound is absorbed and used by the body much more effectively than the calcium found in milk or in any other supplemental form of calcium. Synthetically-made supplements score the worst, with some studies showing absorption rates of 1% or less. No wonder so many synthetic supplements are manufactured with 1000% of the RDA or more... even with those ridiculously high amounts, the amount absobed by the body still isn't even meeting your daily needs!

When it comes to minerals, it is key to remember the simple facts of nature:

First, we each desperately need those “rocks” that make up such a minute amount of our total makeup. Without tiny amounts of a few minerals that have been labeled “essential,” health is impossible

Secondly, remember that because of current lifestyle and environmental factors, these minerals are in short supply, necessitating supplementation.

And last, in selecting a mineral supplement, don’t forget that the most natural, and therefore, the most readily-absorbable and most effective minerals are those that are chelated with an amino acid.

5. Antioxidants

While the other areas that we have discussed thus far—enzymes, probiotics, vitamins and minerals—have been studied for decades, the group of nutrients known as antioxidants are relatively new kids on the block.

Why the sudden interest--not to mention hype--regarding antioxidants?

To understand their importance requires understanding another term: free radicals.

Free radicals are highly reactive molecules within the body. They are created by environmental toxins, electronic devices, sunlight, pesticides, drugs and a host of other chemicals that we are exposed to on a daily basis. A more specific, and scientific, definition is: free radicals are oxygen molecules that are missing an electron.

Since billions of tons of toxins escape into our soil, air and water every year, you can see how we can say that these unstable molecules enter the body every time we drink water, eat food or breathe. Additional free radicals are created within the body, as a result of stress, over-exercise, aging, and the natural functioning of the immune system.

These free radicals “attack” the stable, healthy cells of the body, constantly seeking the electron they are missing. The healthy cells of our bodies are subjected to over 10,000 hits from free radicals every day, according experts. As the cells are bombarded, the cell lining becomes weak, allowing disease to set in and leading to premature degeneration.

This constant weakening process, known as “oxidation,” has been linked to a number of diseases, including cancer, stroke, atherosclerosis and cataracts. Free radical damage has also been linked to joint pain, shortness of breath, eye strain, excess bruising and age spots.

The body does have the capability to deal with a limited number of free radicals and to keep the oxidative process in check. However, the prevalence of environmental toxins has created an ever-increasing number of free radicals that the body has to deal with. This is why cancer is so prevalent today, when it was virtually unheard of a hundred years ago.

Simply put, most people’s natural free radical fighting abilities are overtaxed. Even people who live in rural areas are at risk. Those who work around paint, chemicals, gasoline fumes, and computers should especially heed this warning.

In order to stop the process of damaging oxidation caused by free radicals, our bodies need nutrients called antioxidants. Antioxidants can actually stop the harmful chain reaction and can even repair damage that has already been caused by free radicals.

Antioxidants are available by consuming raw fruits and vegetables, which is why some "alternative" cancer-treatment programs in other countries include diets composed almost entirely of fresh fruits and vegetables. And considering the average person's diet today does not include a regular intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, it becomes easier to understand how the need for antioxidant supplementation is growing.

Jumping on the antioxidant bandwagon, many companies have proclaimed the benefits of one nutrient or another; however, it requires a multi-pronged approach, taking care to rely on the most effective antioxidant nutrients available.

For example—“ACES”—vitamins A, C, E and the mineral, selenium—are widely recognized for their antioxidant benefits. While some advertisers laud vitamin E over the others, or some try to capitalize on the antioxidant benefits of selenium, clearly it would be more to your advantage to have the combined benefits of all of these powerful antioxidant nutrients.

As discussed earlier, to get maximum antioxidant benefit from your vitamin A, C and E supplementation, you should be taking these in their whole food form. In fact, recent studies echo the importance of whole food vitamins in this regard. Vitamin E has been shown to be a powerful antioxidant; however, if the synthetic form of vitamin E is taken, it has the opposite effect--actually contributing to the problems that should be alleviated by an antioxidant!

Along with whole food vitamins A, C, E and selenium, there are other important sources of antioxidant nutrients that shouldn’t be ignored if you want to adequately protect yourself from the ravages of free radicals.

Extensive research into some of these compounds was conducted in France by Dr. Jacques Masquelier. He found that the positive benefits of longevity and good health, which many people who drank wine experienced, could be attributed to proanthocyanidins found in the grapes used to make the wine. The same class of nutrients found in grape seed and grape seed extract is also found in pine bark extract. They have been proven to be twenty times more effective than vitamin C and fifty times more effective than vitamin E in terms of antioxidant protection.

One other fact to consider in the free radical discussion: While many companies supply antioxidant nutrients, few take advantage of the most powerful antioxidant of all. The most potent free radical fighter is already present in the body. Known as Super Oxide Dismutase (SOD), this natural defense against free radicals is the most effective force that the body has. As mentioned earlier, however, this defense is in such great demand that it is difficult for the body to keep pace with the onslaught.

Unfortunately, despite what some companies may say, SOD can not be supplemented. Supplemental SOD is destroyed in the digestive system before it is ever absorbed and made available for use in the body. There is a way, however, to restore the body’s own free radical fighting forces, and that is to supply it with the building blocks needed to create more SOD. These SOD building blocks are specific, highly-absorbable minerals, which supply what the body needs to make its own antioxidant.

Effect of SOD Precursors

When arthritic patients were given the building blocks of SOD, blood levels of SOD (the body’s own antioxidant) increased significantly.

So don’t give free radicals free reign--allowing them to leave their wake of damaged cells, degeneration and disease. By supplementing with a good mix of antioxidants, you can fight back against free radicals and the 60 different diseases that have been linked to their ravages.

Take a multi-faceted approach of supplying your body with the finest antioxidant ingredients available, including vitamin A, C, E and selenium and proanthocyanidins from grape seed, grape seed extract and pine bark extract.

Even more importantly, become a better free radical fighter on your own. Ward off free radical damage by supplying the body with the precursors necessary to create more SOD, the body’s own ultra-powerful antioxidant. Don’t allow your health to fall victim to the prevalence of environmental toxins and the natural stresses of life. Give your health a hand by boosting its free radical fighting forces.

Now that we've discussed the Five Essential Nutrients in depth, let's summarize:

It is obvious that there are certain nutrients that are depleted because of current lifestyle and environmental factors:

1. Digestive enzymes are unavailable in our over-cooked, over-processed diets.

2. The body's probiotics are depleted by stress, poor diets and the prevalence of antibiotic use. They are in such short supply that our immune systems and digestive processes are compromised.

3. With our food sources sadly devoid of vitamins, many of us are malnourished and dangerously deficient in the nutrients we need for health.

4. Even the minute amounts of minerals needed for healthy functioning of every bodily process are no longer readily available and are further depleted by dietary and lifestyle habits.

5. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, our body’s antioxidant forces are unable to keep pace with the constant bombardment from free radical molecules, rendering us suseptible to disease.

To maintain the body in a healthy state, there is simply no choice but to provide the body with what it needs by restoring each of these nutrient areas.

From this paper, you can see that there are many intricacies along the way. Deception and obstacles abound--most notably the assertion that synthetic chemicals are the same as what nature provides--however, with this one "super supplement" product, you can satisfy your body’s requirements for the FIVE nutrient areas that virtually EVERY individual is deficient in.

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INFORMATION SOURCES:

U.S. Surgeon General Report, 1988.

Beasley, Joseph D., M.D. and Jeffy Swift, M.A. The Kellogg Report: The Impact of Nutrition, Environment and Lifestyle on the Health of Americans. New York: The Institute of Health Policy and Practice, 1989, pg. 108-9.

Howell, Dr. Edward. Enzyme Nutrition. New Jersey: Avery Publishing Group, 1985, p. 2.

Ibid, p. 4.

Ibid, p. 6-7.

Ibid, p. 15-6.

Kautchakoff, Paul, M.D. “The Influence of Food Cooking on the Blood Formula of Man,” Lausanne, Switzerland, 1930.

Howell, op. cit.

National Digestive Disease Information Clearinghouse http://www.niddk.nih.gov/DD-statistics/DD-statistics.html
Garrett, Laurie.

The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance. New York: Penguin Books, 1994.

Gray, Gary M. “Intestinal Digestion and Maldigestion of Dietary Carbohydrates.” Annual Review of Medicine 22:391-404, 1971.

McPherson, James C., et al. “Effect of lipase ingestion on blood lipid levels.” Proceedings of the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine 115: 5124-17 (1964).

Chaitow, Leon, N.D., D.O. and Natasha Trenew. Probiotics.London: Harper Collins, 1990.

Shahani, Khem M., Ph.D. and Nagendra Rangavajhyala, Ph.D. “Role of Probiotics in Clinical Nutrition and Immunity” Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the International American Associations of Clinical Nutritionists, Orlando, FL, August 28-31, 1997.

Fernandes CF, Shahani, KM, Amer MA. Therapeutic role of dietary lactobacilli and lactobacillic fermented dairy foods. FEMS Microbiol Rev 1987; 46:343-356.

Fernandes, CF Ph.D. and Khem Shahani, Ph.D. “Lactose intolerance and its modulation with lactobacilli and other microbial supplements.” Journal of Applied Nutrition Vol. 41, Number 2, 1989.

Shahani, op. cit.

Huenel, H. “Human Normal and Abnormal Gastrointestinal Flora” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1970; 23: 1433-9.

Garrett, op. cit.

Ibid.

Fernandes and Shahani, KM. Amer MA, op. cit.

USDA Report

Ibid.

“Composition of Foods.” Agriculture Handbook, Nov. 8, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.

Ibid.

Kellogg, op.cit., pg 74.

Beasley, Joseph D., M.D. and Jeffy Swift, M.A. The Kellogg Report: The Impact of Nutrition, Environment and Lifestyle on the Health of Americans. New York: The Institute of Health Policy and Practice, 1989, pg. 70.

Ensminger, et al. The Food and Nutrition Encyclopedia. 1983: 2203.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1997.

New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 333, No. 21.

Robbins, Joel, M.D., D.C. Nutrition in the Practice: A Practical Guide on Incorporating Nutrition into any Health Care Practice. Oklahoma: Health Dynamics Corporation, 1997.

Ashmead, H. DeWayne, Ph.D., F.A.C.N. Conversations on Chelation and Mineral Nutrition. Connecticut: Keats Publishing, Inc. 1989, pg. 11.

Advanced Nutrition in Human Metabolism. West Publishing.

Ashmead, H. DeWayne. Intestinal Absorption of Metal Ions.

Ashmead, H. DeWayne, Ph.D., F.A.C.N., Conversations on Chelation and Mineral Nutrition. Connecticut: Keats Publishing, Inc. 1989, .p. 18
H. DeWayne Ashmead, Ph.D. Mineral Nutrition in Your Life and Health.Connecticut: Keats Publishing, Inc., 1989.

Kellogg, op. cit. pg. 115.

Schroeder, Henry A. “Frontiers in Trace Element Research,” Keynote address at a symposium, “Trace Elements and Brain Functions,” held at Princeton, NJ, Oct. 24-26, 1973.

Kellogg, op. cit. pg. 116.

Herrick, John B. “Minerals in Animal Nutrition.” The Roles of Amino Acid Chelates in Animal Nutrition. New Jersey: Noyes Publications, 1993.

Mertz, W. “Some aspects of nutritional trace element research,” Federation Proceeding, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Soc. Exp. Biol. 29:1482-1488, 1970.

“Minerals…Trace Minerals…Ultra Trace Minerals: Is Supplementation Safe?” Albion Research Notes: A Compilation of Vital Research Updates on Human Nutrition. May, 1996 Vol. 5, No. 2.
Ibid.

Ibid, pg. 3

Seal, C. “Influence of dietary picolinic acid on mineral metabolism in the rat,” Am Nutr Met 32:186 (4) 1988.