Undernourished, disease, dehydration and malnutrition are all words we associate with third world countries. Well I hate to tell you but undernourished and dehydrated apply to us in the developed world also. A vast majority of individuals don't drink enough water leaving us chronically dehydrated. Big problem. And a massive proportion of us don't get enough micro nutrients (vitamins and minerals) in our diet. In fact judging by the study we dredged up none of us are getting enough nutrients in our diets.
The purpose of this study was to determine if food intake alone provided the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA) requirements for 10 vitamins and 7 minerals. The ten vitamins analyzed were Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Vitamin B-1, Vitamin B-2, Vitamin B-3, Vitamin B-6, Vitamin B-12, and Folate. The seven minerals analyzed were Iodine, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Zinc, and Selenium. 20 people were analysed comprising of 6 sedentary individuals and 14 athletes. Pro cyclists and amateur cyclists, athletes and triathletes were in the mix.
There is so much info I could stuff into this post but you would switch off before you finished it all so I will leave the address at the bottom of the article if you wish to check it out yourself. Very briefly 10 diets were calorie deficient and 10 were calorie excessive but the real problem is that none of the participants met the minimum recommended daily allowance for their micro nutrient intake. You may have already suspected this already, but I found this alarming and highlighted how our vitamin and mineral deficiencies reduces our ability to prevent nutrient deficiency diseases and disorders. For the record Iodine, Vitamin D, Zinc, Vitamin E, Vitamin E and Calcium was lacking in all of the diets monitored.
To wrap this up let me reiterate that this study was only conducted on 20 people. So hopefully more widespread research can be carried out in this area. However I am quite confident in predicting most intakes would fall short of the mark nutritionally. Now is the time to make changes if you wish to increase the quality of your diet and your health. The longer you wait, the more open you leave yourself to nutrient deficiency problems. Even small incremental changes will make a massive difference. Take matters into your own hands and take action today.
The address of this study can be found at jissn.com/content/3/1/51
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