Why Do I Need Nutritional Supplements?

So no, your body doesn’t require nutritional supplements just to stay alive. In the same way plants can survive in mediocre soil, humans can get by eating a normal, standard diet. But here’s an important point, and it often gets overlooked: The difference between surviving and thriving is not as vast as you might think. If you provide a plant with additional nutrients through specialized fertilizer, that plant can then thrive! We humans are much the same. We simply do better when we give our body more of the targeted  good things it needs.

What I’ve seen over the years is that people frequently turn to nutritional supplements in response to a specific health concern. Maybe they’ve learned that they have developed high cholesterol. Stiff joints. Trouble with energy levels. A compromised immune system. You get the idea. Often the search starts on Google. Once someone discovers a supplement that might help with their condition, they give it a try. I imagine we’ve all done this at one time or another. It’s a single-shot approach. Did it work? Possibly in the short term, but most likely not for long. It’s far more likely this person ended up frustrated and disappointed with the supplement. In this way, choosing nutritional supplements is a reactive choice rather than a proactive one.

Others take an opposite approach. They gobble up every supplement on their shelf in an effort to resolve an issue. That’s a little like working out for one minute on every machine in the gym. No trainer would recommend this, and for obvious reasons. A shotgun approach is chaotic and ignores what’s really going on in your body.

For more than thirty years I’ve taught a wiser, more targeted approach. Everyone, regardless of their underlying health, should start with a consistent, basic nutritional supplement routine formed from well-known nutritional building blocks. These are Foundational Supplements. If you take just Foundational Supplements, you will significantly improve your health, and that’s a promise I can make.

The four categories of Foundational Supplements are: 

1) A multivitamin that provides high levels of nutrients 

2) Essential fats needed for many critical functions; 

3) Vitamin C (with other antioxidants, especially bioflavonoids); 

4) A high-RNA superfood, which supplies critically needed nucleic acids in the form of dietary RNA and DNA.

Once you’ve established foundational nutrition then its time to investigate supplements that address your specific condition. But the foundation always comes first. 

FOUNDATIONAL SUPPLEMENTS PROVIDE ESSENTIAL NUTRIENTS

I founded Health Products Distributors over thirty years ago as a platform for promoting foundational nutrition. My company offer a wide range of high purity supplements, including many designed to resolve specific problems, but I always recommend starting with Foundational Supplements. It’s the only way to go.

Let me reiterate: no one needs supplements to survive. But if you want to prosper nutritionally, there is a well-established path for you. You must build a firm foundation.

Its no mystery why everyone should start with Foundational Supplements. For the past 70 years, nutritional science has explored the fundamental questions concerning the nutrients required for the body to function at peak efficiency. Many of these nutrients must come from outside sources such as food and supplements since the body cannot synthesize them on its own.

The current scientifically accepted list of these essential nutrients includes thirteen vitamins (Table 1), more than twenty minerals, two essential fatty acids, nine essential amino acids, a source of calories (protein, carbohydrates, and fats), water, oxygen, and sunlight.

To that list I’ve added dietary nucleic acids based on the research of Dr. Benjamin S. Frank. You may not have heard of Dr. Benjamin S. Frank, but in the 1970s he conducted pioneering research on the health benefits of dietary nucleic acids (RNA, DNA, nucleotides, nucleosides). Dr. Frank explored the use of dietary nucleic acids as therapeutic agents in anti-aging and degenerative diseases. According to Dr. Frank: 

“Nucleic acids are an essential nutrient in our daily diets, and  optimal health and reduced aging are clearly related to their intake, more than to any other nutrient. Nucleic acids in our diets are of paramount importance for the repairing of molecular and gross tissue degeneration, and for combating the process of aging by simple, effective and essentially non-toxic, natural means”. 

There is still less awareness among consumers about the benefits of dietary nucleic acids compared to other essential nutrients. Yet they remain essential for healing and long-term health. 

Daily values have been established for most of these nutrients, but these represent only the minimum percentages needed to avoid disease. Optimal health is not addressed by minimum daily values. 

Because of this, it’s no surprise that optimal nutrient amounts are almost always significantly higher than the established daily values. In fact, daily values are probably better described as “deficiency values” because they hover dangerously close to actual deficiency levels.

THERE’S STILL MORE REASONS WHY DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS ARE ESSENTIAL

These days our nutritional needs are increased by many factors. The average modern diet is loaded with processed, nutrient-poor foods, and is often low in fresh vegetables and fruits. Some call this the  “Standard American Diet,” or “SAD,” and it’s been called out for its obvious negative health effects. Even individuals who closely monitor their diets through the consumption of organic, non-GMO food sources, are not completely immune to this problem. 

The reasons are not complicated. Industrial farms grow crops in nutrient-deficient, depleted soils using methods that often fail to replenish nutrients. Farms that don’t follow organic growing principles poison the soil with pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. Processing methods damage, destroy, and in some cases strip essential nutrients from foods.

In contemporary diets, an even greater need for nutrients has been linked to stress, pollution, and environmental toxins. These factors are unique to modern society.

Then there’s genetics. An individual’s unique genetic profile can dictate a greater need for certain nutrients. This is called biochemical individuality, and it often means that an individual may require many times the recommended US Daily Value for specific nutrients. One person may require significantly more of a specific nutrient compared to someone else, and this isn’t uncommon. A review of nutritional studies indicates that deficiencies of nutrients among individuals range from 25%–95% depending on the nutrient (Table 2). 

Such major deficiencies are less surprising given studies indicating that nutrient losses from the processing of foods range from 20%–95%, and average 70%–80% (Table 3). In addition, mineral levels measured in plants grown in poor soils are as low as 5% of the mineral levels measured in plants grown in nutrient-rich soils.

Complicating this already complicated picture are the ways in which environmental variables change nutritional requirements throughout the year. Changing seasons modify water supplies, and of course more vitamin D is needed during the winter months. Additional nutrients may be needed to cope with pollution associated with changing urban environments. Nutrient density of foods also varies by location and season. All of these factors point to the difficulty of ensuring year-round optimal nutrient intake.

THE FUNCTION OF THE HUMAN BODY MIGHT BE LIKENED TO AN AUTOMOBILE FACTORY

Nutritional research typically examines just one or two nutrients at a time, but  hundreds of nutrients must interact with each other in our bodies simultaneously. This is an important consideration that is often overlooked. 

Here’s how I like to explain it. Imagine the human body functions like an automobile factory. If the factory is designed to produce 100 vehicles per day, then the factory must be supplied with the minimum amounts of essential components to accomplish this. Incorrect amounts of parts, say 203 tires, 71 transmissions, or 13 exhaust pipes, would never allow optimal production. The factory would churn out just a fraction of what’s required. Important relationships in the supply chain have to be honored for the entire system to function.

Like the automobile factory, our bodies require critical components, supplied on time and in the correct amounts, to function. This is so much more relevant for the extremely complex human body! 

In this regard, scientific studies on nutrients fall short when they fail to consider the complex interactions among nutrients. The simple fact is, minimum nutrient levels lead to diminished health.

SUPPLEMENTS: A SAFE AND SURPRISINGLY COST-EFFECTIVE SOLUTION

The basic nutrients provided by Foundational Supplements confer immense benefits. Supplements and have proven remarkably safe and effective at improving health, especially relative to their cost. Most vitamins demonstrate low toxicity even at levels significantly higher than official daily values. 

Here’s another point to consider. Supplements are far less costly than pharmaceutical drugs or the medical procedures used to correct health conditions related to nutrient deficiencies.

Given the importance of essential nutrients, Foundational Supplements are my ideal choice for ensuring optimal levels of nutrients not readily available from other sources. The fact that a majority of individuals are deficient in at least some nutrients means that these supplements will continue to play a major role in creating and sustaining long-term health for years to come.

Foundational Supplements

Multivitamins

Critical nutrients provided by our multivitamins include a spectrum of essential vitamins, minerals, and cofactors. These include trace minerals, fat-soluble vitamins (A, E, D, and K), coenzyme B vitamins, magnesium, and other nutrients often missing in modern diets.

Our multivitamins, Hank & Brian’s Mighty Multi-Vite! and Multi Two Caps, each deliver optimal amounts of easily assimilated nutrient forms. I recommend capsule formulas because they are the easier to assimilate. And children benefit greatly from a multivitamin, as well. For them we designed our tasty chewable Kids Mighty-Multi! tablets.

Vitamin C / Antioxidants

Vitamin C and antioxidants are crucial for robust health. These nutrients are immune builders, antimicrobials, detoxifiers, connective tissue builders, and stimulate key endogenous enzymes via Nrf2. I recommend a buffered Vitamin C to prevent acidosis and to help maintain proper pH levels. We buffer Vitamin C with minerals, including magnesium, calcium, potassium, and zinc.

Ultimate Protector+ delivers 250 mg of buffered Vitamin C, and a full spectrum of high ORAC antioxidants and Nrf2 activators. PRO-C is our signature encapsulated Vitamin C / antioxidant with 500 mg of buffered Vitamin C, jam-packed with additional synergistic nutrients. It includes multiple Nrf2 activators similar to those in Ultimate Protector+. Buffered Vitamin C tablets and powder provide a cost-effective means to obtain therapeutic levels of Vitamin C.

Essential Fats

Essential fatty acids support healthy joints, blood vessels, immunity, oxygen transport to tissues, kidney function, and other biological processes.

Hank & Brian’s Essential Fats Plus E is my essential fatty acids supplement. It contains EPA and DHA from highly purified fish oils, GLA from cold-processed borage oil, and Vitamin E consisting of all eight natural forms of tocotrienols and tocopherols. The ratio of EPA to GLA in these products is 4:1, widely considered ideal. Mixed forms of Vitamin E perform many beneficial functions such as lowering cholesterol and clearing plaque out of blood vessels. 

High-RNA Rejuvenate!™ Superfoods

Dietary nucleic acids are essential nutrients required for health as demonstrated by Dr. Benjamin Frank. I developed our Rejuvenate!™ superfoods to provide dietary nucleic acids (RNA/DNA) in abundant quantities, more than sufficient to support advanced health.

Rejuvenate! PLUS is a “sweet greens” superfood offering a broad array of green foods (chlorella, spirulina, alfalfa grass, VitaVeggie®, and organic vegetable sprouts powder) along with high levels of protein, a multivitamin, essential fats, fiber, enzymes, and antioxidants.

Rejuvenate! Berries & Herbs is a great tasting, nutritionally complete superfood. It provides high levels of organic freeze-dried berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries), organic plant proteins, a complete multivitamin, essential fats, fiber, enzymes, and antioxidants. Also, the product contains an extensive herbal cell protection formula. Rejuvenate! Berries & Herbs contains no greens and is loved for its delicious berry flavor.