Active Low-Carber Forums - View Single Post - Why diet and exercise fail

The problem is that supplements are poorly absorbed. While we can take water soluble vitamins like B-Complex and C in pill form, the fat soluble vitamins (like vitamin E) are not absorbed in synthetic form. This doesn't meant vitamin deficiency isn't responsible for many of our problems, it just means vitamin supplements aren't the answer. However, food enrichment causes much higher absorption that pill supplements. Probably because the vitamins have more of a chance to be absorbed by fats during storage.

Wheat germ oil and rice bran oil have been shown to have drug like effects on LDL cholesterol (citation below), and this is assumed to be due to their vitamin E content. However, vitamin E supplements do not have this effect on cholesterol, likely because they are not absorbed. Vitamin E levels in the blood are almost unaffected by supplements. Wheat germ oil has about 20 times the vitamin E of olive oil, and has also been reported to help with autoimmune disorders. Many of these have become more prevalent as vitamin E levels in our diet have dropped due to food processing techniques and agricultural practices.

Wheat Germ Oil Lowers Cholesterol:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15640461

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomsey

I know with myself, I have never found any vitamin supplementation or various nutrient supplementation helpful - only harmful in terms of it being very expensive, causing side effects like constipation etc. The things I found helpful were eliminations, not add-ons. I've always had a problelm with milk, literally since birth, and no amount of supplementation or low carbing or meditation or CBT or anything would help that except strictly avoiding it.

I suspect many people have inborn issues with one of the major proteins (dairy, wheat, soy, corn, eggs) found in processed foods that have nothing to do with underlying nutrient deficiencies (I would argue that the allergenic protein may cause nutrient deficiencies as just one side effect) and they are always getting dosed (which makes it hard to see the effect) because processed foods almost always contain these in some combo. The only way to figure that out is to do an elimination diet. The best I have ever felt in my life was 3 days into a 5 day fast.

For me, it was the same with coffee. Coffee gave me plenty of problems straight off... it wasn't due to mysterious vitamin deficiencies it was causing, it hurt my stomach right away and made me seriously anxious and very hungry later in the day. It also gave a nice high and bad withdrawal which made it difficult to quit (many rate caffeine as the hardest drug to quit, at least compared to nicotine and alcohol).

I think simple sugar consumption follows obesity quite nicely at least in the us. As it has gone up, overweight and obesity have gone up. But then there is msg which is associated with obesity. Over salting of food may play a role.
There are all sorts of toxic food additives. Bleached white flour is full of crap. We live in a world that I would argue is more stressful than in the past, especially giving a constant low level stress with a the media over bombardment. I think all of this plus intrinsic individual food sensitivities equals a dulled, bloated person on their way to all sorts of problems.

I doubt you will find a nutrient that solves all of this. You may be able to kill off a fast occuring dramatic symptom like scurvy or rickets, as a result of any obviously deficient diet... but cancer or obesity I think is more complicated and will likely require subtraction, not addition in my opinion.