Everyone should know their micronutrient status (vitamins, minerals amino acids and fatty acids).
Did you know that most adults in the U.S. are deficient in multiple micronutrients? Data reported in the large national survey (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, “NHANES”) found that 93% of the US population do not meet the estimated average requirement for vitamin E, 56% for magnesium, 44% for vitamin A, 31% for vitamin C, 14% for vitamin B6, and 12% for zinc.
My oncology patients have even worse nutrient deficiencies on testing.
These are important compounds that are required for the proper functioning of every enzyme and cell in your body:
—Strengthening the immune system
—Reducing systemic inflammation
—Protecting against free radical damage
—Maintaining a healthful hormonal balance (i.e. thyroid, sex hormones, adrenal hormones, neurotransmitters/brain hormones, etc.)
—Maintaining insulin sensitivity
—Slowing cellular aging
—Promoting the health all tissues: skin, bone, brain, breast, gut, breast, prostate, heart, etc.
—Protecting against the development, progression and recurrence of cancer.
Deficiencies are typically not associated with obvious symptoms (i.e. it’s very rare to get scurvy or a massive goiter in the modern era), but inadequate levels of these nutrients still wreak havoc throughout the body. If you don’t get your levels tested, there is no way you will know if you are deficient and the degree of the deficiency.
Testing gives you a window into this important factor of your underlying health, which enables your to take corrective steps to increase your intake of specific micronutrients. Over time, repeat testing is recommended to make sure any deficiencies have been adequately corrected.
Our body requires only a small amount of these important compounds to function properly. If you overwhelm the system, you can alter the normal physiological mechanisms that use these compounds, so that instead of them be healthful, they can be harmful. This is the reason I don’t recommend blindly taking micronutrient supplements (except for a quality multivitamin) unless you first get tested and identify deficiencies to correct.
If you don’t know that you have micronutrient deficiencies, you may be keeping your body in a state in which it can’t function optimally.
A simple blood and urine test can help you identify these potential deficiencies so you can address them more effectively.