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English | 简体中文

Natural, organic, semisynthetic, synthetic; what does it all mean?

You might be surprised to know that organic doesn’t actually mean safer, more nutritious or chemical free. You may also be surprised to know that not all things that are natural are organic.

Are you confused yet? Stay with me friends, it will all become clear very soon.

Most of my audiences worldwide have heard me speak about the dangers of thinking in absolutes. Here are some examples of why absolutism is a problem, particularly in science. The majority of people surveyed around the world believe that if it comes from a plant, it’s always healthier, natural always works better than synthetic and that synthetics are always bad for you. All of those assumptions are false. I know… Some of you are having of what I call yeah but moments right now. You’re thinking to yourself “yeah but so-and-so says, yeah but I heard that, yeah but my favorite Guru says… Control the yeah but moments please, we’re about to talk about objective facts.

The scientific definitions and commonly used marketing definitions are often very different. My purpose in this piece is to give you a clear understanding of what each of those categories means so you can make the best possible choices for your personal health program.

Let’s start with life on planet Earth. Nobody is sure what life might be like on other planets, but life on planet Earth is all carbon-based. Everything that is alive or ever was alive contains carbon molecules. One definition of organic is living organisms, but a more accurate scientific definition of organic would be anything that contains carbon molecules. Now someone is going to say, “but fossil fuels contain carbon molecules”. Keep in mind that fossil fuels were once plant material. The common misconception from marketing is that the dinosaurs were the source of today’s fossil fuels but that is not only incorrect it doesn’t even make sense. There were never enough dinosaurs to decompose into the enormous levels of fossil fuels on this planet, all fossil fuels came from living plants. That’s why fossil fuels contain carbon. And yes, that does mean that they would technically fit the definition organic. Realistically however no one would use that classification.

People all over the world have come to believe the marketing definition of organic, natural and synthetic. The common marketing definition of organic is that it is either plant or animal which has been raised without pesticides, hormones etc. the implication then is that the word organic means, safer and cleaner. People also believe that it means more nutritious. Theoretically if plants and animals are fed properly, they should end up being more nutritious, but that’s not guaranteed by the use of the word organic.

For many years, there were several US states that had their own definition of the word organic, each one was slightly different than the other. Finally, the US Department of Agriculture established their definition. They say that “Produce can be called organic if it’s certified to have grown on soil that had no prohibited substances applied for three years prior to harvest. Prohibited substances include most synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. In instances when a grower has to use a synthetic substance to achieve a specific purpose, the substance must first be approved according to criteria that examine its effects on human health and the environment.”

Understand my friends, this definition does not specify that there must be a guarantee that no prohibited substances such as pesticides are present on the produce you buy, because there is no possibility of making that guarantee on planet Earth. When you buy something labeled organic there is a measure of faith involved.

Since planet Earth is a closed ecosystem, and since you can find farm pesticides in the snow and ice at the North Pole as well as in the fatty tissues of penguins at the South pole, this suggests that there is no place on the planet that cannot be potentially exposed to farm pesticides and other toxins.

How did farm pesticides get to the North and the South poles. Obviously, the poles are thousands of miles or kilometers from the nearest farm. Various chemical toxins such as pesticides are carried in weather systems which are moving around the planet 24 hours a day. Often pesticides and other chemicals are carried in water currents fresh water and saltwater  around the world.

Yes, I do choose organic food wherever possible. More details on that later.

Natural          

What about natural? Almost everyone immediately says they want a natural product. I agree. Wherever possible I want to consume natural products and recommend them. Natural and organic however are not the same thing.

Animals that have been injected with hormones or antibiotics and possibly given feed that may have contained pesticides are still natural. Toxic metals like arsenic, cadmium and lead are all natural, even crude oil is natural.

All minerals are natural. There is no such thing as a synthetic mineral. Minerals however are not organic. I personally use and frequently recommend natural minerals in the form of amino acid chelates. Not all chelates are the same however, some are extremely effective and some have very low efficacy rates. For my personal health I select chelates for practical as well as scientific reasons. Many people consuming the modern diet are getting insufficient levels of minerals, this is potentially a health concern. Minerals are essential not only for your health, but for your life.

Plant materials generally have insufficient mineral by weight to be reasonable supplies for everyone’s mineral dietary requirement. This could, as an example, require 10 or more tablets of pure plant mineral to equal one tablet of the same size made of a natural chelate.

Dietary realities dictate the necessity for using a more efficient chelate versus a plant source. As an example, approximately 90% of the US population gets insufficient potassium every day. Potassium is vital for a healthy heart. Depending on which studies you read you may see between 50% and 70% of people are getting insufficient magnesium. The modern diet is providing only about 50% of the bare minimum requirement for magnesium daily. Depending on circumstances the net effect can certainly be higher than 50%. Magnesium is responsible for hundreds of vital functions in the body and is essential to your life.

Currently, the best science available shows us that bisglycinate’s are the best absorbed and utilized mineral forms available. As I like to say, “science marches on”, so who knows what the future will bring, but for now bisglycinate chelates are the most efficient way to get your minerals. Bisglycinate chelates are definitely safe as they are made of naturally occurring minerals and natural amino acids. No, they are not plant food. They are however absorbed at astonishing levels. Your digestive tract loves an amino acid called glycine and when combining two glycine molecules together it is a bisglycinate. One example of absorption that I will no doubt refer to in other podcasts would be zinc gluconate versus zinc bisglycinate. Zinc has been in the news a great deal and the most common form out there is gluconate. However, the latest science shows us that zinc in the form of bisglycinate absorbs approximately 44% better than gluconate. Natural, yes, safe, yes, well absorbed and utilized yes.

Another example of a synthetic being safe and effective, in fact more effective than its natural counterpart would be synthetic vitamin B9. Vitamin B9 in all of its various forms is often collectively referred to as folate. Some writers will be very specific and denote folate as the form of vitamin B9 as the naturally occurring form found in plant materials. This would be the most accurate description. However, keep in mind that some articles you read will use the word folate and folic acid interchangeably. European Union regulations as an example require that vitamin B9 always be listed as folic acid on the label regardless of its source. Every country is different so this can get confusing.

Studies have proven conclusively that folic acid which is the synthetic form of folate prevents neural tube defects. It is obviously well absorbed, safe and effective. Some comparative studies have shown that folate from diet was not effective in preventing neural tube defects or NTD’s, whereas folic acid in the same study was effective. Spina bifida and anencephaly are NTD’s.

I often talk about variables and it is certainly possible that folate from food does work effectively but that the pregnant women in the study were not consuming sufficient levels of it from food. Or perhaps possessed a gene defect. Regardless, synthetic folic acid is safe and effective and that’s why you will find it prenatal vitamins.

There is also the issue of methylation and the new science on a particular gene defect that prevents people from converting folate to its active form. Those individuals need to use a form of folic acid which is already methylated. There is a reduced form of folate containing 5-methyl-THF (aka methylfolate), used by some dietary supplement manufacturers which can be absorbed even by individuals with the specific methylation gene defect.

Folic acid merits its own podcast, so in enough detail on that for now.

Remember friends, my goal is always to bring you the best recommendations, based on the most objective scientific material, that results in the safest and most effective health support. I have no bias towards forms or philosophy. The only thing that counts is getting the safest and most effective supplements into your body and we do that through objective scientific analysis.

Semisynthetic

There is another category you may never have heard of and that is semisynthetic. Semisynthetic gets a little more complicated. If you start with two naturally occurring substances and semi-synthesize them, you have created a new structure. This new structure would be called semisynthetic. Even though you’re using two natural substances in this example you have artificially created a new structure, so it is no longer in its natural form.

When it comes to food to put on your plate, I try to choose organic whenever possible and recommend that you do the same because even though it’s not a guarantee that it will be the most nutritious and 100%

To summarize, natural isn’t always the best choice, synthetics are not always bad and organic doesn’t technically mean what marketing people want you to think it means. You now have a basic understanding of natural, organic, synthetics and semisynthetic’s. As I always say you cannot make informed decisions unless you’ve been informed. I hope now that you are better equipped to select your food supplements. As the world changes and pressures increase, scientists continue to try and compensate and adapt to the changes. Science marches on.

Until next time, this is Dr. Steve Nugent urging you to stay safe, be sensible and be objective.

Notes and Sources:

Terms:

Deficiency stats:

English | 简体中文|

你可能会惊讶地发现，有机，实际上并不意味着更安全、更有营养，或不含化学物质。你可能还会惊讶地发现，天然并不意味着有机。

你是不是已经有点困惑？听我细细讲来，你很快就会明白。

我在全球的大多数听众，都听过我的 “绝对思维的危险性”演讲。我来举一些例子，说明为什么绝对主义是个问题，特别是在科学领域。世界各地的大多数受访者认为，植物来源总是更健康，天然成分的效果总是优于合成成分，合成成分总是有害。但以上所有假设皆是错误的。我知道，有些人现在仍然游移不定，正在经理“虽然如此，但是……”时刻。你暗想，虽然如此，但某某说……虽然如此，但我听说……虽然如此，但我最敬重的专家说……请收起你的怀疑，我们现在要谈的是客观事实。

科学定义和常用营销定义往往大有差别。这篇文章的目的，是为让大家清楚了解每个类别的含义，从而为个人健康计划做出最佳选择。

我们从地球生命谈起。我们对其他星球的生命一无所知，但地球上的都是碳基生命。所有活着或曾经活着的生物都含碳分子。有机物的一个定义是“有生命的有机体”，但更准确的科学定义应是“含有碳分子的一切东西”。有人可能会说，“但化石燃料也含碳分子”。别忘记化石燃料是由植物形成。市场营销中的常见误解是：恐龙是当今化石燃料的来源，这简直是无稽之谈。恐龙数量有限，它们不足以分解成地球上巨量的化石燃料，所有化石燃料都来自活的植物。这也是化石燃料含碳的原因。是的，确切来说，它们确实符合有机物的定义。但现实中没有人会采用这种分类方式。

纵观全球，人们相信的是有机、天然和合成的营销定义。有机的常见营销定义是，不使用任何杀虫剂和激素等物质培育的植物或动物。人们还认为，“有机”这个词意味着更安全和更干净。理论上说，如果动植物培育得当，它们最终都会富含营养，但这并不是“有机”一词能够保证的。

多年来，美国多个州对“有机”一词进行了定义，各州略有不同。最后，美国农业部给出了确切定义。他们认为，“若能够证明农产品生长于收获前三年没有施用过任何禁用物质的土壤中，便可称其为有机产品。禁用物质包括大多数合成肥料和杀虫剂。若种植者必须使用合成物质以达到特定目的，该物质必须首先通过人类健康和环境影响审查标准。”

朋友们，请注意，这个定义并没有规定你所购买的农产品上不含杀虫剂等违禁物质，因为在这个地球上不可能实现这种保证。当购买带有有机标签的东西时，你需要具备一定的认识。

地球是一个封闭的生态系统，因此，无论是北极的冰雪还是南极企鹅的脂肪组织中，都能找到农业杀虫剂成分，这表明，地球上不存在不接触农业杀虫剂和其他毒素的地方。

那农业杀虫剂如何会到达南极和北极？很明显，两极离最近的农场都有几千英里或公里远。地球一天24小时移动的天气系统，携带着各种化学毒素，包括杀虫剂。通常情况下，杀虫剂和其他化学品会随着水流进入世界各地的淡水和咸水中。

当然，我确实会尽可能选择有机食品，稍后我会展开详谈。

天然

那么，天然食品呢？几乎所有人都会毫不迟疑地选择天然产品。我同意。只要有可能，我希望消费并向人们推荐天然产品。但天然并不等同于有机。

注射过激素或抗生素，进食过可能含有杀虫剂的饲料的动物，仍然是天然食品。砷、镉和铅等有毒金属都是天然的，甚至原油也是天然的。

所有矿物质都是天然的。合成矿物质这种东西不存在。但矿物质不是有机物。我个人使用并经常推荐氨基酸螯合剂形式的天然矿物质。然而，并非所有螯合剂都一样，有些非常有效，有些则不然。出于实用和科学的原因，我为自己的个人健康选择了螯合剂。现代饮食中许多人的矿物质摄入量不足，这可能会是一个健康问题。矿物质对你的健康乃至生命都至关重要。

植物材料中的矿物质含量，通常不足以满足每个人合理的矿物质膳食需求。例如，十片或更多片的纯植物矿物质营养剂，可能才相当于一片同样大小的天然螯合剂。

鉴于现实的饮食情况，我们需要更有效的螯合剂，而非植物来源。举例来说，约90%的美国人口每天摄入的钾不足。而钾对心脏健康至关重要。阅读不同的研究报告，你可能会得知，有50%到70%的人缺镁，而现代饮食每日只能满足最低镁需求量的50%。根据不同情况，最终影响肯定会高出50%。镁在人体内数百种重要功能中发挥作用，对生命至关重要。

目前，先进科学告诉我们，双甘氨酸是现有最好吸收和利用的矿物质形式。我总说“科学不断进步”，所以，我们不知未来会发生什么，但目前双甘氨酸螯合剂是获取矿物质的最有效方式。双甘氨酸螯合剂绝对安全，因为它们是由天然矿物质和天然氨基酸制成。它们虽然不是植物食品，但吸收率却十分惊人。人体消化道喜欢一种叫做甘氨酸的氨基酸，把两个甘氨酸分子结合起来，就会形成双甘氨酸。我在其他播客用葡萄糖酸锌与双甘氨酸锌来举过一个关于吸收的例子。锌常常出现在新闻报道中，最常见的形式是葡萄糖酸盐。但最新科学告诉我们，双甘氨酸锌的吸收率比葡萄糖酸盐的吸收率约高44%。绝对天然，绝对安全，绝对易于吸收和利用。

要证明合成物的安全有效性，另一个例子是合成维生素B9，合成维生素B9事实上比天然维生素B9更有效。各种维生素B9形式经常被统称为叶酸盐。一些作者会非常具体地将叶酸盐表示为维生素B9，因为它是在植物材料中发现的自然存在形式。这是最准确的描述。但别忘记，一些文章也会互用“叶酸”和“叶酸盐”。例如，欧盟法规要求必须在标签上将维生素B9列为叶酸，无论其来源如何。但各国情况不同，所以可能会引起混淆。

研究证实，叶酸（叶酸盐的合成形式）可以预防神经管缺陷。显然，它的吸收率很高，安全且有效。一些比较研究表明，饮食中的叶酸盐对预防神经管缺陷或NTD（如脊柱裂和无脑穹窿）无效，而同一研究中的叶酸却很有效。

我经常谈论各种变量，当然，食物中的叶酸盐也可能确实有效，只是研究中的孕妇没有从食物中摄取足量叶酸，或可能拥有基因缺陷。但无论如何，合成叶酸安全且有效，因此被用作产前维生素。

还有一个问题是甲基化问题，这是一种特殊的基因缺陷，使人们无法将叶酸转化为活性形式。具有这一问题的人群需要使用一种已经甲基化的叶酸形式。一些膳食补充剂制造商使用一种含有5-甲基-THF（又名甲基叶酸）还原形式的叶酸，让即使有特定甲基化基因缺陷的人也能吸收。

叶酸问题值得我专门做一期播客，所以，关于叶酸，我今天先讲这些。

朋友们别忘记，我的目标始终是基于客观的科学材料，为大家提供最佳建议，使你们获取最安全、最有效的健康支持。我对形式或哲学没有任何偏见。唯一重要的是通过客观的科学分析，为你的身体提供最安全、最有效的补充剂。

半合成

还有一个大家可能从未听说过的类别，即半合成物。半合成物有点复杂。对两种天然物质进行半合成处理，可以创造一种新结构。这种新结构就被称为半合成物。尽管采用的是两种天然物质，却人为创造出一种新结构，所以它就不再是天然形式。

至于端上餐桌的食物，我会尽可能地选择有机，我也建议大家如此，因为即使不能保证有机食物富含营养或100%不含毒素，但至少可以肯定，它们比不符合有机标准的食品更健康。由于世界各地的管辖法不同，有机的定义也千差万别。

总而言之，天然的不一定好，合成的不一定坏，并且严格来说，有机的含义可能与营销人员的话术大相径庭。现在，大家对天然、有机、合成物和半合成物有了基本了解。正如我常说的，要想做出明智的决定，就必须将情况了解得清清楚楚。我希望大家现在可以更好地选择食品补充剂。世界不断变化，压力日益增加，而科学家们会继续努力弥补和适应这些变化。科学进步永无止境。

下次再见，我是Steve Nugent医生，向你传递安全、理性、客观的理念。

注释与来源：

术语：

螯合矿物质是与氨基酸化学结合的无机矿物质。[1] “在自然界中，矿物质总是与另一种化合物结合。”“一些研究表明，这种螯合矿物质可在体内被更有效地被吸收。”“矿物质是必需营养素，这意味着，人体不能制造它们，但需要它们来实现正常健康的功能。”尽管不存在合成矿物质这种东西，但地球上有有机和无机矿物质。科学将有机物简单地定义为含有碳分子的东西，寓意其为有生命或曾经有生命的东西。还有一些天然矿物不是有机物。https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-41/chelated-minerals

不足统计：

https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/micronutrient-inadequacies/overview

English | 简体中文

Hello, my friends welcome to another episode of The Nugent Report, I’m Dr. Steve Nugent.

This episode is dedicated to calcium but it’s an entirely different approach than what you expected. For more than half a century people all over the world have been told “women need more calcium”. It is true that women need more calcium than men, however it is not universally true that women need calcium supplementation, in fact the majority of women consuming the modern diet don’t need calcium supplementation.

All of my subscribers know that the Nugent report is objective reporting about science and health and that means no bias and we don’t care about groupthink. The phrase “Everybody knows” is not science. Scientific knowledge is growing at such tremendous speed that it’s impossible for any single human being to keep up with. On the Nugent report we simply try to eat this elephant one bite at a time.

In this episode of the Nugent report you’re going to learn some things about calcium that may not only surprise you, they may shock you.

Here are just a few of the questions that we will address in this episode…

People have been told for more than a century that you need calcium for strong healthy bones. This statement is correct. The average person however does not that healthy bones require much more than calcium, and the average person does not know that if you have too little magnesium or vitamin D that calcium will either calcified in your body or be excreted in urine which can lead to kidney stones.

Both the food and food supplement industries have been pushing the idea that women need more calcium. Once again it is true that women require more than men but only about 30% of women have a need for calcium supplementation above and beyond what’s in the modern diet. Too much calcium presents potential health problems. That’s the kind of thing that I want to convey to you. Under the heading of integrative health is a psychologist I also need to point out that human beings have a need to have virtually any topic reduced to the simplest common denominator. The one-size-fits-all approach is always more welcome than an approach that requires complex analysis. The fact is, the one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to calcium supplementation is not accurate and not a good idea.

For more details on how magnesium and vitamin D play a role in the absorption and utilization of calcium I would invite you to listen to my podcasts from my series on magnesium and vitamin D. “Science marches on” as I’m so fond of saying and things change.

When I first learned the basics of clinical nutrition it was many decades ago and unfortunately the overwhelming majority of practitioners today are still putting that decades old information and are not aware of more recent scientific study that contradicts some of what we used to believe was true.

Let’s begin with what calcium is needed for before we go on to the other questions. Calcium is an essential mineral meaning that your body must have it but cannot make it within your body, so it must be supplied to your body from an external source. The most preferable source would be food and in some cases food supplements. Science is showing us that some nutrients need to be supplemented because the modern diet supplies insufficient levels whereas with some nutrients this is not yet the case.

Even before the food industry began fortifying foods with calcium in order to sell more product to female consumers by emphasizing their food was fortified with extra calcium and then repeating the groupthink chant “women need more calcium” there is now an abundant level of calcium available in the modern diet. Some individuals are actually consuming too much calcium and don’t know it.

As the modern diet continues to change, calcium containing foods are often disproportionate in dietary choices.

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body. When someone says calcium in a Word Association test, the response might be bone or it might be dairy. We’ll talk about food sources in a few minutes. But understand that your body cannot function without calcium; it’s far more than just a necessity for healthy bones and teeth. You may recall from the series on magnesium and vitamin D, that magnesium is the mineral that relaxes a muscle and calcium is the mineral that contracts the muscle in order for a muscle to function it must contract and relax and repeat that cycle.

Calcium is also required for vasodilation, nerve transmission, vascular contraction, hormone secretion and intracellular signaling. Calcium is so important to the body, that the body very tightly regulates calcium balance in the blood(1). Approximately 1% of your body’s total supply of calcium is found in your blood and the other 99% is found in bones and teeth. It is true that if your body requires more calcium in the blood it will leach that calcium from the bone. This however does not mean that a calcium supplement will solve the problem.

Calcium must interact with both magnesium and vitamin D or it cannot be absorbed and utilized. So supplementing calcium without sufficient levels of magnesium and vitamin D would make calcium useless and even potentially harmful.

Remember from previous episodes that inadequate intake levels and deficiencies are two different things. An inadequate level means getting too little to maintain normal healthy function and may over time lead to a health issue, whereas a deficiency will almost certainly lead to a significant health problem. Depending on whether using the term in adequate or deficient anywhere between 30% and 42% of the population are getting insufficient levels of vitamin D from diet alone. More than 70% of people are getting inadequate levels of magnesium from diet alone. For decades people have been told that they need a two to one ratio of calcium to magnesium and so they look for this on dietary supplement labels. However, when you begin to calculate the amount of calcium in the modern diet it now throws that ratio off completely. As an example, because my diet is very high in calcium containing foods, I take 1170 mg daily of magnesium in the form of a bisglycinate chelate. Clearly the most efficient and effective form of magnesium available today. In a few moments I’ll give you some examples of calcium amounts in various foods and I know you’ll be surprised.

According to the US National Institutes of Health: “Frank calcium deficiencies are uncommon”. There is simply a lot more calcium in the modern diet then you knew. At this point you might be having what I call a “yeah but moment”. That’s when you hear something which is totally different from what you’ve been told, totally different from the groupthink and then you say to yourself, “yeah but I heard that, so-and-so said that, my favorite talking head in the news media said that, etc. my subscribers know to control themselves when they have a yeah but moment. If you’re having one now, then get a grip, get over it and pay close attention, the Nugent report is an objective learning experience.

Let’s momentarily go back to the idea of cofactors for absorption and utilization of calcium. It is not uncommon these days for physicians to do blood tests on their patients and then recommend not just hundreds but even thousands of units of vitamin D. Prior to the availability of patient testing for blood levels of vitamin D all physicians were taught and most followed the government recommendation which said that 400 IU (or 10 µg) per day was the daily requirement.

10 µg daily is now the recommended daily allowance for an infant between the ages of 0 and 12 months. As is the case with many nutrients, requirements vary by age and/or gender. Currently, the required daily allowance of vitamin D for both males and females between the ages of one and 70 years is 600 IU daily or 15 µg. Males and females above the age of 70 are recommended to have a minimum of 800 IU or 20 µg. As is the case with most nutrients, vitamin D performs more than one task so although it is essential for the processing and absorption of calcium it has many other functions as well.

According to the 2015–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) which is the most recent national survey available, most people in the United States consume less than recommended amounts of vitamin D. “An analysis of data found that average daily vitamin D intakes from foods and beverages were 5.1 mcg (204 IU) in men, 4.2 mcg (168 IU) in women, and 4.9 mcg (196 IU) in children aged 2–19 years” [40]. The 2013–2016 NHANES data revealed that that 92% of men, more than 97% of women, and 94% of people aged 1 year and older ingested less than the EAR of 10 mcg (400 IU) in their daily diet.[41].

I realize all the federal abbreviations can get confusing and it’s possible that not every subscriber has listened to every podcast. In a previous podcast I did explain all of the government abbreviations that relate to nutrition, but I’ll explain EAR just in case you’re new here. EAR is the Estimated Average Requirement: that is the Average daily level of intake estimated to meet the requirements of 50% of healthy individuals; usually used to assess the nutrient intakes of groups of people and to plan nutritionally adequate diets for them; can also be used to assess the nutrient intakes of individuals.(41) So let’s regroup to make sense of this. According to the latest science, more than 90% of the population at all ages and both genders are getting less than 50% of what’s required for healthy individuals.(41)

I suggested in my podcasts series on magnesium and vitamin D is that often what appears to be a deficiency of one nutrient is actually and in adequate intake of the cofactors to allow for the absorption of that nutrient.

In the future I’ll be doing a podcast on muscle loss as well as one on bone loss as we age. There is insufficient time to cover that in this podcast. For now, understand that as we age many cells in the body break down at a faster rate than they are replaced that is 1 Simple Way of defining the aging process. We begin to experience muscle loss on average around the age of 40, this is more significant for men than for women. In my 50s I began to increase my protein intake as well as digestive enzymes so that I could process this increase of protein and profit by it. The older I get the more protein I am supplementing in my diet to fight the reality of aging and accompanying muscle loss. There is more to that story than simply eating protein of course. Many of the protein foods I consume are very high in calcium but offer almost no magnesium or vitamin D. This is why I take so much additional magnesium in the form of a bisglycinate and why also supplement significant levels of vitamin D. As you learn more on the Nugent report you will be able to better tailor your personal nutrition program.

Let’s take a look at some foods that are high in calcium and you will find the food charts or links to those charts on Dr. Nugent.com which hosts the Nugent report. For those of you listening on the audio only podcast the URL for that site is drnugent.com DR Nugent as one word lowercase no hyphens were periods.

For more details on this, I would refer you to my podcasts on vitamin D and magnesium.

In most modern countries there is the equivalent of a milk producers Association or dairy Association in the US there is even one in each of the 50 states. These associations around the world have done a fantastic job in convincing people that they need to consume milk for calcium in fact they’ve done such a good job that there are many people who think that dairy is the only source of calcium. I know this from decades of interacting with women who were concerned about their bone health.

The fact is, calcium is essential to the life of virtually every animal that a person might consume and it’s found in significant levels in many vegetable products and even some fruits.

Collard greens contain 360 mg per 8 ounces for those listening or watching who live outside of the US 8 US ounces is approximately 227 g. In the US a common serving size is 8 ounces. The Chinese cabbage known as bok choy is 160 mg of calcium per every 8 ounces or approximately 227 g. An 8 ounce serving of kale has 180 g of calcium. 8 ounces of soybeans contains 175 mg of calcium. Even an orange has 55 mg of calcium. Only 3 US ounces or 85 grams of sardines provides 325 mg of calcium, 3 ounces of salmon provides 180 mg calcium and 3 ounces of shrimp, commonly referred to outside of the US as prawn, provides 125 mg of calcium. That’s a lot of calcium and I haven’t even talked about dairy yet. Milk cheese and yogurt are very high in calcium. A 6 ounce serving of plain yogurt provides 310 mg of calcium. An 8 ounce glass of milk regardless of fat content provides about 310 mg of calcium. Eight US fluid ounces is equivalent to approximately 236 ML for my subscribers outside of the US. Only 1 ounce of cheese mozzarella, which is a common size for string cheese snacks in the US provides 210 mg of calcium. 1 ounce of cheddar provides 205 mg, only 4 US ounces of cottage cheese known in some countries as curds and whey provides 125 mg, 4 ounces of Feta cheese has 140 mgs. of calcium.

The food industry has learned that they can sell more to female consumers if they fortify the product with extra calcium. Most people don’t think about a glass of orange juice as containing calcium. There is natural calcium which occurs in an orange anyway as I mentioned previously but for US ounces of commonly fortified orange juice provides 150 mg of calcium per glass. Many tofu products are fortified with additional calcium delivering as much is 205 mg per 4 ounces. For those who wish to avoid dairy and purchase almond milk rice milk or soy milk, the typical product is fortified with about 300 mg of calcium per 8 ounce glass. Even tofu products are often fortified with calcium with an average of about 205 mg per 4 ounces. Even breakfast cereals are frequently fortified with calcium and may offer an additional 100 to even as much as 1000 mg of calcium per 8 ounce serving.

The point is, there’s a lot more calcium in the modern diet than you thought there was. These fortified foods are typically not fortified with extra magnesium or vitamin D and in the rare cases that they are fortified with D they are rarely fortified in the right ratio to the calcium.

Does Calcium supplementation prevent bone fractures?

A review published in the British medical Journal which examined 97 papers and found 44 qualified for review on calcium intake and bone fractures concluded that, “Dietary calcium intake is not associated with risk of fracture, and there is no clinical trial evidence that increasing calcium intake from dietary sources prevents fractures. Evidence that calcium supplements prevent fractures is weak and inconsistent. Another review paper of 59 randomize eligible studies drew a similar conclusion. These are not the only reviews that have arrived at the same conclusion. There isn’t time a single podcast to address them all.

Objectively speaking it’s important to note what these various studies were studying and how they were designed. As I stressed previously, without sufficient levels of magnesium and vitamin D, the calcium will be useless or even potentially harmful. Many of the studies were done with calcium alone, some of the studies were done with calcium from food only or calcium from dietary supplements only a few were done with adding vitamin D to the calcium but none with adding magnesium. There is also the consideration of ratios which often was not followed in the studies. So, to be fully objective, I strongly believe that calcium from food is well absorbed and can increase bone mineral density if it is in the presence of adequate levels of magnesium and vitamin D at the same time. I believe this is also true with dietary supplements. As is frequently said at the end of the scientific study, “more study is needed”. So, I’m not saying that calcium supplements are dangerous, or useless on their face, simply that not everyone requires calcium supplementation because of the very significant levels of calcium in the modern diet and if you’re going to supplement you have to ensure that you have adequate levels of vitamin D and magnesium. With the amount of calcium that I consume in food personally, I would personally choose a dietary supplement that contains magnesium and vitamin D but not calcium because of the balance of these nutrients that naturally occur in food and my personal choices as well as the choices of many in modern society in terms of diet.

If your physician detects low blood levels of calcium that may mean that you need to increase your calcium or it may mean that you need to increase your levels of magnesium and or vitamin D. If you go through a scan such as a DEXA scan and find that your bone mineral density is declining, it may mean that you need more calcium, or once again, it may mean that you need one of the cofactors for the absorption and utilization of calcium or one of the cofactors that help to hold calcium in your bone. It’s just not as simple as saying all women should take more calcium.

What are the risks of taking too much calcium?

If you have excessively high levels of calcium in your blood it is known as hypercalcemia. This condition can cause calcification in your soft tissue renal insufficiency and kidney stones just for starters.[1].

I have spoken with several women who have given birth, survived gallstones and also had kidney stones and each of them told me that kidney stones were far more painful than childbirth and gallstones combined. The one thing you don’t want to do is form kidney stones because you’re not following the latest science on calcium intake.

Calcium also has a tendency to tighten your stool and in fact may result in constipation. As I’ve mentioned in previous podcasts, various minerals interact with each other, some in a positive way and some not. Balance is wellness, it is essential to maintain healthy balance of nutrients in your blood. Too much calcium as an example can block the absorption of zinc and iron. This of course can have very serious consequences.(1). Several scientific sources have confirmed that excessive calcium intake from dietary supplements versus excessive calcium intake from food increases your risk of kidney stones (1,2,3). Another surprise for many may be the scientific evidence that indicates that high levels of calcium intake increases the risk of prostate cancer. (1). I need to emphasize that at this stage of research science does not exactly understand how and why this is. There are also at least six different studies that link high calcium intake, particularly from supplements, with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (4-7,8,9).

I hope this episode on calcium proves to be beneficial for you. I’m almost certain that most everyone was surprised with much of this information.

Thanks for listening to the Nugent report and until next time, this is Dr. Steve Nugent urging you to stay safe, be sensible and be objective.

*Adequate Intake (AI)

According to the most recent data it appears that people are also getting far too little magnesium from diet alone.

Table 1: Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for Magnesium [1]

Age     Male    Female Pregnancy       Lactation

Birth to 6 months        30 mg*            30 mg*

7–12 months   75 mg*            75 mg*

1–3 years         80 mg  80 mg

4–8 years         130 mg            130 mg

9–13 years       240 mg            240 mg

14–18 years     410 mg            360 mg            400 mg            360 mg

19–30 years     400 mg            310 mg            350 mg            310 mg

31–50 years     420 mg            320 mg            360 mg            320 mg

51+ years         420 mg            320 mg

Table 3: Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (ULs) for Calcium [1]

Age                   Male               Female            Pregnant          Lactating

0–6 months     1,000 mg         1,000 mg

7–12 months   1,500 mg         1,500 mg

1–8 years         2,500 mg         2,500 mg

9–18 years       3,000 mg         3,000 mg         3,000 mg         3,000 mg

19–50 years     2,500 mg         2,500 mg         2,500 mg         2,500 mg

51+ years         2,000 mg         2,000 mg

References

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) FoodData Central lists the nutrient content of many foods and provides a comprehensive list of foods containing calcium arranged by nutrient content and by food name.

Bolland MJ, Leung W, Tai V, et al. Calcium intake and risk of fracture: systematic review. BMJ. 2015;351:h4580. Published 2015 Sep 29. doi:10.1136/bmj.h4580

Bolland MJ, Leung W, Tai V, et al. Calcium intake and risk of fracture: systematic review. BMJ. 2015;351:h4580. Published 2015 Sep 29. doi:10.1136/bmj.h4580

Tai V, Leung W, Grey A, Reid IR, Bolland MJ. Calcium intake and bone mineral density: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ. 2015 Sep 29;351:h4183. doi: 10.1136/bmj.h4183. PMID: 26420598; PMCID: PMC4784773.

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简介：                Dr. Nugent报告，以科学方式分析健康与营养。欢迎收看本期“Dr. Nugent报告”，本节目由Dr. Steve Nugent主讲，为您提供健康和营养方面的优质客观信息。

Dr. Steve Nugent是著名的心理学家、作家、公共演说家，也是科学、健康、保健和营养方面的专家。请访问我们的网站DrNugent.com，并在Facebook、Twitter和Instagram上关注@TheNugentreport。

Dr. Nugent： 钙质补充剂危险吗？观众朋友们大家好，欢迎收看新一期的Dr. Nugent报告。我是Dr. Steve Nugent。本期节目将专门讨论钙质，但讨论的方式可能会比较特别。半个多世纪以来，全世界的人都以为女性需要更多钙质。

与男性相比，女性确实需要更多钙质。但是，并不是所有女性都需要钙质补充剂。实际上，根据最新的科学研究，从现在摄入的饮食来看，多数女性根本不需要钙质补充剂。这可能已经让你有些惊讶。

关注我的人都知道，Dr. Nugent报告以客观方式报道科学与健康。这意味着，我们不存在偏见，不在意群体思维。众所周知不代表科学。科学知识飞速发展，不可能每个人都能及时获取。

Dr. Nugent报告尝试逐一分解难题。本期Dr. Nugent报告呈现的知识可能会让你大吃一惊，甚至会颠覆你的认知。本期节目将涉及以下几个问题。你摄入的钙质是不是太多了？人体如何吸收和利用钙质？钙质只作用于骨骼吗？除奶制品之外，还有哪些食物富含钙质？钙质补充剂能预防骨质脆弱和骨折吗？摄入过多钙质补充剂有什么风险？

半个多世纪以来，人们一直被灌输这样的观念：强壮健康的骨骼离不开钙质。事实也是这样。这种表述没有问题。但大家不知道的是，健康骨骼需要的不仅是钙质。

大家也不知道，如果镁或维生素D含量过少，钙质会在体内钙化，或者通过尿液排出，这可能会导致肾结石。几十年以来，食品及膳食补充剂行业一直在灌输这样的理念：女性需要更多钙质。

再说一遍，跟男性相比，女性确实需要更多钙质，但是仅有30%的女性需要钙质补充剂。钙质过多会导致潜在的健康问题，这也是我想通过“整体健康”这个概念向大家传递的信息。

但是，作为一名心理学家，我也要指出，人们总倾向于把所有问题都简化成最简单的集体认识。一刀切的方法总是比需要细致分析的方法更受欢迎。而事实是，在钙质补充剂的问题上，一刀切的方法有失准确，也不够好——通过这期节目，你会了解这一点。

关于镁和维生素D在钙质吸收和利用方面的作用，可以去听我主讲的镁及维生素D播客系列。正如我常说的一句话，“科学不断前进”。我们十年前、二十年前，对我来说是四十多年前学到的东西，现在已经不再适用。现在距离我第一次学习临床营养基本知识已经几十年了。

不幸的是，今天的大多数从事人员依然使用着几十年前的信息，他们没有意识到，最近的科学研究驳斥了他们深信的多数信息。在我们讨论其他问题之前，先来看一下钙质的作用。

钙质是一种必需矿物，这意味着人体需要但不能自己产生钙质，所以，需要从外部来源获取。最佳的获取来源是食物。在很多情况下，如有必要，也可通过补充剂获取。科学显示，因为现代饮食中的含量不够，很多营养成分需要补充，而另外一些营养成分则不是这种情况。

食品行业往食物内添加钙质，并强调这一点，意在向女性消费者销售更多产品。然后重复群体思维的咒语：女性需要更多钙质。在现代饮食中，钙质含量十分充足。

很多人实际上摄入了过多钙质并且对此一无所知。现代饮食不断变化，含钙食物常常比例失衡。钙质是人体内含量最多的矿物质，身体健康的情况下，应当是这样。

在词语关联性测试中，如果一个人说了“钙质”，对应联想应该是骨骼或者奶制品。我们之后会讲到食物来源。但要明白，没有钙质，身体就不能运转。它的作用远远超过确保骨骼与牙齿健康。

你们可能还记得，有期节目讲到，镁和维生素D可以舒张肌肉，钙质可以收缩肌肉。肌肉要想正常运作，必须重复进行收缩舒张这个规律动作。血管扩张、神经传递、血管收缩、激素分泌，甚至细胞内信号传递都需要钙。

钙质对人体至关重要，人体会极力平衡钙质在血液中的含量。人体中约有1%的总钙质存在于血液中，其余99%存在于骨骼和牙齿中。如果血液需要更多钙质，会吸取骨骼中的钙质。

但这并不意味，钙质补充剂可以解决这个问题。钙质需要与镁和维生素D发生反应，否则将不能被吸收或利用。因此，只补钙，但体内镁和维生素D含量却不够的话，钙质就会变得一无所用，甚至带来潜在的危害。前面几期节目讲过，摄入水平不足和缺乏是两种不同概念。

血液内水平不足意味着水平低下，不足以维持正常的健康功能，长久之后可能会导致健康问题。而缺乏是必然会导致严重的健康问题。大约有30%-42%的人无法单靠饮食获取足量的维生素D，从而导致钙质不足或缺乏。

而70%以上的人无法单靠饮食获取足量的镁。几十年以来，人们一直以为需要将钙镁比控制在2:1。他们试图通过膳食补充剂实现这点。

但是，计算一下现代饮食中的钙质含量，会发现这个比例已经彻底失衡。以我自己为例，我的个人饮食中包含大量含钙食物。我每日摄入双甘氨酸酯螯合物，补充1170毫克的镁元素。显然，这是最有效、最便捷的科学补镁方式。

之后，我会举例告诉大家各种食物中的钙含量。你们将会大吃一惊。按照美国国家卫生研究院的说法，“单纯的钙质缺乏并不常见。”你认识不到现代饮食中含有的钙质有多充足。

现在，你可能会说“虽然…但是…”。这个时候，我需要告诉你一些事实，挑战那些你们自以为正确的观念。你会想，虽然如此，但那个谁说过…，我最喜欢的某某在电视上说过…。虽然如此，但我的医生说…。大家不要再执着于“虽然…但是…”，仔细听一下我们的观点。Dr. Nugent报告可以为你提供一次客观的学习经历。

我们暂时回到影响钙质吸收和利用的其他因素。现在，医生常常会给病人做血液检查，然后建议他们补充数千单位的维生素D。

在可以做血液维生素D检查之前，医生们都是遵照政府建议，也就是400国际单位，这相当于每天摄入10微克。很多医生相信这个建议，他们认为超过400国际单位可能会导致中毒。我知道这些，因为我职业生涯早期接触过很多这种情况。

今天，随着“科学的不断前进”，每天10微克的标准仅适用于0-12月的婴儿。很多营养成分都是这样，不同的年龄和性别有着不同的要求，而现在，1-70岁男女人群的每日维生素D摄入标准是600国际单位，也就是15微克。

70岁以上的人群每日至少需要800国际单位也就是20微克。跟多数营养成分一样，维生素D肩负多种任务。钙质的分解和吸收离不开维生素D，它还有很多其他作用。请收听由我主讲的与镁和维生素D有关的播客。

根据2015-2016国家健康与营养调查，这是最新的全国性调查。多数美国人的维生素D摄入量未达到建议水平。通过分析数据得出，男性平均每日从饮食中获取的最少维生素D含量为5.1微克，也就是204国际单位。女性的数据为4.2微克，也就是168国际单位，2-9岁的儿童为4.9微克，也就是196国际单位。

2013-2016研究数据显示，92%的男性，97%以上的女性，94%的1岁以上人群每日从饮食中摄入的量未达到10微克，即400国际单位的平均需要量。好，我明白，这些单位可能有点让人费解，有的听众可能没听过之前的节目。在之前的播客中，我讲过跟营养相关的单位。现在我重新讲解一下。

平均需要量是预估的平均需求量。也就是50%健康人群预计所需的平均每日摄入量。它通常用于评估人群的营养摄入，并为这些人群设计营养充足的饮食。

我们现在重新梳理一下，尝试去理解。根据最新的科学研究，90%以上各年龄段各性别的人群摄入的维生素D水平都不足。提醒一下，人体需要维生素D来分解钙质。如果缺乏维生素D，钙质补充剂于事无补。实际上，它们可能会起反作用。

未来，我会做几期有关伴随人体衰老，肌肉和骨骼流失的节目。人口老龄化越来越严重。这个问题会一直存在，当然，除非科学找到了防止衰老的办法。当下，衰老是不可避免的。我没有办法在一期播客中探讨所有问题。

但大家应当知道，在40岁左右，我们的肌肉会大量流失。因此，我们必须要从饮食中摄入更多蛋白质，并增加锻炼。我们必须要锻炼肌肉，摄入蛋白质，才能保持原来的肌肉水平，若要加强肌肉，还需做更多努力。我50多岁了，开始大量增加蛋白质摄入，也开始服用消化酶。

因为如果蛋白质超过常规摄入量的话，应当同时增加消化酶摄入。因为蛋白质很难消化，一份食物中多了几盎司或几克，这当然很难。除了蛋白质摄入之外，这个例子也说明了很多问题。

但我的意思是，我的个人饮食中包含大量蛋白质。我选择的蛋白食物中，很多都含有大量钙质。但却不含镁或维生素D。所以我通过双甘氨酸酯来大量补镁。

再说一次，我建议大家去听有关这些话题的往期播客。我们来看一下富含钙质的食物，你会在drnugent.com这个网站上发现很多食物图表，顺便说一下，如果你在听这期播客，不是观看的话，这是一个小写单词，不带点和连字符，这个单词是Dr. Nugent报告主持人的名字。

再说一下，如果想获取更详细的讲解，请回顾收听我推出的有关镁和维生素D的播客。在很多现代国家，会有牛奶生产协会或类似机构。事实上，在美国，我们不仅有全国性协会，每个州也有一个此类协会。

在全世界范围内，这些协会极力说服人们他们需要喝更多牛奶，需要补钙。事实上，我在职业生涯中跟很多人进行过对话，他们都以为牛奶是唯一的钙质来源。如果他们向我展示骨骼扫描光片，说自己的骨骼矿物质密度在下降，他们开口说的第一句话是，我不喝牛奶，还能怎么办呢？还是那句话，我会简短地讲一下食物来源。

你会发现食物中其实含有大量的钙质。很多营养成分不能通过当代饮食摄入，我建议大家通过补充剂进行补充。钙质对地球上的所有动物而言都是不可或缺的。

所以，如果你是杂食主义者，什么都吃。杂食主义饮食是普通人的饮食，我现在不想争论什么素食主义；现在顾不上这个。如果你选择素食或纯素饮食，选择得当的话，你也可以摄入足量的钙质，是的，你可以。

我们回到正常人选择的杂食主义饮食，这种饮食包含动物蛋白。每种动物都有肌肉；如果含有钙质的话，所有肌肉都可以收缩。神经系统，还有很多人体部分，都需要钙质。摄入动物制品，就等于摄入了钙质。你没必要成杯成杯地喝牛奶，你还能怎么做呢？

有许多植物，包括很多蔬菜和水果都含钙质。现在，大家听好了；这是一个播客，所以大家可以反复回放。不想做笔记也没有关系。

但是要仔细听，我会给你们一个食物清单，你们应该会觉得惊奇。每8盎司羽衣甘蓝含有360毫克钙质，美国之外的听众或观众可能不知道，8美盎司相当于227克。

这是固体美盎司，跟液体美盎司不同。在美国，很多情况下，一份食物和饮料的常规量是8盎司。每8盎司大白菜含有160毫克钙质。这也相当于227克。

8盎司甘蓝含有180毫克钙质。8盎司大豆含有175毫克钙质。即使是橙子，一颗橙子中也含有55毫克钙质。重量相当于3美盎司，也就是约85克。所以，3盎司沙丁鱼含有325毫克钙质。仅仅85克，3盎司。竟然含325毫克钙质！3盎司三文鱼中含有180毫克钙质。

3盎司虾中，含有125毫克钙质，这个量很大。我还没提到奶制品。牛奶、奶酪和酸奶中都富含钙质。6盎司原味酸奶含有310毫克钙质，只是一份哦！

不管脂肪成分，一杯8盎司的牛奶——有人可能会说，是不是低脂，是不是2%含量？——我们不管脂肪含量，8盎司牛奶中含有310毫克钙质。8液体美盎司，大概相当于236毫升。1盎司马苏里拉奶酪竟然含有210毫克钙质，只1盎司！

1盎司切达奶酪含有205毫克钙质，4盎司农家干酪就含有125毫克。4盎司羊奶干酪含有140毫克钙质。我还没提到加钙食品。食品行业深知，往产品中添加钙质可以吸引更多女性消费者。

多数人不知道橙汁中含有钙质。当然了，他们也是刚刚才知道橙子含有钙质。但是，现在的加钙橙汁产品每4盎司含有150毫克钙质。当然了，如果杯子大的话，8盎司橙汁中含有的钙质会翻倍。

很多豆腐制品添加了钙质，每4盎司就含有205毫克钙质。很多人不摄入奶制品，可以购买杏仁露、大米露或豆奶。常规产品中，8盎司容积的包装瓶里添加了300毫克钙质。

食物中添加的钙质已经够多了。早餐麦片常常添加钙，可以额外提供100毫克钙质，有些麦片甚至每8盎司添加1000毫克钙质。我的意思是，现代饮食中含有很多钙质；跟镁和维生素D不同，钙质无处不在。这些加钙食物通常不加镁和维生素D，即使少数食品加入了这两种元素，它们与钙质的比例也不合理。好的，我们来探讨一下科学。

现在，特别是女性，我的意思是大家都听过，但女性听到的更多，你们需要钙质添加剂，因为它们可以确保骨骼健康，可以防止骨折，对不对？我了解了相关科学研究；我没时间去看所有报纸，报纸太多了，根本看不完。我在这里举一个例子。

英国医学期刊上发表了一篇报告，综述了44份优质论文。我说的优质是指，写作综述论文时，你需要考量所有的研究参数，因为如果它不符合某些参数，它就不具备综述资格。

共有44份论文，这44份论文都探讨了通过食物或/和钙质补充剂来补充钙质，与骨折风险的关联。这里是一个直接引用，“膳食性钙质摄入跟骨折风险不存在关联，没有临床试验证据表明，增加膳食性钙质摄入可以预防骨质。支持钙质补充剂防止骨质的证据不足且不连贯”。

另一份针对59份优质随机研究的综述论文得出类似结论，类似的综述论文还有很多。一个简单的事实是，科学说明，这里要抛弃集体思维。科学说明，骨质疏松不是钙质缺乏疾病！我知道，世界上的所有人都以为是，但这是错误的。

最新的科学证实，骨质疏松的导致因素更有可能是维生素D缺乏，而不是钙质缺乏。当然，如果维生素D和镁的含量不足，骨质疏松的可能性会更大。这跟钙质无关，而是跟维生素D和镁有关。

客观来说，我们需要了解这些研究的研究内容以及研究方式。正如我之前强调的，体内镁和维生素D含量不够的话，钙质就会变得一无所用，甚至带来潜在的危害。很多研究只研究了钙质；一些研究只研究了膳食性钙质，或只研究了膳食补充剂，或结合研究了两者。有些研究在一次的量中加入过多钙质。所以，如果你在一次的量中加入500毫克，身体无法一次吸收这多余的500毫克，人体科学研究也表明了这一点。

很多研究一次就加入了1000甚至1200毫克的量，这当然会导致数据偏差。我想告诉大家这些，是因为这是客观分析，不带任何目的。也要考虑到比例，这些研究也没有考虑到这一点。

所以，完全客观地说，我认为，膳食性钙质可以被人体很好地吸收，可以增加骨骼矿物质的密度。我认为有这方面的证据。如果镁和维生素含量能同时达到充足水平的话。我相信，膳食补充剂同样也是如此。

正如每个科学研究结束时所说的那样，未来还需要更多研究。因此，我不会直接说钙质补充剂危险而无用，我只会说不是所有人都需要钙质补充剂。因为现代饮食中已经含有大量钙质。如果你需要补充，你需要确保体内的维生素D和镁元素充足。

从通过食物摄入的钙质来看，我会选择含有镁和维生素D、但不含钙质的膳食补充剂。这是因为食物和我的个人选择会实现营养物质的均衡。

关于饮食，现代社会中很多人也会做这种选择。如果医生发现你血液中缺乏钙质，这意味着你需要补钙。这也可能意味着你需要镁和补维生素D。

如果通过骨质密度测试发现骨骼矿物密度正在下降，这可能意味着你需要补钙。也可能意味着你需要补充影响钙质吸收和利用的其中一个元素。或者是帮助锁住骨骼钙质的其中一个元素。不能简单地说所有女性都应该补钙。

好吧，说了这么多，我们已经确立一个基础。摄入过多钙质有什么风险？如果血液中的钙水平过高，会导致高钙血症。这种病症是由软组织中的钙化导致的。它会导致肾功能不全和肾结石，这还只是小问题。

我跟既生过孩子也得过胆结石和肾结石的女性们聊过。她们说，肾结石比生孩子和胆结石加起来还痛苦。你绝对不想无视有关钙摄入的最新科学发现，最后得上肾结石。钙质还会让粪便变硬，最后导致便秘。

正如在之前的播客中提到的那样，很多矿物质会相互作用。有些相互作用是有益的，有些则不是。平衡就是健康；我们需要实现血液中的营养物质平衡。钙质过多会抑制锌的吸收。也会抑制铁的吸收。这些当然都是严重的问题。

很多科学来源证实，通过膳食补充剂或食物摄入过多钙质，最终会使肾结石增加。更加令人吃惊的是，科学证据表明，高水平的钙摄入会增加前列腺癌的风险。我需要强调，目前的研究尚不能说明其中的原因。

另外，至少有六个研究认为，大量的钙摄入，特别是通过膳食补充剂的摄入，会增加心血管疾病的风险。我希望这期关于钙质的节目可以让你受益。

我相信，这期节目的很多信息会让大多数人大吃一惊。感谢收听Dr. Nugent报告，下次再见，我是Dr. Steve Nugent，向你传递安全、理性、客观的理念。

结语：            感谢收听本期Dr. Nugent报告。访问DrNugent.com，获取更多有关健康与营养的事实性信息。如有问题或反馈意见，可发送邮件至[email protected]。请在Facebook、Twitter和Instagram上关注@TheNugentreport。收听Dr. Nugent报告，获取事实性信息，资讯先人一步。

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Should you take iron supplements?

Welcome to the Nugent report, I’m Dr. Steve Nugent. On this podcast I’ll be addressing questions related to iron supplementation, including who should take iron supplements, food sources of iron, how much is required daily and how much is too much. I’ll also address pregnancy and prenatals as well as lactation. Finally, what are the risks of taking too much iron.

Several of my subscribers have written in to ask if they should take iron supplements. The short answer is yes if you need it and know if you don’t. Perhaps that sounds too simple, but there is much more you need to know. The fact is, iron is potentially lethal.

Iron is an essential nutrient and that means your body must have it, but your body is incapable of making it therefore it must be obtained from food or food supplements.

Unlike water-soluble vitamins that are flushed from the body if taken in excess, iron is a storable nutrient. If too much is stored (based on body weight), illness and death can result. For this reason, throughout my career I have always been cautious about iron supplementation and typically recommended against it in multis opting for proper diet recommendation or medical intervention where required. So, the answer is not as simple as it seems.

Most people have probably heard the phrase, “figures don’t lie, but liars use figures”. That’s a bit harsh perhaps for this subject because in many cases it’s not a question of a deliberate lie, but rather innocent misunderstanding or misinterpretations.

On the one hand, the most common mineral deficiency globally is iron, but that’s a bit misleading because in modern countries iron deficiency is not common. The total global figures take into account the populations of developing countries that may have insufficient food sources of iron.

According to the World Health Organization there are just over 1.6 billion people on planet Earth who are deficient in iron.(1)When that statistic was last updated by the WHO in 2008 there were fewer people on planet Earth, but the general averages remained the same today, because world food source conditions remain approximately the same.

According to the World Health Organization, preschool children make up 47.4% of the total and pregnant women make up 41.8% of the total, of people included in the total number of those deficient in iron. (1,2) Pregnancy is not a chronic condition and preschool children grow up. The other significant issue is menstruating females, which I’ll address shortly. When you examine the figures closely you see that less than 25% of people worldwide need iron supplementation in fact the World Health Organization says its 24.8%. Some need iron chronically but most do not. Turn that around and look at it from the other direction and it will tell you that just over 75% of the world’s population does not need iron supplementation daily and because iron in excess is extremely dangerous, that is the first and most important part of the argument against including iron in daily multiple vitamin mineral products.(1,2)

More is not always better. Too much iron poses a very serious danger. From 1980 to 1991 for example, iron in children’s dietary supplements was the leading cause of death by poisoning in the US for children six years of age or younger. Children’s chewable supplements were cute and tasty made with synthetic sweeteners. The childproof caps proved not to be childproof in all too many cases. (3) In 2020, the public was given a great deal of information about zinc and how important it is; however, the public was not told that too much iron can actually cause zinc anemia. I’ll come back to that idea shortly. For now, let’s examine the world health organization figures for better understanding.

If you break down the numbers according to age, gender, pregnancy, and available food sources, iron deficiency in modern countries with sufficient available food sources is rare without an accompanying medical condition. If you have an accompanying medical condition you should be under medical supervision not self-treating.

Menstruating females do experience significant loss of iron during menstruation but in most cases proper diet selection can replace the necessary iron. In countries where those food sources are either scarce or unavailable it does become a chronic health issue, and the supplementation is required.

Menstruation under healthy conditions, occurs approximately once every 28 days and may last 2 to 7 days but its typically 3 to 5 days of blood loss. The rest of the month, a woman’s blood supply can be restored through dietary selection in most cases. (4,5) The average woman loses between 30 to 180 ml, with an average of 80 ml for a normal menstrual period (6)

According to scientific study, approximately 90% of women lose 1.4 mg or less of iron per day through a normal menstrual cycle, eating 3 ounces of dark chocolate gives you 7 mgs. (6,7,5) With these stats in mind only women with other medical complication or women who live in regions with insufficient food sources of iron need iron supplementation. One other exception would be vegetarians and vegans which I will cover shortly.

Then there is the genetic factor to take into consideration. According to the US National Institutes of Health, National Genome Research Institute, approximately 10% of Earth’s population have a gene for hereditary hemochromatosis, also known as iron overload disease. The people most likely to carry this gene are Caucasians of Northern European descent, but its seen in other races as well. Having the gene however is not a guarantee that an individual will suffer from the disease.

Hereditary hemochromatosis is typically abbreviated as HH, and the gene in question is called HFE. Most cases of hemochromatosis result from a common mutation in the HFE gene, known as C282Y, but other mutations have also been identified. (8)

A child who inherits two copies of the mutated gene (one from each parent) is highly likely to develop the disease, but it’s still not a certainty. Those who carry two copies of the mutated gene but are asymptomatic are referred to as silent carriers. Those individuals of course can still pass the gene onto their children.

If two parents are silent carriers it is estimated that there is an approximately 25% chance of the child inheriting two copies of the defective gene and developing the disease. According to the experts, silent carriers may remain asymptomatic throughout their life unless they develop diabetes or alcoholism. Individuals with hereditary hemochromatosis require medical intervention. Without proper medical intervention individuals with hemochromatosis can develop diabetes, heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver, liver cancer and joint disease and even organ failure. (8) If a person suffers from hereditary hemochromatosis, they require medical care plain and simple, and the last thing you want to do is have them take a multiple vitamin mineral product fortified with iron.

People with iron anemia, and abnormal menstruation also need to be under medical supervision. Approximately 75% of the population will do fine with iron from food and simply don’t need iron supplements. (1). So, in my view, the majority of the world should not be supplementing iron unless they need it and most of those individuals need to be under medical supervision. They should not be self-treating!

Then we come to the complications that can be caused by creating imbalances in your biochemistry.

In nutritional biochemistry there are catalysts, synergist’s and antagonists. As I have been saying for more than 40 years in my lectures, “the key to wellness is balance” and the body is always attempting to maintain homeostasis which is simply a fancy way of saying balance. If your iron levels go up too high, you can drive down your zinc and if your zinc levels go to high it can drive down your copper. It’s important that diet and dietary supplements are part of an intelligently designed daily health plan with the goal of maintaining healthy balance. (9,10,11)

The recommended dietary allowance of iron is listed below so I won’t go into detail here. It’s a common myth that females always need more iron than males, this is incorrect. Females between the ages of 14 and 50 as well as women who are pregnant or lactating do require more iron than males at the same age.

However, the rest of the time males and females have equal requirements as an example, between the ages of 7 and 12 months, males and females both require 11 mg of iron daily which necessary for cognitive development as well as other factors. Between the ages of 1 and 3, the iron requirements are reduced to 7 mgs daily. Growth and development requirements again increase between the ages of 4 and 8 years when the minimum daily recommendation then goes up to 10 mg daily. Go to my website drnugent.com for more details.

Table 1: Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for Iron [5]

How much is too much?

You’ve heard me talk before on previous podcasts about the tolerable upper intake levels which is typically written as Uls. This is the maximum level that can be tolerated as identified by age and gender as well as pregnancy and lactation for any given nutrient. Refer to the table on drnugent.com for specifics, but for both male and female from birth through age 13 the maximum safe upper limit is 40 mg. From age 14 and older the maximum safe upper limit is 45 mg this is also considered the maximum safe upper limit for both pregnancy and lactation. You can consult the Food Nutrition Board for further details. As I’ve been saying for decades in my lectures, “more is not always better”.

Table 3: Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (ULs) for Iron [5]

What foods contain iron?

okay so now you might be thinking, what food sources you should be eating to get sufficient daily iron. A list of foods provided by the US Department of Agriculture’s Food data central is posted on drugent.com along with a transcript of this podcast. Many people are happy to see that dark chocolate is an excellent source of iron some people are less pleased to see that beef liver is also a very significant source of iron.

As is the case with a significant number of nutrients, animal products provide greater levels than vegetables. However, if you take the time to educate yourself properly and do intelligent food selection, you can live a very healthy life as a vegetarian. The problem however is that many vegetarians do not take the time or effort to properly study diet and food sources and as a result frequently come up deficient in a variety of nutrients. I had a significant number of patients when I was in practice who were either vegans or vegetarians. Almost universally the complaints and problems were the same. Deficiencies in iron, B12 and folic acid were most common but not exclusive.

Regardless of your dietary philosophy you’re first a person and then whatever other label you choose to wear. People regardless of their dietary philosophies tend to choose the foods they like to eat, and surveys show us that people tend to narrow their diets as a result. When it comes to healthy diet, variety is extremely important, and most people simply don’t do it.

I would point out one of the principal differences between vegans and vegetarians is that vegans tend to be highly disciplined and very aware of nutrition sources in food, whereas vegetarians more often than not have simply adopted a fad or a philosophy and do not take the appropriate steps to protect their health, even though they boast to their friends that they are smarter and have made healthier choices because they chose to be a vegetarian. So, vegetarians in general can often benefit from some education from vegans.

Animal protein and organ meat always contain iron, because iron is essential to live. When I say animal protein, I’m not just including land mammals but also seafood and fowl. Generally speaking, the redder the meat the higher the iron.

For the vegetarians, you’ll be happy to know that lentils, spinach, tofu and kidney beans also contain significant amounts of iron. So, it is definitely possible to maintain healthy levels of iron on a vegan or vegetarian diet, if you know how to select your foods correctly.

* DV = Daily Value.

Consult the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) FoodData Central [12] for lists of foods and nutrient content.

Could I have an iron deficiency?

You might also be wondering if you are potentially at risk for iron deficiency. As is the case with many nutrients, vegans and vegetarians are always towards the top of the list of people who may experience mineral or vitamin deficiency. I say it in that order because minerals occur in very low levels in vegetable material generally speaking. Scientific study also shows us that even with minerals from food, the absorption rate and bioavailability is relatively low and we also know that the majority of people with the exception of vegans and vegetarians do not consume sufficient levels of vegetables or for that matter even fruits.

As I have already outlined, this potentially includes pregnant women, infants and young children, as well as women with abnormally heavy menstrual bleeding. Also, at risk are cancer patients, people who have had gastrointestinal surgery, people suffer from gastrointestinal disorders, patients with chronic heart failure and vegetarians.

With the exception of vegetarians, all the groups previously mentioned should be under medical supervision and not self-treating. I didn’t mention one of the obvious categories and that would be individuals who regularly donate blood. Obviously, they need to rebuild their blood supply by supplementing iron or increasing foods in their daily diet that contain iron.

It’s important in my view to spend some time discussing the issue of prenatal supplementation because I am frequently asked by women who only want to take natural supplements and as a result do not take the prenatal multiple vitamin mineral products that their doctors have prescribed. My strongest possible recommendation is that if a woman is pregnant, she needs to be under medical supervision and she needs to take a prenatal vitamin mineral supplement as directed by her physician. Do not, I repeat do not compromise with this.

If you examine a prenatal side-by-side with the average multi-you will see some obvious differences. A child’s life is literally at stake if mom does not provide sufficient nutrition to the fetus. There has been a great deal of discussion about folic acid deficiency and birth defects, but I’ve run into very few women who have been educated on the risk of low iron during pregnancy and lactation. There is a portion of the brain that requires iron to form. If a child in the womb is shortchanged on iron they will be shortchanged for life in terms of reaching their full cognitive potential! Low iron during pregnancy can also impair behavioral development. Don’t let that happen! (13-16)

The most common and obvious problem observed in women who have iron deficiency during pregnancy is premature birth and low birth weights (17)

The US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found that even in the US where food sources of iron are abundant, 18% of pregnant women were iron deficient. The need for iron approximately doubles each trimester. (18) Ladies take your prenatal’s as directed by your physician! No compromise, period, full stop!

I’m not going to spend the time to discuss natural versus synthetic in this podcast. I will do this in another future podcast. My subscribers know that they can trust me to give them objective validated information for their health. There is no science whatsoever (if you know how to read the science) that indicates that a prenatal would be dangerous and yes, they will contain synthetics. There is also a big misunderstanding as it relates to natural versus organic mineral supplements and absorption, in fact you will likely be surprised when you hear the facts. Once again I’ll cover this in another podcast but for now, ladies, take your prenatal as directed you will be doing a very significant favor for your child, not just to get them through the birthing process but literally for the rest of their lives.

There is a great deal more to discuss when it comes to the benefits and potential risks of iron supplementation, but this is a podcast not an encyclopedic reference. You now have the basics, and you know why throughout my career I have recommended against supplementing iron daily unless you fall into one of the categories previously mentioned. Virtually in all of those cases mentioned except two, the individuals who need iron supplementation should also be under medical supervision. If dietary supplementation is required than it needs to be done safely and effectively. Sometimes like it or not, this means you need to be under medical supervision.

Looking at global statistics it’s clear that more than 75% of the world’s population does not need iron supplementation and there is a potential risk with excessive iron intake, for this reason, iron supplementation as part of a general multiple vitamin mineral support program simply doesn’t make sense.

I hope you found this podcast enlightening and important for your health needs. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Nugent report. Until next time this is Dr. Steve Nugent, urging you to be safe, be sensible and be objective.

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Are you looking for the science behind health and nutrition? Welcome to this episode of the Nugent report, a definitive source for objective information on health and nutrition, featuring Dr. Steve Nugent the renowned psychologist, author, public speaker, and expert on science, health, wellness, and nutrition. Be sure to visit our website at drnuget.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @thenugentreport.

Hello my friends, welcome to another episode of the Nugent report. I’m Dr. Steve Nugent. In this episode, we are going to conclude our series on vitamin D and magnesium. You may remember in part three of this series, I explained to you the differences between a nutrient deficiency and nutrient inadequacy. That podcast addressed the vitamin D, but in this podcast, we’ll focus on magnesium first we’ll address deficiencies. Magnesium deficiency typically needs to become quite severe before a person starts to show any symptoms. One of the many duties of the kidneys is to limit the amount of magnesium that can be excreted at any time. Individuals who are alcohol dependent or who consume consistently high levels of alcohol are among the first to become magnesium deficient. Another group that’s at risk, but rarely gets the attention that they require. In my opinion, or individuals who are using proton pump inhibitors or PPIs have also discussed this. Previously, these drugs are used to kill the acid producing pumps in the stomach are typically prescribed for chronic heartburn and acid reflux.

They also contribute very significantly to magnesium deficiency. In my opinion, it’s prudent for individuals to supplement magnesium. If they’re using PPIs chronically the prescribing physician may or may not be aware of this. Once again, remember the amount of magnesium in your blood is only 1% of the total magnesium. And if that’s the only investigation your physician is doing, it’s probable that he or she may not know that you need to supplement more magnesium people with type two diabetes, by the way, are also often prone to magnesium deficiencies. If you’re in one of these categories, I would advise to ask your physician, if he or she thinks that you should be supplementing magnesium at request the appropriate tests, ultimately your health decisions should be made jointly between you and your physician. At this point, you might be thinking, how would I know if I’m deficient? What kind of indicators might I look for?

Once again, my first recommendation is consult your physician and get the appropriate tests. But there are some indicators that might motivate you to talk to your physician, perhaps a little bit sooner. Keep in mind that nutritional biochemistry is not a set of absolutes and symptoms can vary between individuals. So having one of the long list of symptoms, doesn’t confirm that you have a deficiency, nor is it necessary for you to have all of the symptoms to confer that you have a deficiency. So I’ll give you a list of things, fatigue, weakness, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite. These are all common. And they’re common in the early stages of deficiency. The longer the deficiency goes on. And the more deficient you become, you may begin to experience symptoms that relate to the nervous system, such as numbness or tingling, or even seizures in extreme cases. Remembering that muscles require magnesium to relax, calcium causes your muscles to contract.

You may begin to experience muscle contractions that some people describe as Charlie horses. Muscle cramps may occur if you are deficient in magnesium. Remembering that magnesium is essential to brain health, you may be experiencing personality changes, particularly anxiety. Returning to the idea that your heart is the most important muscle cardiac arrhythmia may also occur. Once again, as I’ve cautioned before cardiac arrhythmia may have several different causes. So consult your physician if your heart is not beating in normal rhythm and make sure that you get the appropriate tests from that physician. Remember also that magnesium is required for the transport of calcium and potassium. This may result in something called hypocalcemia, which is low calcium or hypokalemia, which is low potassium. And finally, remember my theory that many people with vitamin D deficiencies actually require magnesium supplementation to solve those deficiencies.

There are also several gastrointestinal disorders that can cause chronic diarrhea and fat malabsorption individuals who suffer from these conditions may find themselves deficient in magnesium. It’s also important to note that individuals who have had gastrointestinal bypass or resection, they also become magnesium deficient as mentioned previously, magnesium is essential to produce energy through glycolysis. It’s also essential to maintain normal, healthy blood sugar through a rather complex set of steps in type two diabetics, depending on the amount of insulin that they are producing, as well as people with insulin resistance, the kidneys may excrete higher than normal amounts of magnesium as a result of these concentrations of glucose in the kidneys. So this can also contribute to magnesium deficiency. According to study, as we age, our intake of magnesium reduces to compound the problem. Typically magnesium absorption decreases and magnesium excretion from the kidneys increases. And these can be significant contributing factors to magnesium deficiency in the elderly.

Let’s talk about high blood pressure. There are those in the nutritional community that will swear by magnesium or lowering blood pressure. If you study the mechanics, it’s very logical to assume that it would have a positive effect on blood pressure. There are some medical studies. However, that show that the effect is small, although positive. Why is there a difference? The study is only as good as its design. And as I’ve mentioned before, and will no doubt say often in the future, garbage in garbage out, that’s a common phrase taught to new information technology students in college. It applies to scientific study as well. You can have a brilliant researcher. The researcher may be a master of statistics, but if that researcher begins with a design or begins with information, which is flawed, then their testing method is going to be flood. They will end up with a flood result since magnesium is an intracellular mineral, and only 1% of your body’s total magnesium is found in the serum.

The studies that measuring serum magnesium as their only gauge for change already sacrificed the possibility of having complete data and virtually in none of those cases with any researchers I’ve spoken with. Were they aware that there are better ways to test for magnesium, including what I’ve previously discussed regarding red blood cell magnesium tests? So whenever I look at a study on magnesium absorption, the first thing I look at is their testing methods. There are many forms of baggies available for supplementation as well, and that can also affect the results of a scientific study. Some forms of magnesium supplements are not well absorbed. Well, others have almost astounding absorption rates. Sometimes when there’s a lack of solid data, assumptions are made based on correlation. As an example, patients using proton pump inhibitors for acid reflux may become deficient in magnesium over time. However, we must also factor in that they are continuing to age as well.

This means that their ability to efficiently digest is almost certainly decreasing with age at the same time. So we need to separate the reduction in magnesium absorption due to age factors versus reduction in magnesium absorption, due to acid reflux, drugs, or magnesium absorption, as it’s known in various forms of magnesium dietary supplements, all of these variables have to be considered in the beginning of this series of podcasts on magnesium and vitamin D. We of course started speaking about osteoporosis. Most people, when you say bone health, the reflex response is to think calcium. However, as we have previously covered, magnesium is required to transport calcium ions to the bone. And magnesium is also required for the conversion and utilization of vitamin D. So this brings us back to the beginning. Scientific studies are quite expensive. There has to be a significant motivation to spend that money.

This is what are more studies on drugs than there are on nutrients. It’s also why some nutrients have very few studies women all over the planet have been thoroughly psychologically conditioned to believe that they need more calcium for bone health. Most of them have no idea that other nutrients are required. So many studies on calcium bone, but many fewer on magnesium in bone health. One notable study done on post-menopausal women showed that adding 290 milligrams a day of magnesium in the form of magnesium citrate [inaudible] suppressed bone cell turnover, as compared to the placebo. What does that mean in play? Like it means that this is an indicator of supplemental magnesium decreasing bone loss in post-menopausal women. By the way, calcium [inaudible] is not as well absorbed as some other forms of calcium. So the numbers in this study have they used a different, better absorbed form of calcium might’ve been much stronger. Remember garbage in, garbage out.

Finally, let’s end this segment about magnesium by talking about the potential toxicity if you take too much. Throughout my career, I’ve been asked the same common questions. When talking about dietary supplements, what do I take? How much do I take? How long will it take for me to get results? And also ask questions about safety on a pretty regular basis. One of those questions is how much is too much? Magnesium toxicity is quite where toxic effects of magnesium or typically experienced in doses greater than 5,000 milligrams per day. That’s for people with normal kidney function. But for those with impaired kidney function, symptoms of toxicity may come at much lower amounts. But my friends, this concludes the series on vitamin D and magnesium. I hope you found this information useful. I hope you will apply it to your personal health program. Until next time, be safe, be sensible, be objective.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Nugent report. Visit our website at drnugent.com for more objective facts about health and nutrition and email your questions and feedback to [email protected]. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at the Nugent report. Stay informed, get the facts with the Nugent report.

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Dr. Nugent报告，以科学方式分析健康与营养。欢迎收听本期“Dr. Nugent报告”，本节目由Dr. Steve Nugent博士主讲，为您提供健康和营养方面的优质客观信息。Dr. Steve Nugent是著名的心理学家、作家、公共演说家，也是科学、健康、保健和营养方面的专家。请访问我们的网站drnuget.com，并在Facebook、Twitter和Instagram上关注@TheNugentreport。

观众朋友们，大家好！欢迎收听新一期的Dr. Nugent报告。我是Dr. Steve Nugent。本期节目是“维生素D和镁”系列的最后一讲。大家可能记得，在本系列的第三讲中，我解释了营养缺乏和营养不足的区别。那期播客讨论了维生素D，但在本期播客中，我们将关注镁。我们先来讨论一下镁缺乏症。镁缺乏如果出现症状，说明情况已经相当严重。肾脏的功能之一是限制镁的排放量。酒精依赖人群或持续摄入高浓度酒精的人群最容易缺镁。我认为，还有一个通常被忽视的风险群体，即正在使用质子泵抑制剂的人群，我们之前也讨论过这个问题。在以前，此类药物常用来抑制胃酸，用于治疗慢性胃灼热和反酸。

这类药物会在很大程度上导致镁缺乏症。在我看来，补镁是一种审慎做法。如果患者长期使用质子泵抑制剂，开药医生对此可能不十分清楚。再次强调一下，血液中的镁含量只占总镁量的1%。如果医生只要求做血液镁检测，那么他们很可能不知道你有补充镁的需求。顺便说一下，患有二型糖尿病的人，也容易出现镁缺乏症。如果你属于其中的一类人群，建议去问一下医生，进行适当的检测，并询问有无补充镁的必要。事关健康的决定最终应该由你和医生共同作出。这时候大家可能会想，我如何知道自己是否缺乏镁？我要留意哪些症状？

再次强调，我建议大家首先去咨询医生并进行适当的检测。但是，如果一些症状已经出现，大家应当尽快去看医生。请记住，营养生物化学并不绝对，各种症状可能因人而异。如果出现众多症状中的一个，并不能证实你有缺乏症；同样，如果患有缺乏症，并不意味着所有症状都会出现。所以，在此我给大家列出一个症状清单：疲劳、虚弱、恶心、呕吐、食欲不振。这些症状在缺乏症早期阶段很常见。患缺乏症的时间越长，缺乏症就越严重。你可能会出现神经系统症状，如麻木或耳鸣，甚至在极端情况下会出现癫痫。记住，肌肉需要镁来放松，钙会导致肌肉收缩。

你可能会开始感到肌肉收缩，有人将其形容为肌肉痉挛。如果缺乏镁，可能会出现肌肉痉挛。记住，镁对大脑健康必不可少，缺镁可能会导致性格变化，特别是焦虑。再说一遍，心肌是最重要的肌肉，缺镁的话，心律失常也可能发生。我之前谈到过，导致心律失常的原因有很多。因此，如果心脏跳动节奏不正常，要咨询医生，并确保从医生那里得到适当的检测。还要记住，由于钙和钾的运输需要镁，这可能会导致低钙血症或低钾血症。最后，记住我说的，许多缺乏维生素D的人实际上需要镁补充剂。

一些胃肠道疾病会导致慢性腹泻和脂肪吸收不良，患有这些疾病的人可能缺镁。同样需要注意的是，做过胃旁路或胃切除手术的人，也容易缺镁。正如之前所说，镁是通过糖酵解产生能量的必要条件。二型糖尿病患者需要通过复杂步骤维持正常健康的血糖水平，这取决于他们所产生的胰岛素量，而对于具有胰岛素抗性的人群，他们的肾脏排出的镁高于正常值，因此会导致肾脏中葡萄糖聚积。这也会导致镁缺乏症。根据研究，随着年龄的增长，我们摄入的镁减少，从而使问题更加复杂。通常情况下，吸收的镁减少，肾脏排出的镁增加，而这些都可能是导致老年人缺镁的重要因素。

我们谈一下高血压问题。营养学界有一些人认为，镁可以降低血压。如果研究一下其中的原理，自然会认为它对血压具有积极影响。相关的医学研究也有一些。然而，它们表明，效果虽然是积极的，但却不明显。差异为什么存在？研究的好坏取决于设计。正如我之前提到，以后一定也会经常提及的一句话：胡乱摄入的结果是胡乱排出，这是大学里信息技术专业新生常听到的一句话。它也适用于科学研究。研究人员可能很出色，他们也许是统计学专家，但如果采用了有漏洞的设计，那么他们的检测方法将糟糕透顶。他们最终会获得一个糟糕透顶的结果，因为镁是一种细胞内矿物质，而血清中只含有人体镁总量的1%。

将血清镁检测作为唯一衡量标准的研究本身就缺失完整的数据，并且，我所交谈过的所有研究人员都未能意识到还有更好的检测镁含量的方法，包括我之前谈论过的红细胞镁检测。因此，每当看到有关镁吸收的研究时，我首先会留意其中的检测方法。各种形式的补充剂也很多，这些也会影响科学研究的结果。一些形式的镁补充剂不易吸收，另外一些镁补充剂则具有惊人的吸收效果。有时，如果可靠数据不足，人们便会根据相关性做出假设。例如，长期使用质子泵抑制剂治疗反酸的患者可能会缺镁。然而，我们还必须考虑到，他们也在不断衰老。

这意味着，他们的消化能力可能随着年龄的增长也在下降。因此，我们需要把年龄因素所导致的镁吸收减少，与治疗反酸药物所导致的镁吸收减少区分开来，还要考虑膳食性镁补充剂的形式带来的影响。在“镁和维生素D”系列播客的一开始，我们要对所有这些因素加以考虑。当然，我们需要谈一下骨质疏松症。对于大多数人来说，一提到骨骼健康，他们的第一反应是钙。正如我们之前所讲的，要将钙离子运输到骨骼，镁必不可少。维生素D的转换和利用也需要镁，所以，我们又回到了起点。科学研究的成本相当高昂，因此背后的研究动机要足够重大。

因此，针对药物的研究要多于对营养素的研究。也正是因为如此，针对某些营养素的研究很少。全世界的女性已经从心理上默认，她们需要更多钙质来保证骨骼健康。她们中的大多数人并不知道，她们还需要其他营养物质。关于骨骼钙的研究很多，但关于镁在骨骼健康中所起作用的研究却很少。一项针对绝经后女性的著名研究表明，与安慰剂相比，每天以柠檬酸镁螯合物的形式补充290毫克镁，可以抑制骨细胞更新。这实际意味着什么？它意味着，补充镁可以减少绝经后女性的骨质流失。顺便说一下，与其他形式的钙相比，柠檬酸钙螯合物不易吸收。因此，如果在这项研究中他们使用了不同的、更易吸收的钙形式，那么数据可能会更显著。请记住，胡乱摄入的结果是胡乱排出。

在关于镁这一主题的结尾部分，我们来谈谈过量补镁可能导致的毒性。在我的职业生涯中，我常常被问到这样的问题：我该服用什么膳食补充剂？该服用多少？多久能见效？我也经常被问到安全方面的问题。其中一个问题是：多少算是过量？如果每天补充超过5000毫克的剂量，镁会显现毒性。这是对肾功能正常的人而言。对于肾功能受损的人来说，更小的剂量就足以导致毒性症状。朋友们，关于“维生素D和镁”的系列节目到此结束。希望这些信息能帮到大家。希望大家将其应用到个人健康计划中。下期见，请多保重，保持理性，保持客观。

感谢收听本期Dr. Nugent报告。访问DrNugent.com，获取更多有关健康与营养的事实性信息。如有问题或反馈意见，可发送邮件至[email protected]。请在Facebook、Twitter和Instagram上关注Dr. Nugent报告。获取事实性信息，资讯先人一步。

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Did you perform the science behind health and nutrition? Welcome to this episode of the Nugent report, a definitive source for objective information on health and nutrition, featuring Dr. Steve Nugent, the renowned psychologist, author, public speaker, and an expert on science, health, wellness, and nutrition. Be sure to visit our website at drnugent.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @thenugentreport.

Friends, welcome to another episode of the Nugent report. I’m Dr. Steve Nugent. This is part four in our series on vitamin D and magnesium. And what we’re going to do in this part is we’re going to be answering some questions about how much magnesium you need by age and gender, what the food sources of magnesium or, and the benefits of magnesium first, what is magnesium? Well, magnesium is an essential mineral, as I’ve explained previously, essential means your body must have it, but your body cannot make it. So it must be obtained from a source outside of your body. In the case of magnesium, preferably it would be from food, but as I will discuss, the majority of people are not getting sufficient magnesium from diet alone. So we must also discuss the idea of food supplements since the body is incapable of producing minerals, the list of essential minerals are well quite low.

In fact, you would think they’re all of equal importance. If your health will decline at that decline could eventually result in death because you are significantly deficient in an essential mineral, then they must all be of little value, right? Well, maybe not. In fact, magnesium is towards the very top of my list. If I could find the time, I could probably take some real joy at writing an entire book about magnesium and its functions. However, a podcast must be by its nature. Magnesium is one of those nutrients where I would say to someone in a social setting, don’t get me started on that mineral because it could take me orders to explain it. Well, we will take hours at this podcast. In my lectures globally many people have heard me talk about enzymes and in most cases, the discussions have been around digestive enzymes.

However, there are thousands of enzymes. Only a small number have anything to do with digestion. Remembering my statement that no nutrient is an island onto itself. Magnesium is one of those examples. Magnesium is an essential cofactor in at least 300 different enzymes. The systems regulate a very wide range of crucial functions in the body. Some of which we will cover in the next few minutes, magnesium is an intracellular mineral. That means it functions inside of cells, not just in serum or blood. So as an [inaudible] mineral it’s essential for really an astounding number of biochemical reactions in your body. And we may only be able to touch on the surface of those in this spot. The majority of people that I’ve interacted with more than 40 countries seem to have their understanding of magnesium, generally limited to LC of utilization. There are a few exceptions, of course, however, it’s rare to find someone who understands the broad range of functions of this incredibly important mineral.

Through my career every time I’ve recommended magnesium, the first literally knee-jerk reaction that I’ll get will be something to the effect of when I take a calcium magnesium product or there’s calcium magnesium in my multiple vitamin, then I have to explain to them that calcium will use up whatever magnesium it requires for transport. And if you require additional magnesium or specific functions of calcium, magnesium supplement will typically not do the job. It’s absolutely true that calcium ions cannot be transported without magnesium. And therefore magnesium is as important for bone health as calcium is. In fact, there are some experts who are telling us that the modern diet provides too much calcium. I know you haven’t heard that before, but they’re telling us that the modern diet is giving us far too much calcium for many people and far too little magnesium. Some of those experts are recommending that we stopped supplementing calcium and increased supplementation of magnesium.

I’ll discuss this idea in further detail later, anyone who’s ever had a heart attack or a heart attack victim has at least some limited knowledge of the importance of potassium. But you may not know that potassium like calcium can only be transported by interacting with magnesium few people know. And I can tell you from my lectures, that few doctors know that magnesium is also a central for blood sugar control. What pressure regulation, protein synthesis. Yes, normal, healthy levels of blood sugar and blood pressure are both impacted and are significantly dependent on the presence of magnesium. The process, as it relates to blood sugar is called [inaudible]. And it’s an enzymatic process, which involves magnesium in 10 primary steps. Each with a separate enzyme. I won’t get into the full complexity of glycolysis in this podcast, but rather just give you some basics.

You will recognize some of the things that I’m about to discuss. It begins with glucose, which is then converted to pirate Bay. And then the steps continue so that you have the production of something called ATP, the full name of it, which is a Adenosine triphosphate it also results in the production of something called an NDH, which is nicotine [inaudible] nucleotide. I think you could see why dietary supplement companies simply use the letters NDH on the label. This multi-step process is too complex to cover the podcast, but suffice it to say that energy production through glycolysis will not occur with a magnesium. Yes, the very same mineral required for relaxation and sleep is also required to produce energy. It’s all about which enzyme systems it’s reacting with. Magnesium is also essential for [inaudible] oxidative stress because it’s part of the essential process of your body to produce its own [inaudible].

When you hear the letters DNA, of course, it conjures up lots of genetics, which is correct, but you may not know that magnesium is required for its production. In fact, magnesium is required for the synthesis of both DNA, the Deoxyribonucleic acid, and RNA that’s Ribonucleic acid. Magnesium is also vital for muscle function. The most important muscle of your body obviously is your heart muscle because magnesium is required for nervous system function. It is also essential for the regulation of your heart rhythm. Sometimes arrhythmia or the heart out of rhythm means that you have a deficiency in magnesium, but that is not always the case. There’s a caution here for everyone. Arrhythmia can be caused by a number of different factors. So if you’re experiencing irregular heartbeat, contact your physician right away, go fool around with this, get an expert opinion at the appropriate tests as quickly as possible.

What about muscle preps? Well, again, most people think calcium first calcium causes your muscles to contract and magnesium causes your muscles to relax. Very often. Muscle spasms and muscle prepping is due to having insufficient magnesium in the muscle. Adding more calcium for the crabs may actually make things worse. Remember the previous discussion on blood tests with magnesium. Although serum calcium is an accurate way to evaluate your calcium levels. Serum magnesium is typically not. It has been my experience at working with physicians for decades, that many of them had no idea how crucial magnesium was or that patients in particular situations required supplemental magnesium, because they relied on serum magnesium as their only gauge, which almost always shows normal since only 1% of your body’s total magnesium is in your blood. This goes back to one of my earlier questions in the series of episodes.

When someone is showing a deficiency on vitamin D, do they really need magnesium supplementation? It’s been my experience that they often do. On drnugent.com you will find the tables you need for reference, the dealer requirements from the food nutrition board or F and B of the American national academies and the food sources from the US department of agriculture, better known as the USDA. Magnesium is required at every age and as you will see from the reference charts on this website, there are some pretty significant increases in magnesium required at certain ages, starting with the minimum requirement for infants up to six months, old of 30 milligrams daily, by the time a person reaches the age of 31 males require a minimum of 420 milligrams and females 320 milligrams. As I mentioned before, generally not always males require higher levels of most nutrients than females.

If you’re pregnant nursing, you will want to consult the chart because that differs not only between those two factors, but also with age. And those two factors is I always say the best way to get your nutrition is from food, that after all is the way your body was designed. However, as we’ve already established, the modern diet often provides a less than adequate levels of various nutrients and that’s why we turn to supplements. On drnugent.com. You will see a chart of common food sources for magnesium provided by the national institutes of health, how you adjust your personal diet and the choices you make is entirely up to you. But if you’re getting less than adequate levels of magnesium from your dietary choices, you need to start supplementing magnesium right away, depending on which source you consult. You may see authors that say as few as 48% of people, or as many as 70% of the population are getting less than adequate levels of magnesium from diet alone.

The reason these numbers vary so much, just because of the way they’re making their comparisons, suffice it to say the majority of people are probably not getting sufficient magnesium from diet alone. My experience from using RBC magnesium, as well as serum magnesium, is that the numbers lean closer to the 70% Mark, but we’re not going to split hairs in this podcast. I’ve provided you with the information regarding the minimum daily requirements and the food sources. So now the rest is up to you ensure that you get the appropriate tests. If you’re experiencing any symptoms such as heart arrhythmia, make sure that you see your physician and get the appropriate tests don’t fool around with this. My friends, your health is your most valuable thing. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Nugent report until next time, be safe, be sensible and be objective.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Nugent report. Visit our website at drnugent.com for more objective facts about health and nutrition and email your questions and feedback to [email protected]. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @thenugentreport. Stay informed, get the facts with the Nugent report.

English | 简体中文

Dr. Nugent报告，以科学方式分析健康与营养。欢迎收听本期“Dr. Nugent报告”，本节目由Dr. Steve Nugent主讲，为您提供健康和营养方面的优质客观信息。Dr. Steve Nugent是著名的心理学家、作家、公共演说家，也是科学、健康、保健和营养方面的专家。请访问我们的网站DrNugent.com，并在Facebook、Twitter和Instagram上关注@TheNugentreport。

朋友们，大家好！欢迎收听新一期的Dr. Nugent报告。我是Dr. Steve Nugent。这是“维生素D和镁”系列的第四讲。在这一讲，我们要回答一些问题：不同年龄和性别对镁元素的需求量有什么差异？镁的食物来源有哪些？镁有什么作用？但首先，我们先来回答什么是镁？镁是一种必需矿物质，我之前解释过，“必需”意味着人体需要但却无法自己产生，因此只能从外界获取。就镁而言，最好通过食物获取，但正如我将要谈论的，大多数人仅通过饮食无法获得足够的镁。因此，我们还必须讨论食品补充剂，因为人体无法产生矿物质，必需矿物质的清单比较短。

事实上，你会认为，所有必需矿物质具有同等的重要性。如果矿物质含量减少，健康状况也会下降，严重缺乏一种必需矿物质，可能会最终导致死亡。这么来看，它们都是有同等价值的，对吧？也许不对。事实上，在我的清单上，镁的重要性十分靠前。如果我有时间，我可能会十分乐意写一整本关于镁及其功能的书籍。但播客有着播客的特点。如果在公众场合被问及镁方面的问题，我会回答：不要让我讨论镁这种矿物质，因为一时讲不完。这期播客也需要几个小时。在我的全球演讲中，很多人都听过我谈论酶，大多数情况下，我都是围绕消化酶展开的。

然而，酶有成千上万种。只有一小部分酶与消化有关。记住我的话，任何营养素都不是孤立存在的。镁就是其中一个例子。镁是至少300种酶必不可少的辅因子。这些系统调节着众多关键人体功能。在接下来的几分钟内，我们会讲到其中一些酶。镁是一种细胞内矿物质。这意味着，它不仅可以在血清或血液中发挥作用，还可以在细胞内发挥作用。因此，作为一种细胞内矿物质，它对人体内的众多生物化学反应而言必不可少。我们在这里可能只能粗浅探讨一下。我到过40多个国家，接触过的大多数人对镁的理解通常都局限于镁在腹腔镜胆囊切除手术中的应用。当然，也有少数例外，然而，很少有人真正了解这种重要矿物质的广泛功能。

在我的职业生涯中，每当我推荐镁时，大家的本能回答是：我在服用钙镁产品，或者，我的复合维生素中含有钙镁，那时我就必须向他们解释，那些镁全部都用于运输钙了。如果大家需要补镁或者补钙，镁补充剂通常不起作用。没有镁，就无法运输钙离子，这毋庸置疑。因此，镁对骨骼健康的重要性不亚于钙。事实上，一些专家正试图告诉我们，现代饮食中的钙质含量过多。我知道，大家之前没有听说过这种说法，但他们正在告诉我们，对许多人而言，现代饮食提供了过多钙，镁却极少。其中一些专家建议，我们应当停止补钙，而增加镁的补充。

我将在后面详细谈论这个观点。经历过心脏病发作的人或心脏病患者都多多少少知道钾的重要性，但大家可能不知道，像钙一样，钾只能通过与镁的相互作用来实现运输——很少有人知道这点。而且我可以告诉大家，很少有医生知道，镁还是血糖控制、血压调节、蛋白质合成的关键矿物质。是的，正常健康的血糖和血压水平都明显依赖于镁。这个过程因为与血糖有关，因此被称为糖酵解。这是一种酶解过程，有10个主要步骤涉及到镁。每个步骤都涉及一种酶。本期播客不会讨论糖酵解的复杂过程，而是提供一些基本知识。

我下面要讨论的内容大家可能会觉得熟悉。首先从葡萄糖谈起，葡萄糖被氧化的时候会产生ATP，ATP的全称是三磷酸腺苷，它可产生NADH，也就是尼古丁核苷酸烟碱酰胺腺嘌呤二核苷酸。我想，大家应该明白膳食补充剂公司在标签上使用字母NADH的原因。本播客无法展现这个复杂的多步骤过程，但我们可以得出，没有镁，就无法通过糖酵解产生能量。是的，放松和睡眠离不开镁，产生能量也离不开镁。这一切都同与其发生反应的酶系统有关。镁对抗氧化应激也必不可少，因为在人体产生谷胱甘肽的基本过程中，镁也发挥着作用。

听到DNA这些字母时，大家一定会联想到遗传学，这当然没错，但大家可能不知道，DNA的产生也需要镁的参与。事实上，DNA（脱氧核糖核酸）和RNA（核糖核酸）的合成都需要镁。镁对肌肉功能也至关重要。人体最重要的肌肉显然是心肌；神经系统功能也需要镁。它对于调节心律也至关重要。有时心律失常意味着缺乏镁，但也不全是如此。在这里，我要给所有人提个醒。导致心律失常的因素有很多。因此，如果出现心律不齐的症状，请立即联系医生，不要掉以轻心，尽快去做相应检查，听听专家的意见。

那么，肌肉抽搐与何矿物质有关呢？大多数人首先想到钙。钙主导肌肉收缩，镁主导肌肉放松。通常，肌肉痉挛和肌肉抽搐是由于肌肉缺乏镁元素导致。补钙实际上可能会使事情变得更糟。我们之前讨论过血液镁检测。血清钙检测是评估钙水平的一个准确方法。但血清镁通常并不准确。我与医生们已有数十年的合作经验，他们中的许多人并不知道镁的重要性，不知道病人在特殊情况下需要补充镁，因为他们将血清镁作为唯一的衡量标准，而血清镁的检测结果通常显示正常——因为人体内的镁只有1%存在于血液中。这又回到了我在本系列节目中提出的一个问题。

当人体缺乏维生素D时，是否真的需要摄入镁补充剂？根据我的经验，他们通常需要。大家可在drnugent.com网站获取参考表格、来自美国国家科学院食品营养委员会的经销商要求，以及来自美国农业部列出的食物来源。每个年龄段都需要镁，借助本网站的参考图表，大家可以看到，某些年龄段所需的镁急剧增加：6个月以下婴儿的需求是每天30毫克，在31岁时，男性每天至少需要420毫克，女性每天需要320毫克。正如我之前提到的，一般来说，男性并非总是比女性需要更多营养物质。

怀孕哺乳期的女性需要查阅图表，因为造成差异的并非仅有这两个因素，而且还与年龄相关。关于这两个因素，我总是说，食物是获取营养的最佳途径，毕竟人体的就是这样的结构原理。然而，我们已经发现，现代饮食往往无法提供充足的营养素水平，因此我们需要补充剂。在drnugent.com网站，大家可以看到美国国立卫生研究院提供的镁营养素常见食物来源图表，然后自行调整个人饮食和选择。但如果从饮食中获得的镁含量不足，则需要立即补充镁，具体取决于你的咨询渠道。有的作家声称48%的人——有的则声称70%的人——无法单纯依靠饮食摄入足够的镁。

这些数字之所以有如此大的差异，是因为他们进行比较的方式不同，但我们可以得出，大多数人可能无法单纯通过饮食获得足够的镁。根据我在红细胞镁以及血清镁检测方面的经验来看，实际数字更接近70%，但我不想在播客中吹毛求疵。我已经向大家提供了每日最低需求和食物来源的相关信息。现在，大家要做的是，进行适当的检测。如果有任何症状（如心律不齐），一定要看医生，并得到适当的检测，不要掉以轻心。朋友们，健康最宝贵。感谢收听本期Dr. Nugent报告。下期见。请多保重，保持理性，保持客观。

感谢收听本期Dr. Nugent报告。访问DrNugent.com，获取更多有关健康与营养的事实性信息。如有问题或反馈意见，可发送邮件至[email protected]。请在Facebook、Twitter和Instagram上关注Dr. Nugent报告。获取事实性信息，资讯先人一步。

English | 简体中文

The Nugent Report. The science behind health and nutrition. Welcome to this episode of the Nugent report, a definitive source for objective information on health and nutrition, featuring Dr. Steve Nugent, the renowned psychologist, author, public speaker, and expert on science, health, wellness, and nutrition. Be sure to visit our website at drnugent.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @thenugentreport.

Welcome to Nugent report. I’m Dr. Steve Nugent. In the last episode, we talked about blood testing for vitamin D and we talked about requirements and some important definitions. In this episode, we’re going to be talking about sources of vitamin D conversion from sunlight, a little bit about seafood and the benefits of vitamin D. Let’s talk about how you get vitamin D. The body is an amazingly adaptive organic machine. I’m not going to argue with anybody about how the adaptations occur or why the adaptations occur. The fact is we are adaptive. We have an adaptive nature. That’s the fact vitamin D is crucially important to your health and you aren’t designed to convert vitamin D from sunlight, although you do it less efficiently as you age, and you should get your vitamin D then from sunlight and preferably food. If those first two options don’t provide you with enough vitamin D, you have to use a food supplement.

It’s the only sensible alternative. The science is very strong and very clear about the need for vitamin D for healthy bones and teeth. I think just about everybody knows that, but you may not know that it’s also very important for your immune system and it’s even important for your mental health and thought processes. So vitamin D is a pretty amazing and pretty important nutrient. Now there’s a very significant amount of science to show us that as we age our ability to digest and absorb our nutrients, as well as our body’s efficiency in producing new cells, decreases steadily. Remember that strong, healthy bones require vitamin D not just calcium and not just magnesium. And as the bones get soft, we begin to see the obvious results in the aging population. Also, as we age, as I mentioned, our ability to synthesize vitamin D from sunlight decreases, this is why the RDA for vitamin D started at 8 70 and up increases by an additional 200 international units each day.

The typical source, as I’ve mentioned, the vitamin D it’s why they call it. The sunshine vitamin is sunlight. And the most abundant source of vitamin D from food is from seafood. Well, everybody’s been told for more than 50 years now that you should eat more seafood and less land animal. And the argument is all about cholesterol and heart disease, and all have different episodes about that. That bring you the truth of that, that you will be surprised, but for now, let’s talk about seafood in my lectures, all around the world, I have frequently discussed the environmental decline of our planet and the ever increasing level of toxins in our waterways. There are some lakes in North America where you are warned not to eat the fish at all the food and drug administration, the FDA in the United States. They actually have a list of fish, other website that you should not eat at all.

If you’re pregnant, you shouldn’t eat, or you should limit your about, and then they have a list of fish that you should limit, the amount that you consume. The folks, unlike my fish, I do. And all I’m here to do is to give you objective data. The decision is yours. You’re an adult. You decide, hopefully you’ll make wise decisions. You can’t do that unless you start with objective data. And this is while you’re learning information on these episodes on the nutrient report, much of which you’ve never heard before, because it’s important for your health decisions. I have a real thing about tuna. I love tuna, and I probably eat too much of it until that’s a decision that I make. You’ll find on the FDA website. As I say, they list the various fish. How many [inaudible] you should consume your limitations that you should make the, why do they do this?

I mean, everybody’s been told for more than 50 years that, well, gosh, seafood is the healthiest, right? Okay. Common sense. Seafood has no choice, but to be totally immersed in the water, just as the air we breathe is our atmosphere. The water is their atmosphere. And any toxin in that atmosphere is going to get into their tissue. In fact, there’s a lot of sea life that has to breathe by passing water through their tissue, which of course the water containing toxin will know as toxin through their tissue. I’m talking about all kinds of toxins and we won’t have other episodes on environmental toxins at water and food. And here we’ll talk about those in future episodes, but I can tell you right now, my friends, that there are toxins that you probably don’t even want to think about right now found in a lot of waterways.

In most cases, you can’t see or smell or taste the toxin until it becomes at such ridiculous levels that it’s far above safe intake levels far above. So the majority of the time we don’t see the toxin in the air or the water. We don’t taste it. You don’t smell it. There were only a few hundred chemicals that have been tested for safety and the majority have not been tested. We just make assumptions. Doesn’t sound very good, does it? So with this in mind, you’re going to have seafood. That’s going to have in it, whatever it was swimming, it sounds kind of unappetizing. Doesn’t it again, you’re going to have to make your own decisions. And I strongly suggest that you check that list of fish that you should either not eat, or you should live it. This is getting to be a much more serious problem than people know, or perhaps I should say, then people want to know if you love the outdoors as I do.

I love nature, I just love nature. And that poem, I think that I shall never see a thing as beautiful as a tree, that’s the way I feel too, I love nature. And it, it brings tears to my eyes. That’s what I think about what’s going on. But again, that’ll be different episodes back on track with vitamin D. So we’re going to have to limit our seafood intake. And even if we didn’t, could you get enough? Vitamin D could you eat enough seafood to get enough vitamin D if you are not properly synthesized in your vitamin D from sunlight, remembering that in the 21st century, the vast majority of work and recreational activities are indoor rather than outdoor. And in order for you to synthesize vitamin D from sunlight, you also require magnesium. That’s why these episodes are vitamin D and magnesium together, depending on which scientific study you read, some of them will tell you that at least 50% of the adult population is not getting enough.

Magnesium daily. Some studies will say up to 70% suffice it to say the majority of people are not getting enough magnesium every day. This is the reason that these two nutrients vitamin to get magnesium need to be discussed together. Let’s go back to sunlight for a moment. Remember in previous episodes, I discussed the fact that darker skin is a genetic adaptation to protect an individual from the potentially harmful effects of solar radiation, but genetic groups whose origin is closer to the pointer will have darker skin. And then as you move farther away from the equator skin tones get lighter. Again, that’s a genetic adaptation, lighter skin tones are going to absorb vitamin D more efficiently than darker was the darker, the skin tone. The less likely you are to efficiently synthesize vitamin D from sunlight. And the reverse is also true. So imagine that health problems that one might have, if they’re getting insufficient levels of vitamin D from sunlight or from diet.

Once again, as I said, hundreds of times in my global lectures, the modern diet simply does not provide sufficient nutrient for the majority of people. And most people do not make good dietary choices. So in the 21st century, so implementation is not a luxury. It’s a necessity for the individual really cares about their health. When it’s not provided through diet, it has to be provided through a dietary supplement. In the next episode, we’ll do the same thing with magnesium that we did for vitamin D in this episode until next time, this is Dr. Steve Nugent saying, stay safe, be sensible, stay objective.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Newton report, visit our website at drnugent.com for more objective facts about health and nutrition and email your questions and feedback to [email protected]. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @thenugentreport, stay informed, get the facts with the Nugent report.

English | 简体中文

Dr. Nugent报告，以科学方式分析健康与营养。欢迎收听本期“Dr. Nugent报告”，本节目由Dr. Steve Nugent主讲，为您提供健康和营养方面的优质客观信息。Dr. Steve Nugent是著名的心理学家、作家、公共演说家，也是科学、健康、保健和营养方面的专家。请访问我们的网站DrNugent.com，并在Facebook、Twitter和Instagram上关注@TheNugentreport。

欢迎收听Dr. Nugent报告。我是Dr. Steve Nugent。在上一讲中，我们谈到了维生素D血液检测，以及一些需求和重要概念。在本期节目中，我们将探讨人体主要从阳光中转化获得维生素D，再简要谈一下海鲜以及维生素D的益处。我们来聊一下维生素D的获取途径。人体是一个具体神奇适应性的有机体。我不准备讨论什么是适应性或者为什么人体具有适应性。事实情况就是我们具有适应性并且适应性是我们的本能。事实上，维生素D对人体健康至关重要。人们生来就可以将阳光转换成维生素D，但随着年龄增长，人体转换维生素D的效率会降低。所以人体也应当从阳光以及食物中获取维生素D。如果阳光和食物不能提供足够的维生素D，就必须服用食品补充剂。

这是唯一明智的选择。关于维生素D对健康骨骼和牙齿的作用，科学提供了强大而明确的证据。我想，大家应当都知道这一点，但大家可能不知道，维生素D对免疫系统乃至心理健康和思维也很重要。所以说，维生素D是一种相当神奇和重要的营养物质。现在，有众多科学证据表明，随着年龄的增长，我们消化和吸收营养的能力，以及产生新细胞的效率，都在不断下降。请记住，强壮健康的骨骼需要维生素D，而单纯的钙或镁无法满足需求。我们可以在老年人口中看到明显的骨骼变软的现象。随着年龄的增长，我们从阳光中合成维生素D的能力也在下降，所以这也是RDA中维生素D的起始需求量是870，但之后每天却另增200国际单位的原因。

正如我提到的，维生素D的主要来源是阳光，因此它又被称为“阳光维生素”。维生素D含量最丰富的食物是海鲜。50多年来，大家一直接收的观点是：多吃海鲜，少吃陆地动物。其中的论点始终围绕胆固醇和心脏病，我们未来会录制有关这一主题的节目，届时会呈现让人大吃一惊的事实，但现在，我们只谈海鲜。我在世界各地经常谈论地球环境的恶化以及水道中不断增加的毒素水平。FDA（美国食品和药物管理局）警告，北美一些湖泊中的鱼类不可食用。实际上，FDA网站提供了一个不可食用鱼类的清单。

FDA还提供了怀孕期间不能吃或应少吃的鱼类清单以及建议摄入量。各位，我喜欢吃鱼，但是我确实减少了摄入。我只管为大家提供客观数据，然后由大家自己做决定。大家都是成年人，可以自己做选择，但希望你的决定是明智的。如果没有客观数据，大家很难做到明智。大家通过我节目里的营养报告了解信息，相信里面的很多内容大家都是第一次听说，而它们恰恰影响着健康决策。我自己就是，我特别喜欢金枪鱼，而且可能还过量摄入了，但最终我决定减少摄入金枪鱼，毕竟FDA网站上就列出了金枪鱼…我说过，他们列出了各种鱼类。他们标明了摄入量和限定量，他们为什么这样做？

过去50多年里，大家接收的信息始终是：海鲜是最健康的，对不对？是的。这似乎是常识。海鲜终日浸泡在水中，我们离不开空气，它们离不开水。水就是它们的空气。而水中的任何毒素都会进入它们的组织。事实上，许多海洋生物的呼吸方式是让水穿过身体组织，含有毒素的水自然毫不例外。水中的毒素各种各样，我们未来会推出相关节目，探讨水中及食物中所含的环境毒素，但我现在可以告诉大家，很多水道中发现了大家想都不敢想的一些毒素。

在大多数情况下，我们无法看到、闻到或尝到毒素，除非它们的含量水平已经十分夸张。所以大多数时候，我们看不到、尝不到、闻不到空气或水中的毒素。只有几百种化学品接受过安全检测，大多数化学品甚至都未被安全检测过。我们只是做假设。这听起来不太妙，对不对？记住，这就是大家吃的海鲜。不管它们生活在哪片水域，都会含有毒素，这听起来有点倒胃口。对不对？大家需要自己做决定。我强烈建议大家查看一下那份不可摄入鱼类的清单。这个问题的严重性超越了人们的认知，或者我应该说，超越了像我一样热爱户外的人事的认知。《我热爱大自然，我就是热爱大自然》，这首诗里作者说：我认为树是最美丽的事物，这就是我的感觉，我爱大自然。大自然的美让我热泪盈眶。

这也是我的所思所感，但这是另外的话题。现在我们说回维生素D。所以综合来看，我们必须限制我们的海鲜摄入量。限制了海鲜摄入量会影响我们摄入足够的维生素D吗？在21世纪，绝大多数的工作和娱乐活动都在室内，所以部分人可能会希望仅仅通过摄入足量海鲜来获取足量维生素D。但这不可能。如果既不从阳光中合成维生素D，也不补充营养素补充剂，仅仅通过吃海鲜的话，我们一定会维生素D不足。

为了从阳光中合成维生素D，我们还需要镁。因此我们的节目同时聚焦维生素D和镁。一些科学研究指出，至少50%的成年人镁元素不足。

我们每日摄入的镁不足。一些研究认为，这一比例高达70%，这表明，大多数人每天都未摄入足量的镁。维生素D和镁两种营养素真的非常需要被捆绑在一起讨论。

我们暂时先说回阳光。在上一期节目中，我提到过这样一个事实：深肤色是一种遗传适应，可以保护个体免受太阳辐射带来的潜在有害影响。基因组源自赤道的人肤色更深，反之更浅。还有这样一种遗传适应：肤色较浅的人比肤色较深的人更能有效吸收维生素D。肤色越深，就越无法高效地将阳光合成维生素D，反之亦然。

大家可以设想一下如果一个人从阳光或饮食中无法获得足够的维生素D，他可能会遇到怎样的健康问题。

再次强调一下，我在世界各地的讲座中已经说过，现代饮食无法为多数人提供足够的营养，而且大多数人的饮食选择并不理想。在21世纪，补充剂不是一种奢侈品。对于真正关心自身健康的人来说，它是一种必需品。如果饮食无法提供，就需要由饮食补充剂提供。在下一期节目中，我们将以同样的方式探讨镁元素。下期见。我是Dr. Steve Nugent。请大家多保重，保持理智，保持客观。

感谢收听本期Dr. Nugent报告。访问DrNugent.com，获取更多有关健康与营养的事实性信息。如有问题或反馈意见，可发送邮件至[email protected]。请在Facebook、Twitter和Instagram上关注Dr. Nugent报告。获取事实性信息，资讯先人一步。