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Many
of us who have never considered ourselves vegetarians
may find ourselves deficient in critical nutrients
after years of near vegetarian diets. Many people
have relied for extended periods on dairy foods
to provide needed nutrients, but because of
the poor quality of commercial dairy products,
they provide little in the way of critical nutrients
and typically aggravate allergies and other
chronic problems. Quality raw dairy products
are difficult for most people to obtain. Commercial
meats are avoided by most health-conscious people
for obvious reasons, as is any substantial quantity
of seafood because of the mercury content. Thus
a dearth of quality animal foods has been characteristic
at one time or another of the diet of many health
seekers.
So it seems
to me that most of us do have one degree or
another of “recovery” ahead of us
once we come to a realization of the importance
of quality animal foods. And because we often
tend to think even then that a little animal
food is enough in a “balanced” diet,
we may without realizing it never consume enough
animal fat, with its activators and other nutrients,
to reach robust good health.
According
to Dr. Price, the most critical nutrients were
those found in the fats of wild animals or grassfed
domestic animals and their milk products. These
nutrients include vitamins A and D, EPA, DHA
and other fatty acids, activator X and perhaps
other unknown nutrients. Along with enzymes
supplied only in raw and fermented foods, these
are the nutrients that are most lacking in modern
diets. They are richly supplied in our high
vitamin cod liver oil, x-factor
butter oil, and organs
and glands.
Misunderstanding
surrounding vitamin D is typical of the confusion
most people have about animal source nutrients.
Dr. Price wrote, “There is misapprehension
with regard to the possibility that humans may
obtain enough of the vitamin D group of activators
from our modern plant foods or from sunshine
(my emphasis)…there are known to be at
least eight D factors that have been definitely
isolated and twelve that have been reported
or partially isolated.” Misapprehension
today generally goes much further. Even people
who are aware of Dr. Price’s work often
believe that optimal amounts of vitamin D can
be obtained from exposure to sunlight. And just
as most have been intimidated by the media and
the medics into hedging their bets when it comes
to the consumption of cholesterol-rich animal
foods, most shy away from all but the smallest
amounts of vitamin D supplementation.
This may
be why I have always found cod liver oil to
be the most valuable single food supplement
most people can take. I believe that many people
who profess to eat “the Weston Price way”
have in fact never fully recovered from the
deficiencies of their vegetarian or near-vegetarian
years. By richly supplying vitamin D and other
fat-soluble nutrients, cod liver oil hastens
recovery.
How much vitamin D might be optimal is somewhat
controversial but the question is central to
a discussion about recovering from vegetarianism.
Modern diets are notoriously low in vitamin
D, often providing not even the minimal 400
IU per day recommended by the government. Scores
of recent studies, however, have indicated that
much higher amounts protect against a host of
chronic diseases, including cancer. Something
of a consensus has recently emerged among scientists
who study the issue that about three or four
thousand IUs per day may be optimal.
This is the
amount provided in about one tablespoon of high-vitamin
cod liver oil – that is, cod liver oil
which contains the full complement of vitamins
A and D naturally found in cod liver oil. Most
cod liver oils have had a large fraction of
these vitamins removed in processing, for reasons
ranging from convenience in manufacturing to
kowtowing to the medical profession’s
scare tactics about the alleged dangers of excess
amounts of vitamins A and D. Confusion results
because fairly low levels of the synthetic versions
of vitamins A and D may indeed be toxic. The
natural forms as provided in cod liver oil,
however, are safe in substantial doses.
One tablespoon
of high vitamin cod liver oil provides about
35,000 IUs of vitamin A and 3,500 IUs of vitamin
D. This is a reasonable amount for most individuals.
I have used two to four times that amount myself
for extended periods, as have many of my patients,
with many benefits and no apparent harm. Blood
tests for vitamin D levels have remained in
reasonable ranges. Studies published in the
1930s, when vitamin D therapy was commonly used
in the treatment of arthritis and other conditions,
indicated that doses far in excess of 20,000
IU of natural vitamin D per day were non-toxic.
It appears that the problem of vitamin D toxicity,
and that of vitamins in general, has been greatly
exaggerated.
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