“I believe in miracles…..you sexy thing”. So goes the song by Hot Chocolate and it certainly holds true for the public waiting to hear about the newest miracle food or berry. Me, I’m going to say that ALL food is a miracle. All food from nature that is. Man made food is about as much of a miracle as Frankenstein, thus the term ‘Frankenfood’.
The marketers love to convince us that a particular berry (think acai) is the latest miracle, and that is so much sexier then hearing “eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables” again for the umpteenth time. Our body does ALL it’s work using nutrients and most all foods have some nutrient that is helpful. If you ate only acai berries, you would be missing out on many other needed nutrients. Variety will ensure that we get what we need.
Like foods, some nutrients are deemed a miracle. Vitamin D has become the latest hot nutrient with doctors testing for and recommending large doses of vitamin D. The problem is that nutrients work together. One of the benefits of taking vitamin D (D3 is the preferred active form) is that it helps the body absorbs calcium. Unfortunately, we want the calcium to get into the tissues where it is needed (muscles, bones) and for that to happen the body needs vitamin K2 (most useful form is K7). Otherwise, calcium stays in the arteries and contributes to arterial plaque.
This ‘one nutrient’ thinking is the problem with some of the medical research – scientist try to test for one variable/nutrient to prove its benefit for a particular health condition, but nutrients are synergistic – they work together to make things happen. Also, some research studies utilize synthetic forms of the nutrients and the Frankenstein theory raises its ugly head (sorry Frank) with study results that say that nutrient doesn’t have any benefit.
So, the bottom line is to find your miracles in the farmer’s market instead of the marketer’s latest promotion.