As a life long supplement enthusiast and “biohacker” before the term became trendy (lack of better words), this article deeply resonates with me. I relied on supplements heavily as a crutch for over 20 years and thought that I was doing something good for my body… little did I know I was deceiving myself…
A few months ago I cut out all supplements with the exception of CDS (sporadic use) and I feel the best I’ve felt in a very long time. Strange how that happens!?
Jason I think you are right. I too, have taken this and that on and off, with in fact little or no result. Years ago, when taking a multivitamin very popular at the time, a consumer program on TV analyzed the thing and found, that it was it poorly mixed, so not all tablets contained the same ingredients, sometimes overdosing or nothing at all. Then I took some B vitamin complex for skin and nails, and after several years read, that at a certain age this does not longer work. Now I eat lots more fruit and walk with the dog 6, 7 times a day, and only take a mineral for diabetes. So far so good, haven't taken vitamin additions in a long time. Just herbal treatments when feeling poorly.
I was mega dosing vitamin d(10,000 Iu) when I was 15 years for like 2 years straight…later in life I developed gallbladder and what I suspect are liver problems... Can’t help but think it was one of the main contributors to this. Anyways, live and learn. I just give thanks to God that He has permitted me to make it to 37. Still a dummy nonetheless but at least now I’m learning lessons.
Same here! I always felt that it was an insult to my food (mostly organic, grass fed meats, low carb, high fat, etc.) to gobble down a handful of pills and capsules after eating!
Your introduction is worth forwarding this article ! I got that book a few years ago - it is a gold mine! Since then I respond in somewhat the same way as your introduction, which I will now keep and c/p on every supplement pushers Substack ! Thank you for this wonderful article, I hope everyone will read it.
Modern 'food' is no longer food, and I think all the additions of D2 (milk products) A (same) and other chemical substances, makes things worse instead of better.
I suspect the "need" for most supplements diminishes considerably with the use of oxidative therapies, likely because they help the body detoxify.
That may be a clue to what is missing from modern life. The presumption is that oxygen enters the body through the lungs, yet Pollock has speculated that we only strip ions from oxygen in the lungs, we don't assimilate the entire molecule. Food and water are sources of oxygen, and are likely where our bodies get oxygen from. If so, I suspect our water delivery systems may be the reason our bodies are oxygen deficient, by reducing the amount of oxygen carried in water. That and our toxic environment causing us to need to utilize more oxygen than our ancestors.
Vitamin C is both an oxidant and an anti-oxidant, so it's one of the oxidative therapies. I can take a gram every hour and stop just about any respiratory infection, herpes outbreak or UTI. I don't need to know what toxin in the environment triggered those processes to know how to shut them down.
My body doesn't seem to care that the Vitamin C that I take grew from mold in giant vats. It costs around 6 cents for each gram of C that I take. At that price, why would I even bother to attempt to learn how many limes, lemons or oranges it would take to achieve the same effect? They are more expensive, and they are perishable. I'd have a lot tougher time peeling and eating an orange every 15 minutes than swallowing a tablet. My C can sit on the shelf for decades and still work as good as the day I bought it.
Vitamin C, magnesium and ozonides. Those three will greatly aid our survival in an increasingly toxic world.
You can substitute ozone, chlorine dioxide or hydrogen peroxide for ozonides, but you will need to be much more diligent about taking them to get the same effect because they react in the body much more quickly. And taking Vitamin C at the same time can cancel some of their effects.
I’m normally a skimmer but this article was chock full of insights that immediately compelled me to read in its entirety. All of it resonates with me - the population level fortification, the cascading need for ever more supplements no different than pharmaceutical approach, the distillation of singular and synthetic components claimed to be perfect replicas and substitutes for very complex natural systems, the enormous oversimplification of systems and determined acceptance of modern “nutrition” rather than honest examination of outcomes. The explanation that individuals can access “slow thinking” while populations, industries and markets cannot.
I have been largely carnivore for over two years now and most of my former health and aging issues have resolved. I have literally been aging in reverse. In my fifties. A year ago I added natural milk to my world and things got even better. However, this now gives me actual food for thought regarding possibly and purposefully adding back some non carnivore foods on a regular basis and discarding some or all supplements as a daily regimen.
Can’t thank you enough for compiling and sharing this information in such a well structured and well articulated way.
i turned my nose up at vitamins when i thought i was healthy, though i was depressed and tired all the time. After a medical crisis and I "got sick", I discovered i was allergic to chemicals and increasingly, foods. I avoided those items and started experimenting with vitamins. Some helped, some not. I didn't take them because someone said to. I listened to my body.
There is no question in my mind that eating an organic balanced diet without trace toxin is the best way to stay well. Unfortunately, that is not reality today for the majority of people and the answer has to be to supplement with nutrients that they are deficient in to stay well.. There are nutritional blood tests to identify deficiencies, and I have used them to determine what I should supplement with to make up for the shortcomings.. for many years I have taken 5000 IU’s of vitamin D daily, which is claimed to be also used as a rat poison to maintain a blood value of 70 and ng’s I guess I am not a rat so I am not dead. The rat poison is a massive dose of vitamin D for those that wanna know how it works..
the thing is, how reliable are the tests? I read numbers from here in USA and then the numbers they use in Europe - a BIG difference. So who is right? and for whom? Every person is different. The amount vit D would probably make me sick, 500 already did!
Until 50 years ago everyone stayed well without measuring anything. I had it measured earlier this year during a doc visit. She told me to take it. I did. Well, sorry, but now I don't trust her anymore, either.
I was walking around 50 years ago and I distinctly remember that not everyone stayed well.
Look at life expectancy in my homeland, the UK. In 1950 it was about 68 years, and it has risen remarkably constantly over the past 75 years with just a slight dip during the Covid democide period to about 82 years today.
Life expectancy in my adopted country, Japan, has increased even more drastically, although just as consistently. It was just 60 years in 1950 and is over 85 years today.
These trends correlate quite well with increasing consumption of vitamin supplements, but also with increasing consumption of pharmaceuticals, increasing consumption of processed food bought from supermarkets, increasing use of electricity including refrigerators, freezers, microwave ovens, and washing machines, increasing use of automobiles, and increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
They also correlate quite well with deteriorating quality of pop music, decreasing consumption of tobacco, decreasing levels of air pollution including exposure to lead from vehicle exhaust, and decreasing use of DDT and oganophosphate (OP) pesticides.
But as we are often told, correlation does not necessarily imply causation.
Nutrition must play a big part in health and longevity, but that is quite a complex issue on its own. I believe my own nutrition has improved significantly over the past half century, but for many people, the opposite is true.
True. But what I consider is, living without medicine. I know quite a few people who are taking 20 pills a day. I know barely anyone my age, who is not on 4 or 5. Yes the life expectancy has gone up, but has the life quality? I like your comparison with the plunge in pop music quality!
One remark - a French child was considered sickly, and his parents were told to give the boy everything he wanted because he would not live long. He became a musician, composer, and lived to be 80+ years old (ST Saens)
Probably survived his doctor by many years.
As for me, I prefer to live a few years less without medicine.
Andy Cutler, Phd., who wrote the book on heavy metal detoxification thought that the Weston A. Price system of eating was the way to go. That said, you can't advise any particular diet to a mercury toxic person as what makes the one person feel better will make the next person feel like crap. A good example is the way toxic people react to high thiol foods. Some need more thiols in their diet, while for others eating thiols will give them all kinds of symptoms.
Interestingly, Cutler told me once that metals got introduced to these traditional communities along with "the white man's foods," and that had much to do with the deterioration of their health. He wanted to do a survey of historical pictures over time showing how people have become more "snouty" (he called it). He pointed out that if you look at photos of our old president's you will see at first that broad "Weston A. Price" face and the pictures get more snouty over time. He thought that was toxicity and not just the food.
On the whole, we advise supplements to people with symptoms of metal toxicity. Mercury causes the body to waste magnesium and zinc so we advise taking those to force the enzyme systems to work better. And mercury is ferociously oxidative so C and E to counteract that. After that, it is whatever works. Some people will get relief with something that makes the next person sick. We work mostly with supplements as they are usually molecules that the body is used to seeing. But pharma meds are often needed as well particularly for people with mental illness.
Everything, supplements and meds, are to control symptoms while the person is chelating the metals out of their body. As the toxic burden goes down, so do the symptoms.
It's all so simple, really. But especially the pastured animal products, is financially not possible for a lot of people. Also, I would love to have raw dairy. But it's undoable because it's too far from my home to get it regularly. All the rest I can do.
The question is, do we really know what vitamins are? and do we know how these bottled vitamins that are for sale in stores are? I read about some - they are just another chemical substance!
First, heal your gut. If you suffer from leaky gut then you may not be absorbing nutrients despite eating healthy. I prefer to eat whole foods rather than supplements. Nutritional yeast, kelp granules, apple cider vinegar, cod liver oil, borax ( a pinch), freshly juiced whole lemon, carrots, parsley and greens. Certainly cheaper than supplements
I bought a book on traditional Chinese medicine years ago, thinking I could learn more about herbal medicines. Well, they were in there, but not the major source of treatment. 90% of the cures were "eat more of these foods, less of those foods." Balance was the key. Considered in light of this article, this body of empirical medicine was developed before processed foods. I wonder if it is not working as well in the modern era because of that.
Two related subjects I want to take a look at are commercial fertilizers and animal feed.
Unrefined salt has 65-85 minerals depending on the source of the salt. Morton's started refining salt about 115 years ago, which means to remove all minerals except sodium and chloride. Iodine was added back in sometimes, but it is in a wrong form, and some say more harmful than not.
My understanding is that commercial fertilizers have primarily three synthetic nutrients - NPK - Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium with a few other things thrown in sometimes. What about the other 65-85 minerals we need? According to "science" we need only about twenty minerals.
We eat meat and animal products. Animal feed is not food. Animals are fed GMO corn and GMO soy when they should be eating grass. They're fed some horrific things like sludge and plastic and other goodies. Then, they're given their own supplements. And vaxxed... and given antibiotics.
Pig farmers are being given pig feed fortified with insects... Commercial chicken feed lacks certain nutrients, and the hens quit laying eggs. Animals are treated atrociously, and pig poop is sprayed over other crops...
How many levels of synthetic food and supplements does the top of the food chain take in? We often take supplements. The food is "fortified." Crops are fertilized with synthetic minerals (plus glyphosate, neonicotinoids, and other wonders). The animal products we eat are from poorly fed and mistreated animals (with more supplements) ... Pre-natal supplements, formula, baby food...
Poisons are additive, accumulative, and synergistic.
As a life long supplement enthusiast and “biohacker” before the term became trendy (lack of better words), this article deeply resonates with me. I relied on supplements heavily as a crutch for over 20 years and thought that I was doing something good for my body… little did I know I was deceiving myself…
A few months ago I cut out all supplements with the exception of CDS (sporadic use) and I feel the best I’ve felt in a very long time. Strange how that happens!?
Thank you for this and may God bless you!
Jason I think you are right. I too, have taken this and that on and off, with in fact little or no result. Years ago, when taking a multivitamin very popular at the time, a consumer program on TV analyzed the thing and found, that it was it poorly mixed, so not all tablets contained the same ingredients, sometimes overdosing or nothing at all. Then I took some B vitamin complex for skin and nails, and after several years read, that at a certain age this does not longer work. Now I eat lots more fruit and walk with the dog 6, 7 times a day, and only take a mineral for diabetes. So far so good, haven't taken vitamin additions in a long time. Just herbal treatments when feeling poorly.
I was mega dosing vitamin d(10,000 Iu) when I was 15 years for like 2 years straight…later in life I developed gallbladder and what I suspect are liver problems... Can’t help but think it was one of the main contributors to this. Anyways, live and learn. I just give thanks to God that He has permitted me to make it to 37. Still a dummy nonetheless but at least now I’m learning lessons.
Codex Alimentarious: Synthetic Vitamins & GMO Removes Nutrients https://nurembergtrials.net/nuremberg-2-0/f/codex-alementarious-synthetic-vitamins-gmo-removes-nutrients
Same here! I always felt that it was an insult to my food (mostly organic, grass fed meats, low carb, high fat, etc.) to gobble down a handful of pills and capsules after eating!
Your introduction is worth forwarding this article ! I got that book a few years ago - it is a gold mine! Since then I respond in somewhat the same way as your introduction, which I will now keep and c/p on every supplement pushers Substack ! Thank you for this wonderful article, I hope everyone will read it.
Modern 'food' is no longer food, and I think all the additions of D2 (milk products) A (same) and other chemical substances, makes things worse instead of better.
Absolutely brilliant!
I suspect the "need" for most supplements diminishes considerably with the use of oxidative therapies, likely because they help the body detoxify.
That may be a clue to what is missing from modern life. The presumption is that oxygen enters the body through the lungs, yet Pollock has speculated that we only strip ions from oxygen in the lungs, we don't assimilate the entire molecule. Food and water are sources of oxygen, and are likely where our bodies get oxygen from. If so, I suspect our water delivery systems may be the reason our bodies are oxygen deficient, by reducing the amount of oxygen carried in water. That and our toxic environment causing us to need to utilize more oxygen than our ancestors.
Vitamin C is both an oxidant and an anti-oxidant, so it's one of the oxidative therapies. I can take a gram every hour and stop just about any respiratory infection, herpes outbreak or UTI. I don't need to know what toxin in the environment triggered those processes to know how to shut them down.
My body doesn't seem to care that the Vitamin C that I take grew from mold in giant vats. It costs around 6 cents for each gram of C that I take. At that price, why would I even bother to attempt to learn how many limes, lemons or oranges it would take to achieve the same effect? They are more expensive, and they are perishable. I'd have a lot tougher time peeling and eating an orange every 15 minutes than swallowing a tablet. My C can sit on the shelf for decades and still work as good as the day I bought it.
Vitamin C, magnesium and ozonides. Those three will greatly aid our survival in an increasingly toxic world.
You can substitute ozone, chlorine dioxide or hydrogen peroxide for ozonides, but you will need to be much more diligent about taking them to get the same effect because they react in the body much more quickly. And taking Vitamin C at the same time can cancel some of their effects.
I’m normally a skimmer but this article was chock full of insights that immediately compelled me to read in its entirety. All of it resonates with me - the population level fortification, the cascading need for ever more supplements no different than pharmaceutical approach, the distillation of singular and synthetic components claimed to be perfect replicas and substitutes for very complex natural systems, the enormous oversimplification of systems and determined acceptance of modern “nutrition” rather than honest examination of outcomes. The explanation that individuals can access “slow thinking” while populations, industries and markets cannot.
I have been largely carnivore for over two years now and most of my former health and aging issues have resolved. I have literally been aging in reverse. In my fifties. A year ago I added natural milk to my world and things got even better. However, this now gives me actual food for thought regarding possibly and purposefully adding back some non carnivore foods on a regular basis and discarding some or all supplements as a daily regimen.
Can’t thank you enough for compiling and sharing this information in such a well structured and well articulated way.
i turned my nose up at vitamins when i thought i was healthy, though i was depressed and tired all the time. After a medical crisis and I "got sick", I discovered i was allergic to chemicals and increasingly, foods. I avoided those items and started experimenting with vitamins. Some helped, some not. I didn't take them because someone said to. I listened to my body.
There is no question in my mind that eating an organic balanced diet without trace toxin is the best way to stay well. Unfortunately, that is not reality today for the majority of people and the answer has to be to supplement with nutrients that they are deficient in to stay well.. There are nutritional blood tests to identify deficiencies, and I have used them to determine what I should supplement with to make up for the shortcomings.. for many years I have taken 5000 IU’s of vitamin D daily, which is claimed to be also used as a rat poison to maintain a blood value of 70 and ng’s I guess I am not a rat so I am not dead. The rat poison is a massive dose of vitamin D for those that wanna know how it works..
the thing is, how reliable are the tests? I read numbers from here in USA and then the numbers they use in Europe - a BIG difference. So who is right? and for whom? Every person is different. The amount vit D would probably make me sick, 500 already did!
So...how do you stay well? Do you know your blood value of vitamin D?
Until 50 years ago everyone stayed well without measuring anything. I had it measured earlier this year during a doc visit. She told me to take it. I did. Well, sorry, but now I don't trust her anymore, either.
I was walking around 50 years ago and I distinctly remember that not everyone stayed well.
Look at life expectancy in my homeland, the UK. In 1950 it was about 68 years, and it has risen remarkably constantly over the past 75 years with just a slight dip during the Covid democide period to about 82 years today.
https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/gbr/united-kingdom/life-expectancy
Life expectancy in my adopted country, Japan, has increased even more drastically, although just as consistently. It was just 60 years in 1950 and is over 85 years today.
https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/jpn/japan/life-expectancy
These trends correlate quite well with increasing consumption of vitamin supplements, but also with increasing consumption of pharmaceuticals, increasing consumption of processed food bought from supermarkets, increasing use of electricity including refrigerators, freezers, microwave ovens, and washing machines, increasing use of automobiles, and increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
They also correlate quite well with deteriorating quality of pop music, decreasing consumption of tobacco, decreasing levels of air pollution including exposure to lead from vehicle exhaust, and decreasing use of DDT and oganophosphate (OP) pesticides.
But as we are often told, correlation does not necessarily imply causation.
Nutrition must play a big part in health and longevity, but that is quite a complex issue on its own. I believe my own nutrition has improved significantly over the past half century, but for many people, the opposite is true.
True. But what I consider is, living without medicine. I know quite a few people who are taking 20 pills a day. I know barely anyone my age, who is not on 4 or 5. Yes the life expectancy has gone up, but has the life quality? I like your comparison with the plunge in pop music quality!
One remark - a French child was considered sickly, and his parents were told to give the boy everything he wanted because he would not live long. He became a musician, composer, and lived to be 80+ years old (ST Saens)
Probably survived his doctor by many years.
As for me, I prefer to live a few years less without medicine.
Wow! Outstanding essay! Thank you 🥰🙏🤸
Andy Cutler, Phd., who wrote the book on heavy metal detoxification thought that the Weston A. Price system of eating was the way to go. That said, you can't advise any particular diet to a mercury toxic person as what makes the one person feel better will make the next person feel like crap. A good example is the way toxic people react to high thiol foods. Some need more thiols in their diet, while for others eating thiols will give them all kinds of symptoms.
Interestingly, Cutler told me once that metals got introduced to these traditional communities along with "the white man's foods," and that had much to do with the deterioration of their health. He wanted to do a survey of historical pictures over time showing how people have become more "snouty" (he called it). He pointed out that if you look at photos of our old president's you will see at first that broad "Weston A. Price" face and the pictures get more snouty over time. He thought that was toxicity and not just the food.
On the whole, we advise supplements to people with symptoms of metal toxicity. Mercury causes the body to waste magnesium and zinc so we advise taking those to force the enzyme systems to work better. And mercury is ferociously oxidative so C and E to counteract that. After that, it is whatever works. Some people will get relief with something that makes the next person sick. We work mostly with supplements as they are usually molecules that the body is used to seeing. But pharma meds are often needed as well particularly for people with mental illness.
Everything, supplements and meds, are to control symptoms while the person is chelating the metals out of their body. As the toxic burden goes down, so do the symptoms.
Codex Alimentarious: Synthetic Vitamins & GMO Removes Nutrients https://nurembergtrials.net/nuremberg-2-0/f/codex-alementarious-synthetic-vitamins-gmo-removes-nutrients
It's all so simple, really. But especially the pastured animal products, is financially not possible for a lot of people. Also, I would love to have raw dairy. But it's undoable because it's too far from my home to get it regularly. All the rest I can do.
The question is, do we really know what vitamins are? and do we know how these bottled vitamins that are for sale in stores are? I read about some - they are just another chemical substance!
Great article 👏
Excellent summary! 👍💙
First, heal your gut. If you suffer from leaky gut then you may not be absorbing nutrients despite eating healthy. I prefer to eat whole foods rather than supplements. Nutritional yeast, kelp granules, apple cider vinegar, cod liver oil, borax ( a pinch), freshly juiced whole lemon, carrots, parsley and greens. Certainly cheaper than supplements
Also kefir
I bought a book on traditional Chinese medicine years ago, thinking I could learn more about herbal medicines. Well, they were in there, but not the major source of treatment. 90% of the cures were "eat more of these foods, less of those foods." Balance was the key. Considered in light of this article, this body of empirical medicine was developed before processed foods. I wonder if it is not working as well in the modern era because of that.
Very excellent article.
Two related subjects I want to take a look at are commercial fertilizers and animal feed.
Unrefined salt has 65-85 minerals depending on the source of the salt. Morton's started refining salt about 115 years ago, which means to remove all minerals except sodium and chloride. Iodine was added back in sometimes, but it is in a wrong form, and some say more harmful than not.
My understanding is that commercial fertilizers have primarily three synthetic nutrients - NPK - Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium with a few other things thrown in sometimes. What about the other 65-85 minerals we need? According to "science" we need only about twenty minerals.
We eat meat and animal products. Animal feed is not food. Animals are fed GMO corn and GMO soy when they should be eating grass. They're fed some horrific things like sludge and plastic and other goodies. Then, they're given their own supplements. And vaxxed... and given antibiotics.
Pig farmers are being given pig feed fortified with insects... Commercial chicken feed lacks certain nutrients, and the hens quit laying eggs. Animals are treated atrociously, and pig poop is sprayed over other crops...
How many levels of synthetic food and supplements does the top of the food chain take in? We often take supplements. The food is "fortified." Crops are fertilized with synthetic minerals (plus glyphosate, neonicotinoids, and other wonders). The animal products we eat are from poorly fed and mistreated animals (with more supplements) ... Pre-natal supplements, formula, baby food...
Poisons are additive, accumulative, and synergistic.