Malnourished!...Even After Eating a Full Plate. Shocking!
By: Warren Matthews

This is a concept that you may have difficulty in accepting.
Nonetheless it is one that I have been ‘preaching' for years
and has now been confirmed by studies showing people in the US,
Canada and the UK are amongst the most malnourished in the world.
This is the case in spite of obesity reaching epidemic
proportions in the US. Malnourishment is without doubt a leading
factor in a wide variety of health problems including cancers.

Does this mean that overweight people are eating all the food to
the detriment of the rest of the population? Not at all! In
fact, obese people figure prominently amongst those people who
are malnourished.

I can sense you thinking... "That's a crazy statement". After
all, when you think of someone being malnourished your mind
flashes to pictures which you have seen on TV of starving
children in Africa.

How can an overweight person be malnourished?

Much easier than you think... please read on and I will explain.

The Problem is in the Food!

A recent analysis of a range of staple foods in Canada including
potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, apples, onion, broccoli etc, was
commissioned by The Globe and Mail and CTV news.

The results were predictable to some and a shock to others. Let's
use potatoes as an example. This is what the analysis found:

Over the last 50 years the potato has lost:

* 100% of its Vitamin A

* 57% of its Vitamin C and iron.

* 28% of its Calcium.

* 50% of its riboflavin

* 18% of its thiamine

Of the seven nutrients analyzed only niacin levels had increased.
The results were similar for all the 25 fruits and vegetables
tested. One of the worst results was from broccoli in which ALL
nutrients had declined measurably including niacin with Calcium
down 63%.

The Globe and Mail and CTV used comparative figures from
government researchers for the years 1951, 1972 and 1999.
These earlier figures had been published in various scientific
journals in the UK including the British Food journal. Release
of this data in the US has been limited to a few alternative
health journals.

Tim Lang a professor at the centre for Food Policy in England
says as a further example of how our food has been degraded is
that you would now have to eat eight oranges today to get the
same amount of Vitamin A that your grandparents got from eating
just one orange.

Do foods that have low nutritional values play a part in obesity?

Absolutely! I believe this is a major factor in the current
epidemic of obesity. If you are lacking in essential nutrients
it will have a serious flow-on effect in your body. First of all
you will never really feel ‘well', you will lack energy which
means you exercise less, and you will have a tendency to seek out
‘comfort' foods which generally contain sugars and thus the cycle
continues and it gets worse and worse and ultimately ends up in
obesity and ill health.

What can be done about this problem?

* Try to eat organic fruit and vegetables wherever possible.

* Avoid processed foods! If you think the loss of nutrient
value in fresh fruit and vegetables is bad enough, I can
assure you that it is nothing compared to the nutritional
emptiness of processed foods... and to add insult to injury
they are full of transfats due to the hydrogenated processing
methods that are used.

* Take a QUALITY multi NUTRIENT supplement. A multi
vitamin/mineral tablet is not adequate for a number of
reasons. The prime one is that most ‘multi vitamin'
supplements use synthetic ingredients with both questionable
efficacy and bio-availability and they lack other important
nutrients. Unfortunately this is an area in which many
consumers are being mislead. It's a complex subject and as
such I may devote a newsletter to this very important subject
in the not to distant future.

It was interesting to see that even some mainstream physicians
are beginning to recognize this problem as evidenced by a recent
article in JAMA which advocated people take quality supplements
for preventative measures.


XTEND-YOUR-LIFE is a FREE service of Xtend-Life Nutraceuticals,Inc.,
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bioflavinoids designed to provide your body with the key nutrients
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http://healthybody.xtend-life.com

About the Author

Mt. Matthews is the Editor of 'Xtend-Your-Life', published bi-monthly and offers tips to help you tak control
of your health. Subscription details at...http://HealthyBody.Xtend-Lfie.com

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