How to holistically heal...micronutrient deficiencies

A Recent Global Study Reveals Widespread Micronutrient Deficiencies

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In this edition…

1. Healing: Micronutrient Deficiencies

2. Reverence: Slow Food Movement - An Answer to Global Nutrient Deficiencies?

3. Exploring: Supplements - An Answer to Global Nutrient Deficiencies?

Healing encompasses a comprehensive holistic approach, acknowledging the intricate web of factors that shape our well-being: our health, inheritance & genetics, environment, relationships, creativity, spirituality & self-care. Reverence is the deep respect & attention to the things that truly impact healing. Exploring is the journey into the deeper work, meeting the parts, wounds & survival strategies that keep us small, stuck & suffering with persistent symptoms & feelings.

1. Healing: Micronutrient Deficiencies

Inadequate micronutrient intakes and related deficiencies pose a significant challenge to global public health. Over the past decade, research has sought to assess global micronutrient deficiencies and nutrient supplies. However, until now, there have been no comprehensive global estimates of inadequate micronutrient intakes. In response, a recent analysis provides a groundbreaking approach, offering the first global estimate of micronutrient inadequacies for 15 essential nutrients.

The findings are striking:

• More than 5 billion people worldwide are not consuming enough iodine, vitamin E, and calcium.

• More than 4 billion are deficient in iron, riboflavin, folate, and vitamin C.

• These inadequacies are particularly pronounced among women, who show higher deficiencies in iodine, vitamin B12, iron, and selenium compared to men.

• Men tend to have higher inadequacies in magnesium, vitamin B6, zinc, vitamin C, and other nutrients.

• The reasons for these differences stem from variations in dietary patterns, nutrient requirements, and overall food consumption between genders.

This analysis used a novel method that accounts for population-wide nutrient intake distribution and applied it to dietary data from 31 countries, covering 99.3% of the global population. It provides a clearer understanding of where nutrient gaps lie, both globally and within specific demographic groups. Moreover, the study highlights the need for coordinated interventions to address these gaps, including dietary adjustments (changing food choices to improve nutrient intake), supplementation (adding vitamins, minerals, or herbs in pill, powder, or liquid form to support diet), biofortification (breeding crops to increase their nutrient content naturally) and fortification (adding nutrients to food products during processing, like fortified cereals or milk).

Understanding these global nutrient gaps helps identify where nutritional interventions are most needed. The road to healing micronutrient deficiencies must be approached holistically, considering not only dietary patterns supplements an fortification but also nutrient interactions, absorption, and bioavailability and all the other reasons of why we are nutrient deficient. Read on…