The Concept Of Nutrient Density

An important feature of the high/low diet is that every calorie must be nutrition packed. Otherwise, gradual weight loss on a long term basis may cause deficiencies in essential nutrients, and of course that will not prolong life span but shorten it. And do not suppose we can reach our goal by eating a low calorie mediocre or even nutritionally bad diet supplemented with vitamins and minerals. That would be dangerous and foolhardy. Too much remains unknown about essential nutriments what forms they should be in, how they interact, whether any are still undiscovered ... but you can bet you are not going to find acceptable combinations simply in refined white flour, hot dogs, and cola drinks plus a handful of pills. Calcium in the form of a calcium carbonate pill, for example, has value as a supplement, but it exerts a partially suppressive effect on bone remodeling; the same amount of calcium in milk has no suppressive effect. 2 Certain forms of fiber in the diet will help lower blood cholesterol, but only if it is a component of the actual food or else carefully mixed with it. Just taking the fiber as an extra supplement may have no effect. According to a 1981 Consumer Reports study of vitamin fortified cereals,3 the added vitamins' availability to the body was questionable. Supplementation has a place in the high low diet program, but good nutrientdense food selection is essential. The average American diet is anything but nutrient dense, The calorie level is inflated 2,400 to 3,200 for men and 1,650 to 2,150 for women but it is often deficient in essentials. Large surveys have been run of what Americans eat: the National Food Consumption Survey of 7,500 families conducted by the U.S, Department of Agriculture, and the National Health and Nutrition Examination by the Department of Health and Human Services. They found that meat, fish, or poultry was consumed daily by 90 percent of the families, dark green vegetables by only 9 percent, yellow vegetables by 8 percent, fruit by 33 percent, and whole grain cereals by 16 percent. Fully half of the 7,500 families were below what the National Academy of Sciences has set as the Recommended Daily Allowances of one or more nutrients, especially calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, thiamine, and riboflavin. The RDA for magnesium was reached by only 25 percent of individuals; of vitamin B 6 , 20 percent; of iron, 43 percent; of vitamin A, 50 percent. 4 Magnesium levels in the average diet have dropped from 475 mg. per person per day in 1900 to 245 mg. today. One survey revealed deficiencies in iron, copper, zinc, and chromium. 5 According to another, the vitamin B6 content of meals served in 50 American colleges averaged 1.43 mg. per person per day; thus, over 80 percent of the colleges were below the vitamin B6 RDA of 2.0 mg. per day.6 It is shocking to realize that even on the high calorie diet of the richest nation in the world, our own United States, border line nutritional deficiency is widespread. The average American diet is not nutrientdense, but the opposite. Simply eating less of the same old things would restrict calories, but it would also bring on malnutrition as a potentially devastating side effect.This is the danger of many weight loss diets, including some of the popular ones.

Even well educated, financially comfortable people may show nutritional deficiencies. Protein, vitamin C, and various B vitamins (folic acid, niacin, pyridoxine, riboflavin, thiamine, and vitamin B 12) emerged as the nutrients most often deficient in 5 to 10 percent of a population of 256 affluent individuals surveyed by scientists at the University of New Mexico. 8 And those persons deficient in water soluble vitamins tested lower than non deficient partners on tests for abstract thinking and memory! Either borderline malnutrition affects brain function, or else dumber people select worse diets. Vitamin and mineral deficiency is even more common among the elderly. In one study, fully 50 percent of elderly patients consumed less than two thirds of the RDA for zinc. 9 Iron and possibly chromium have also been found deficient in the diets of the elderly. Intake of vitamins C and A and niacin has been reported to be less than two thirds of the RDAs in over 25 percent of subjects in more than 50 percent of published reports on nutrition in the elderly. Even as conservative an authority as pioneer physiologist Dr. Nathan Shock of the National Institute on Aging has recommended for the elderly supplementation with RDA amounts for vitamins and trace elements.