Jared Diamond wrote a famous essay in 1999 called The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race. He was referring to the mistake of our transition to agriculture and the production of grain flour. By 1941, the Committee on Food and Nutrition recommended that flour be fortified with nutrients to help combat widespread malnutrition in areas where the American population relied on flour-rich foods. This led to white bread and flour, pasta, and rice being enriched with thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and iron. Then, in the 1970s, the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs made grains the basis of our diets. This post tells the story about our tragic switch to grains when agriculture was invented, the health costs, the realization of their poor quality in the 1930s, and, strangely, their illogical placement in the food pyramid as the basis of most of the calories in the American diet.
Read MoreCoenzyme Q10 has two main functions. Most importantly, it helps us make ATP, our energy source for life. Since it is critical for energy production, it is most abundant in heart muscle, pancreas tissue, the brain, and the liver. The other function is to increase some of our essential antioxidants and act as one. Many factors can contribute to CoQ10 deficiency. These are aging, disease, dietary deficiency, statin drugs, and increasing tissue demands. Although our bodies make it, it is easy to get from foods, it is one of the more popular supplements available today because evidence shows it is beneficial for our health. This post will cover what it is, what it does for us, and how you can maintain adequate levels.
Read MoreVitamin B3 is needed for 400 functions in the body, making it the most useful one. It has a special place in human history according to the authors of a journal article. Today I am going to talk about what it is, what foods contain it, what it does, and its place in shaping human history.
Read More