A quick review on the importance of probiotics, fish oil and a good multi-vitamin.

To start, since the early 1970’s our environment has been going through some dramatic changes with influence from major agriculture. Over the last 20 years, an agricultural company has exponentially increased the amount of genetically modified crops in the U.S. The main crops are corn, soy and alfalfa. The crops are genetically engineered to withstand the chemical agents in Roundup herbicide which no other living species can tolerate. The active ingredient in this herbicide is glyphosate. Glyphosate was originally patented as an antibiotic. Antibiotics kill not only the bad bacteria in our bodies but also all the good. Since the increase of the herbicide; we have had more resistant strains of pests. Therefore, the Farmers have been adding 10+ times the amount of herbicide onto the crops to overcome this resistance. This did not work. Now they have added a chemical that was once part of the compound called agent orange called 2,4-D (2). We eat, drink and breathe these chemicals wherever GMO seeds are grown.

Why am I telling you this? It is the exact reason why it is critically important for us to supplement our diets with Probiotics, the good bacteria that does everything for us from digestion to mood stabilizing. We are trying to maintain an average of 30 trillion total bacteria in our bodies (about as many as we have cells) and around 4000 different strains (1). When we take antibiotics, we kill off all our good bacteria and that leaves us with no good fighters left in our bodies to do the work of life. We are taking in antibiotics whether we like it or not.

The second important supplement is Fish oil. Fish oil is an omega-3 fatty acid with direct use of EPA and DHA that our body does not have to convert for use. Omega fatty acids are essential fatty acids, which means they are essential for life and we do not make them in our bodies, we must get them through our diets. EPA is the anti-inflammatory part of an Omega-3 and a well-studied component of this aspect (3). We want a high EPA in our supplements because with all the increasing toxicity in our environment, we increase the inflammation in our bodies.

The third most important supplement is an ORGANIC food-based multivitamin. Since farmers do not use heirloom seeds on these crops, and because there is no rotation of crops and with the increase of chemicals; the soil has also become depleted (4). This means we are not getting the vitamins and minerals in our foods that we used to. We must get our vitamins and minerals through supplementation in order to get everything that we need.

As you can see, these three supplements are as important, if not more important than anything else we can do for our healthy and happy living. These three things need to be incorporated into our lives to build on the most stable foundation.

References:

1. Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body, Ron Sender, Shai Fuchs, Ron Milo doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/036103; Now published in PLOS Biology doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002533, https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002533
2. EWG article; 2,4-D Herbicide & GMO Crops, Sunday, June 22, 2014 https://www.ewg.org/research/24D#.WgkBXYprxmA
3. Calder PC. Omega-3 fatty acids and inflammatory processes. Nutrients. 2010;2(3):355-74. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257651/
4. Tan, Zhengxi & Lal, Rattan & Wiebe, Keith. (2005). Global Soil Nutrient Depletion and Yield Reduction. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture. 26. 10.1300/J064v26n01_10. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/48855698_Global_Soil_Nutrient_Depletion_and_Yield_Reduction