Comments on: I get letters http://www.vegblog.org/archive/2003/10/13/i-get-letters/ Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:46:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: bob w http://www.vegblog.org/archive/2003/10/13/i-get-letters/#comment-1053 bob w Thu, 05 Feb 2004 15:18:11 +0000 http://new.vegblog.org/2003/10/13/i-get-letters/#comment-1053 I received a similar question on my blog (yes, shameless plug), and asked a friend of mine who is a nutrition consultant about this. The response is posted there, but in general the thinking these days is that trying to isolate a few missing chemical compounds and then making synthetic supplements (i.e. vitamins) is missing the big picture. The most nutritional and the best disease-fighting compounds in plants are phytochemicals which cannot be synthesized or isolated using today's technology. Our health problems today are not because we are lacking one or 2 nutrients. It's because our diets are lacking many nutrients. So it's better to identify plant sources that are rich in a wide variety of phytochemicals. Examples include certain mushrooms, cactus, numerous others. So to summarize, trying to identify certain vitamins that we're missing and then replace those with synthetic supplements does our immune system a dis-service. We need a wide variety of phytochemicals that can be sourced from various plants and mushrooms. This has nothing to do with the omega-3 discussion, on which topic I agree with the blogger and the other commenters. I referring to getting the wide variety of nutrients and phytochemicals that our immune system needs. I received a similar question on my blog (yes, shameless plug), and asked a friend of mine who is a nutrition consultant about this. The response is posted there, but in general the thinking these days is that trying to isolate a few missing chemical compounds and then making synthetic supplements (i.e. vitamins) is missing the big picture. The most nutritional and the best disease-fighting compounds in plants are phytochemicals which cannot be synthesized or isolated using today’s technology. Our health problems today are not because we are lacking one or 2 nutrients. It’s because our diets are lacking many nutrients. So it’s better to identify plant sources that are rich in a wide variety of phytochemicals. Examples include certain mushrooms, cactus, numerous others.

So to summarize, trying to identify certain vitamins that we’re missing and then replace those with synthetic supplements does our immune system a dis-service. We need a wide variety of phytochemicals that can be sourced from various plants and mushrooms.

This has nothing to do with the omega-3 discussion, on which topic I agree with the blogger and the other commenters. I referring to getting the wide variety of nutrients and phytochemicals that our immune system needs.

]]> By: Vic http://www.vegblog.org/archive/2003/10/13/i-get-letters/#comment-1052 Vic Mon, 13 Oct 2003 19:17:45 +0000 http://new.vegblog.org/2003/10/13/i-get-letters/#comment-1052 Apparently, fish oil supplements provide a n-3 fatty acid (DHA) that is not available from plant or grain sources. There has been a lot of news stories lately linking depression with low levels of DHA. Most of the articles recommended that people eat fish three times a week or take fish oil supplements. Fortunately, there is a vegan DHA that is derived from micro-algae and packaged in non-gelatin capsules. The brand is O-Mega-Zen3 . Unfortunately, there are no vegetarian DHA supplements available in Canada. O-Mega-Zen3 can only be purchased in the US. Apparently, fish oil supplements provide a n-3 fatty acid (DHA) that is not available from plant or grain sources. There has been a lot of news stories lately linking depression with low levels of DHA. Most of the articles recommended that people eat fish three times a week or take fish oil supplements.

Fortunately, there is a vegan DHA that is derived from micro-algae and packaged in non-gelatin capsules. The brand is O-Mega-Zen3 .

Unfortunately, there are no vegetarian DHA supplements available in Canada. O-Mega-Zen3 can only be purchased in the US.

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