How confident is the consensus regarding whether one absolutely should meet the basic FDA minimums for all nutrients/ This would be my first approach towards ‘munchkining’ - at least looking to see whether I have any deficiencies.
I’m not sure. You’ll have to research each nutrient individually—each nutrient is its own little research project.
I’m fairly confident that the optimum amount of vitamin D is probably much higher than the recommended dose. You can take that information into account as you see fit when judging the FDA recommended doses. My guess is that they generally tend to be too low. This might be ignorance, or it might be a precautionary measure to prevent supplement overdose—I’m not sure.
Being of the evolutionary-nutrition school of thought, I’d say the first place to look for deficiencies are the places where our ancestors would have gotten more than us even if we ate optimally given the resources we have. That means Vitamin D (we’re sun deprived) Vitamin K2 (we grow up sterile so our gut flora do not synthesize enough) and Omega 3 (grain fed meat is lacking this).
Further deficiencies would probably depend on your individual diet and physiology. And by the way, if you are going to put lots of effort into being healthy, be sure to direct a good portion of that effort into optimizing exercise regimen and stress regulation, both of which are probably more important than diet.
Most FDA RDAs are to avoid a state of deficiency. Example: If you don’t eat enough Vitamin C, you’ll get scurvy. So eat at least this much vitamin C to avoid scurvy—there’s the RDA.
There are a few examples of nutrients which are naturally produced in the body, but supplementation provides a solid benefit beyond what you’d expect from satisfying a deficiency. Vitamin D is a good example of this: I’ve been taking 10,000IU Vitamin D (~17xRDA) and I feel MUCH better. Creatine is another good one, where you will produce enough to avoid a deficiency state, but additional supplementation significantly improves performance.
The kicker is that everyone is essentially individual in how they respond to things. Some people react really well to a paleo diet (ie high meat, low starch), whereas some people respond very well to a vegan/high-starch diet. Some people don’t respond to creatine or fish oil supplementation, and some people are markedly worse off without it. So approach the question methodically: Change one variable at a time and record how you feel.
Actually, the FDA RDA for Vitamin C provides enough of this (non-fat-soluble, and therefore very poorly stored in the body) vitamin that your reserve, at equilibrium, will get you through thirty days of complete deprivation with no symptoms. Which is nice, but means that if your intake is below the RDA but decently reliable you will still be fine. I’d be surprised if my intake were above 30% RDA on average, but I have never had symptoms of scurvy.
I second the “individual response” paragraph. A lot of people say they feel hungry and unsatisfied after a full meal of mostly starch. I feel great after eating starch but feel hungry and unsatisfied after a full meal of mostly meat.
Great points—thanks!
How confident is the consensus regarding whether one absolutely should meet the basic FDA minimums for all nutrients/ This would be my first approach towards ‘munchkining’ - at least looking to see whether I have any deficiencies.
I’m not sure. You’ll have to research each nutrient individually—each nutrient is its own little research project.
I’m fairly confident that the optimum amount of vitamin D is probably much higher than the recommended dose. You can take that information into account as you see fit when judging the FDA recommended doses. My guess is that they generally tend to be too low. This might be ignorance, or it might be a precautionary measure to prevent supplement overdose—I’m not sure.
Being of the evolutionary-nutrition school of thought, I’d say the first place to look for deficiencies are the places where our ancestors would have gotten more than us even if we ate optimally given the resources we have. That means Vitamin D (we’re sun deprived) Vitamin K2 (we grow up sterile so our gut flora do not synthesize enough) and Omega 3 (grain fed meat is lacking this).
Further deficiencies would probably depend on your individual diet and physiology. And by the way, if you are going to put lots of effort into being healthy, be sure to direct a good portion of that effort into optimizing exercise regimen and stress regulation, both of which are probably more important than diet.
Most FDA RDAs are to avoid a state of deficiency. Example: If you don’t eat enough Vitamin C, you’ll get scurvy. So eat at least this much vitamin C to avoid scurvy—there’s the RDA.
There are a few examples of nutrients which are naturally produced in the body, but supplementation provides a solid benefit beyond what you’d expect from satisfying a deficiency. Vitamin D is a good example of this: I’ve been taking 10,000IU Vitamin D (~17xRDA) and I feel MUCH better. Creatine is another good one, where you will produce enough to avoid a deficiency state, but additional supplementation significantly improves performance.
The kicker is that everyone is essentially individual in how they respond to things. Some people react really well to a paleo diet (ie high meat, low starch), whereas some people respond very well to a vegan/high-starch diet. Some people don’t respond to creatine or fish oil supplementation, and some people are markedly worse off without it. So approach the question methodically: Change one variable at a time and record how you feel.
Actually, the FDA RDA for Vitamin C provides enough of this (non-fat-soluble, and therefore very poorly stored in the body) vitamin that your reserve, at equilibrium, will get you through thirty days of complete deprivation with no symptoms. Which is nice, but means that if your intake is below the RDA but decently reliable you will still be fine. I’d be surprised if my intake were above 30% RDA on average, but I have never had symptoms of scurvy.
I second the “individual response” paragraph. A lot of people say they feel hungry and unsatisfied after a full meal of mostly starch. I feel great after eating starch but feel hungry and unsatisfied after a full meal of mostly meat.
I don’t think that’s true. As far as I know, they are largely based on normal consumption from a few decades ago.