Preventing cancer, the importance of micronutrients
Cancer and so many other old age diseases are very common these days. You could say, well we are getting older and older, after all, it is not very shocking that old age diseases will be more prevalent as well. But that is not the only reason for example cancer rates going up. Lifestyle and getting your body the proper building blocks that it needs is important ass well. Crucial if you ask me.
Today’s blog will be about micronutrients and the importance of maintaining adequate levels of it. We all know that our diets changed dramatically if we compare them with the diets of our ancestors. Let me explain the difference. These days roughly 60 % of what the average person eats is processed or refined foods and only 5% of the average diet exists of fruits and vegetables. Our ancestors were growing their own food because food industry like we have these days were non-existent. Growing there own food consisted that at least 50% of there diets existed of whole organic foods instead of processed manipulated food like we consume today. The natural whole foods are what provides most of our micronutrients on daily bases. Since we don’t consume as much of it today, we end up with a lot of deficiencies.
Deficiencies in the US
This might shock you or not, and maybe you think well I don’t live in the US it will not be that high in my country and that might be true. But think about what you consume every day. How much of your diet is processed and refined, and how many is actually fruits and vegetables? Only you know the answer to that, but there is a big change that you have some deficiencies as well.
You might think if there are so many deficiencies out there why do we never hear about it or notice it. Well, let me explain that. RDI Or Recommended daily Intake are set by the governments to ensure we get enough of the micronutrients every day. But do we actually get enough when we consume the RDI? They are Set around two times the quantity of what would cause a death of a mouse. There is a lot of room in between having a deficiency and getting clinically sick from it on short notice. But not noticing it in the present moment doesn’t mean it is not causing you any harm.
So what do micronutrients also known as vitamins and minerals do?
Vitamins and minerals are essential for metabolic pathway to function. A metabolic pathway is a linked series of chemical reactions occurring within a cell. For example, we need magnesium to make ATP, what is energy for every muscle to be able to contract. We have 1000’s of biomechanical pathways within the body that need chemicals to work every day.
Not all the pathways cause problems in the short term if they don’t work like they should. You could see it like this, all your pathways are prioritized. There are pathways that are essential right now for survival and pathways that are essential for the longevity and everything in between. Magnesium and vitamin K both have pathways essential for survival and pathways for the long-term health. I’ll give you two examples:
Magnesium is essential for over 300 different pathways, some of them essential for survival and some of them for longevity. For the short term magnesium is a cofactor for making ATP(energy). It is also needed for damaged DNA. And this is where preventing cancer comes in. DNA gets damaged by byproduct of metabolism every day all day. This is not something you can prevent and you shouldn’t worry about this because the body is way to perfect to just get damaged. It gets repaired by DNA repair enzymes, but if your DNA repair pathways don’t work properly because of deficiency it will not be able to repair the damage and it can lead to DNA mutation. DNA mutation can in turn lead to a unhealthy cell. Unhealthy cells can replicate and form a pre-cancer cell. These crucial DNA Repair enzymes need Magnesium as an cofactor to be able to work properly.
Vitamin K activates proteins that help with blood clothing, an essential cofactor for survival.
It also prevents calcification in the arteries. It pulls calcium out of the blood vessels and brings it to the muscles and bones. Calcification in the arteries is not bad for the short term since you wont notice it but in the long term it can build up and cause hearth diseases.
So whenever you have a deficiency in micronutrients, your body will provide these in prioritized order, vital once first and pathways for longevity last. Like Vitamin K, it first goes to the liver to activate all the proteins for blood clotting, after that it will stick around in the blood flow to pull out the calcium. The same goes for the the magnesium, it will first make ATP, only after that will it repair the damaged DNA. Repairing your damaged DNA is a crucial part for preventing your body to make pre-cancer cells that might grow into that tumor 40 years from now.
Here are some facts of the importance of getting your adequate magnesium levels:
- People with the highest cortile of magnesium in the blood have a 50 % lower cancer related mortality opposed to the people with the lowest cortile of magnesium.
- For every 100 microgram degrease of magnesium intake there is a 25% higher chance of getting pancreatic cancer.
I know that there are many other factors in getting cancer, it is not as simple as just getting your micronutrients in. Genes, lifestyle, stress and many other things influence the chance of getting it as well. But the key take away is that you give your body all the nutrients it needs to be able to work to be able to repair all the damage that the body undergoes. Remember this, you don’t see DNA damage if you look in the mirror and you will not feel it either. But not feeling or seeing it doesn’t mean it is not there. These deficiencies will catch up to you and show up in your 50’s, 60’s or maybe later, and by that time it is already to late because the damage is already done.
Try to eat as much whole foods as you can and try to cut some more of the processed foods and you will be heading in the good way! What is best to eat and how to get your adequate levels of macro and micro nutrients is something I will discus in future articles.
Thank you for reading, I hope you find it helpful or interesting. If you do please click the like and follow button. If you have any feedback or comments please comment below, Im always open for feedback.
For now,
Stay healthy & be happy!