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Episode 2: Are Dietary Supplements a Luxury or Necessity?

The Nugent Report, The science behind health and nutrition. Welcome to this episode of The Nugent Report a definitive source for objective information on health and nutrition. Featuring Dr. Steve Nugent, the renowned psychologist, author, public speaker and expert on science, health, wellness and nutrition. Be sure to visit our website at ‘drnugent.com’ and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @TheNugentReport.

Steve Nugent: Hello my friends and welcome to another episode of The Nugent Report. In this episode of The Nugent Report, we are going to be answering a simple question. Are dietary supplements a luxury or a necessity in the 21st century? Some of you will be very surprised with the information you hear. Some of you may be simply reaffirmed. But in any case, you will be getting scientific information in plain simple language that anyone can understand. That can help you make a decision as to whether or not you should be taking dietary supplements to support your health.

When I say dietary supplement, what am I talking about? A supplement is something designed to supplement what may be missing from your diet. Now that could be a tablet, a capsule, a powder, a drink. Any way that you can get a nutrient that may supplement what may be missing from your diet. Understand that dietary supplements are not medicines. They are not designed to treat or cure or ameliorate disease. That is not their purpose. Your body has a system of mechanisms in its amazing design to deal with almost every kind of natural occurrence that you can possibly imagine.

It does so by fueling the systems through nutrition. Sometimes there are challenges where in some cases a human being is not able to cope with some kind of outside threat. And in those cases, pharmaceutical drugs or medical procedures may be required. Understand that your doctor has been trained well to understand when to prescribe a pharmaceutical drug, when to recommend a particular medical procedure or test. However, medical schools do not teach doctors how to be experts in the clinical use of dietary supplements. So, don’t make the mistake of thinking that all doctors know all things about well everything, because it’s just not the case.

So, what we’re going to talk about today is some science that perhaps your doctor is completely unaware of and that’s fine with me. Because this is an educational podcast.

All right, so a supplement is designed to supplement what might be missing from your diet. But well all governments tell you that if you eat right you won’t get sick, you don’t need supplements our food supply is the best every country will say. Our nutrition is the best every country will say. And discussion of dietary supplements is well, pretty limited by most governments if at all. Your body is the key. Your body is the true miracle. Whether you know this or not, your body has well in my mind the most amazing design ever. In fact, your body is designed to cope with almost any kind of naturally occurring challenge you could possibly imagine.

How does it do this? Well, you have a number of systems in your body that cope with different challenges. And when I say this, most people think about their immune system primarily. Well okay, let’s talk about the immune system for a moment. I want you to think of your body as a big industrial complex and I want you to think of that industrial complex your body, as having many factories inside of the complex. One of those factories would be your immune system. Well, let’s say as an example that you know you got yourself pretty rich one day and you decided to buy an automobile factory.

In order to run that factory, of course the factory will have to be powered naturally. But you’re gonna have to have certain materials certain supplies nutrition for that factory if you will. That would include things like steel and rubber and plastic and all manner of things that are necessary to make a car. If you’re missing any of those materials to make a car, guess what? No matter how good that automobile factory is, it’s not going to produce a car that functions. Is it? Think about your immune system and all the other factories inside of your body. So, you think of your glandular system as a factory, okay. All of them requiring supplies, materials in this case nutrition from various foods.

Again, the hope is that everyone eats properly and that everyone eats sufficient levels of nutrients necessary to fuel all those various factories within the body. So, that you have the ability to meet the challenges as your body was designed to meet those challenges. That’s the whole idea. Well, that would be ideal. In life, how many things are ideal? Not many. Well in the 21st century you have very very different conditions than our ancestors faced throughout the majority of human history. Some of those conditions are obvious you’re aware of. Such as pollution, air pollution and water pollution today is more severe than it has ever been in the history of the world.

Scientists can take ice core samples that they know go back thousands of years. They can date these samples with pretty good accuracy. And they know from these samples what was in the air during each of those centuries. We can tell you for sure that the pollution today is far more serious than pollution has ever been in recorded history or even in pre-history. Wow. Is air pollution a problem? You bet it is. Air pollution can cause well oxidative stress and you’ve heard the term free radicals and other terms related to that. Oxidative stress can damage the cells of your body.

There are some oxidative molecules that can even damage human DNA. This is serious stuff and most of these chemicals that are found in the pollution today on planet earth did not exist on planet earth before the year 1930. That essentially is the beginning of the age of synthetic chemistry. Synthetic chemistry is pretty amazing, I mean it really is amazing. When you look at some things that synthetic chemists have been able to create, it’s well astounding. But there are also synthetic chemicals which are very harmful to life on this planet, not just to humans but to animal life as well. And these chemicals are growing every year.

We know that according to the US Environmental Protection agency, there are more than 75,000 synthetic chemicals on planet earth registered with that agency. And I use them as an example because more chemicals are registered with them than any other federal agency in the world. They tell us that these 10,000 of chemicals are really only the beginning. We know from scientific study and this was sort of an accidental discovery really. Where scientists found that when different synthetic compounds come in contact with each other in water, they frequently make brand new compounds that were never intended.

Now with that idea in mind, when you’re starting with more than 75,000 chemicals to begin with and now you begin to combine them at random. There is no possibility of knowing how many chemicals are on this planet today. Simply no possibility. So, that’s a stress. You better know it. When your oxidative stress goes up, your cells are damaged and it’s I like to describe it as well rust. Rust is probably the best way to describe it. If you’ve watched rust on metal and you see how it sort of eats it away, that’s oxidative stress on metal. All right, you’re not made of metal I understand. But the effects on your cells are very very similar to what happens to metal when it is having oxidative stress or rust.

To have sufficient nutrient to cope with that, you need a type of nutrient called an Antioxidant. Antioxidants are found in various colorful fruits and vegetables. Now you will find antioxidant phytochemicals, phytochemical comes from an ancient Greek word which means plant. So, plant chemicals, now these are not vitamins. They’re not minerals, they’re not amino acids, they are their own category of nutrition, phytochemical antioxidants. Then there are vitamin antioxidants like Vitamin A, C and E. Phytochemical Antioxidants are things that most people can’t pronounce when they see them. And I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

Other than to say, that you are supposed to eat adequate levels of fruits and vegetables in order to have those phytochemical antioxidants to help you fight the oxidative stress of the 21st century. Back in 1995, the US Department of Agriculture or USDA, they did a study. A study using a test developed by their agricultural research service which is a division of the USDA. And this test is called Serum ORAC. Serum means blood and ORAC is an abbreviation that stands for Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity. Or the capacity of any nutrient to potentially neutralize the harmful effects of an oxidative free radical or oxidative stress. So, when they did this study, what they did was they checked the blood of volunteers who were eating various fruits and vegetables and at various numbers of servings. I’ll explain servings in a couple of minutes.

And what they found was that, most people they tested were not getting adequate levels of antioxidants from fruits and vegetables. So, they made a standard and they said, we think everyone should have between 5 and 7 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. This was 1995 now. And 5 to 7 servings every day, fresh. Not canned, not frozen, not packed in syrup but fresh. Every time they repeated this test, they found that the requirements had gone up. Now this is logical, because pollution continues to go up every year. So, the stress from pollution keeps going up. It makes perfect sense that a human being would need then more fuel to cope with that.

I’m going to use this analogy a couple of times. I’m talking about an automobile under stress. Now you know that if you drive your car on a level road, it will burn less fuel than if you drive your car uphill. Now think about it. So, for Americans let’s say if you’re driving 5 miles on a level road versus 5 miles uphill, you will use a lot more fuel driving uphill. For the same distance, 5 miles or for the world outside of the united states let’s put that into kilometers, okay. So, the point is the more stress the car is under, the more stress the engine is under. The more fuel it burns and the more wear and tear there is on the parts of the car.

You’re no different, no you’re not made of steel and rubber but you still have more stress. So, that means you require more fuel. So, as the pollution continues to increase, air and water pollution and even chemicals that are in various foods. Then our needs for those nutrients go up, the antioxidant nutrients goes up. This is an important thing; I want you to remember this as we proceed. Now that was 1995. In 2006, there was a study published in the journal of the American Dietetic Association. And in this study, they said that about 40% of Americans were consuming at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Only 40%, 60% were not.

By 2015, there was another study published and this said depending on sex and because men require more of various nutrients than females do almost across the board. So, it’s about age, it’s about gender and so on. So, depending on the test subject involved, you need anywhere between according to the 2015 report, anywhere between one and a half to two cups per day of fruit and two to three cups per day of vegetables. Now I know that the majority of people listening on the planet are on the metric system. There are still three countries in the world that are not and the United States is one of them. And a large portion of my listening audience is in the United States and so I have to do this both ways.

So, people they’ll say to me, so what’s a serving? Well, a serving is a cup, okay. Now a US cup is going to translate approximately to about 227 grams of solid material. Now in cooking in the US, there’s a standard 8-ounce cup and it’s meant for liquids, but we’re also using which of course would then translate to MLS for the rest of the world. But in this case, we’re talking about solid material fruits and vegetables placed in that same container. So, that’s going to translate to roughly 227 grams of solid material per serving. In 2017, another report came out and this was from the American Centers for Disease Control from their morbidity and mortality weekly report.

It said, only one out of every 10 American adults were getting the minimum recommendation of fruits and vegetables daily. So, see the trend here. The trend is showing us that as we progress in time people are eating less healthy diets each year. They’re getting less of the nutrition they need. While at the same time, the stress on their bodies from the environment alone just the environment just from air pollution and water pollution, and there are certainly other stresses today, okay. But just those stresses alone tell us that, that’s increasing while dietary choices are apparently decreasing in terms of good dietary choices. This is not a good scenario, is it?

So, what we’re up to right now is a recommendation of between 7 and 13 servings per day of fresh fruits and vegetables. Realistically my friends, I don’t know even if a dedicated vegan would eat that much fruit and vegetable per day. That would be very time consuming and boy, you’d have to have a really efficient digestive enzyme system to digest that much fruit and vegetable without feeling well pretty miserable and producing a lot of gas and so on. So, overall it’s not really a good scenario, is it? Then here’s a study that was published by someone named Mare. And she decided that she would check the content of 20 different fruits and vegetables and compare them for nutritional value between the 1930s and the 1980s.

She selected 20 fruits and vegetables from a published report from the united kingdom’s composition of food tables. And here’s pretty much what she said, I’m paraphrasing here but this is basically what she said. By the way, this was published in the British Food Journal in 1997. So, mayor said that as she compared these that there was a statistically significant reduction in the levels of Calcium, Magnesium, Copper, and Sodium in vegetables. And a statistically significant reduction of Iron and Copper in fruit. The only mineral that showed no significant difference over the 50-year period was Potassium.

Now there’s a reason for that, so stay with me. Another finding that Mare had was that the water content of the fruits and vegetables had increased over that 50-year period. Well, that’s primarily due to farming methods. Many people don’t know this but farmers have a really tough life, I mean really tough. First of all, farming today is a science. It’s not a question of well you go find some soil dig a hole and throw a seed in it and hope for the best. That’s not the way it works. The profit margin on farming is so small. That farmers have to become almost scientists and mathematicians and use all manner of high-tech equipment to make sure that they have a yield large enough just to stay in business.

Because countries like the United States and like Canada as an example, these two countries produce far more food than the population of the US or Canada could ever possibly eat. And they’re producing more food because if they don’t produce that level of food, many of these farmers simply can’t stay in business. So, that food is sold to other countries obviously and sometimes given to other countries. The point here is that farming is pretty close to a science these days. Now produce is sold by weight, isn’t it? And water is heavy. If you could change your farming methods where your fruits and vegetables had higher water content than previous years. They would be heavier and they’d sell for more. Because you sell by weight.

So, what Mare found was that there was in fact an increase in the water weight of various fruits and vegetables and a decrease in the amount of solid mass of those fruits and vegetables. This may be one of the reasons that we have a decrease in various nutrients that she found in her particular study. Now I want to point out, remember objectivity is the key to good science, I want to point this out. Her study needed to go a few steps further, but in virtually every study that I’ve ever known about including the ones I’ve been involved in you have a limitation of money and time. And you can only study certain things, you can’t possibly study everything in one study. It just can’t be done, and this is why you have yet another study in another study.

And it’s why at the end of almost every science paper you’ll see anywhere, it usually will have a statement that says something like more study is needed. No matter how good their data was. And in this case, I would say more study is needed because there could be other reasons that the mineral content of these 19 of the 20 fruits and vegetables that she checked. There could be other reasons that the mineral levels were down, okay. It didn’t necessarily have to be that it was simply about water. The water weight was changed obviously okay, so that’s a fact. But more study is needed to figure out what else may have been going on.

In the United States and I will use the US a lot because it’s simply easier to obtain statistics for the US in most areas not every area. There are some areas where statistics are better kept in as an example Sweden or Denmark or in some other countries like that. But generally overall, it’s easier for me to get a broader level of statistics related to this subject from the United States. And of course, all human beings do have the same basic biological requirements. So, back to the example. In the US, of course we’re told that the modern diet is fantastic. The American food supply is amazing, it’s wonderful never better.

Well, if that’s true and if Americans are making good food choices and if we add the fact that according to the council on responsible nutrition. They say that approximately 75% of all Americans take dietary supplements and about 73% of Canadians by the way take dietary supplements. Then you shouldn’t find too many people who aren’t getting enough Vitamin and mineral every day. In fact, if you were to put those things together, you would say well there’s probably nobody who’s not getting an adequate level of Vitamin and mineral every day. Well according to the US government the US Department of Agriculture, they tell us that more than 90% of Americans are getting less than adequate levels of at least one or more nutrients. And again, that depends on age and gender and so on.

But what this tells us is that despite the fact that there’s plenty of food to eat, despite the fact that government guidelines have been put up telling people the recommended way to eat. We still have 90% of the US population who are not getting adequate levels of Vitamins or minerals. More than 70% several different vitamins and minerals are missing and some of these are very key. As an example, close to 50% of Americans get inadequate levels of Magnesium. Now right away you say, oh that’s about Calcium right. Well, of course it is. It is about breaking down calcium so that you can utilize Calcium. But Magnesium has about 600 functions in the body not one.

So, it’s super important and having about 50% of the American population not getting sufficient Magnesium, this is a very big deal my friends when you’re talking about 600 functions roughly. Well, let’s take this another step. We’ve been talking about minerals, we’ve been talking about phytochemicals, antioxidants. Now let’s talk a little bit about Vitamins. Specifically, there was a study done by a couple of doctors Fletcher and Fairfield. And this is a blood study with human volunteers. Their research question was. Do people get sufficient vitamins? Now they’re only testing for vitamin nothing else, okay. Do people get sufficient vitamin by diet alone? What they found was that the vast majority do not.

In fact, the words, their words not mine from their study. Most people do not consume an optimal amount of all vitamins by diet alone. It appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements. Wow, two medical doctors published in the journal of the American Medical Association. Does your doctor know this? Probably not. In the United States about 50% roughly of medical doctors are subscribing to the journal the American Medical Association are our members of the association. And even so doctors are human beings my friends. I mean give them a break, okay. Doesn’t every human being want to have personal time? Doesn’t every human being want to have time with their family their loved ones? Doesn’t every human being want to have some relaxation time or recreational time? Of course.

So, don’t expect that your doctor can magically read the millions of studies that exist right now let alone try and keep up with them as new one comes out. So, don’t be hard on your doctor if your doctor doesn’t know this information. Give them a break, okay. So, now we’ve talked about phytochemical antioxidants and we’ve talked about Vitamins and we’ve talked about minerals. This should be enough right there to help you make your choice. But I want to make sure that you have a clear idea of a couple of words that I’ve used. Adequate versus deficiency. And when you look at your labels and in every country it’s different. I wish it wasn’t makes me crazy. My own country the US, is just constantly changing this identifier if you will.

So, you may see the required daily allowance, you might see the required daily intake, you might see the daily value. You might see the minimum daily requirement, whatever it’s labeled in your country. And you look at this on a Vitamin product, okay. Now by the way Fletcher and Fairfield their recommendation was for people to take a multivitamin every day. Just so you know just to be clear and keeping with our theme of objectivity. They were not recommending anything more than that, simply that everyone take a daily multiple vitamin mineral product, okay. And I didn’t recommend anything particular because they’re scientists and scientists don’t recommend products. They just report their science, okay.

So, when you look at those labels and let’s say that the label says, required daily intake. All right. So, if it says this is 50% of the required daily intake what that means is. it has 50% of what is considered adequate to feed your body that nutrient for its functions for that day. That’s different than deficient okay, it’s a different definition. When we start talking about deficiencies, that can imply disease states of various types you know like Scurvy and Beriberi and so on, okay. And that’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about adequate levels to maintain healthy levels of function of all of the factories in your factory complex. So, of all of your systems that’s the point, okay. So, that’s adequate versus deficient.

All right, so now that we’ve looked at just these categories of nutrition, and oh Gosh we could do so much more. But podcasts need to be limited to a certain length, so that people actually be able to listen to it in a reasonable period of time. So, then the question is. Do you eat a perfect diet? Its unlikely statistics show us that it’s very unlikely. In fact, statistics are showing us that about 90% of you do not, okay. Is your life stress free? Psychological stress causes you to need more nutrition. Did you know that? It does and this is why psychological stress can affect your health and your immune system. The more psychological stress you’re under, the less likely your immune system is able to respond to an immune challenge.

And it’s unlikely in the 21st century that you live a stress-free life, really unlikely. Stress vitamins by the way are considered the B Complex and C in general Vitamin C. so, B Complex in Vitamin C. It’s more complicated than that but that’s generally what we look at. And then you ask the question. Are you immune to the effects of pollution on planet earth in the 21st century? Well of course, you’re not. So, this means more antioxidant protection, more nutrition, more fuel for that car driving uphill. And there are many other stresses as well.

So, my friends the decision always from The Nugent Report will be yours. My job is to provide you with information which is scientifically accurate. So, that you can make the right decisions for your health. The choice is yours. And I truly enjoy, as I say this is a labor of love The Nugent Report. I want to help as many people on this planet as I can. You cannot make an informed decision unless you’ve been informed. So, that brings us to the end of this episode of The Nugent Report and I look forward to the next with you. In the meantime, be safe be sensible and stay objective.

Thanks for listening to this episode of The Nugent Report. Visit our website at ‘drnugent.com’ for more objective facts about health and nutrition. And email your questions and feedback to info@drnugent.com. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @TheNugentReport. Stay informed, get the facts with The Nugent Report.

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纽金特报告（The Nugent Report）》第2集：膳食补充剂究竟是奢侈品还是必需品？

《纽金特报告》，阐述健康与营养背后的科学。欢迎收听本集《纽金特报告》，《纽金特报告》是有关健康和营养客观信息的权威来源。由著名心理学家、作家、公共演说家、科学、健康、保健和营养方面的专家史蒂夫ž纽金特博士主讲。我们的网站是“drnugent.com”，你可以在脸书（Facebook）、推特（Twitter）和Instagram @TheNugentReport上关注我们。

史蒂夫ž纽金特：朋友们好，欢迎收听新一集的《纽金特报告》。在本集《纽金特报告》中，我们将回答一个简单的问题，即在21世纪，膳食补充剂究竟是奢侈品还是必需品？有些人或许会对听到的内容感到非常吃惊；有些人可能只是再次简单地确认自己已经了解到的信息。但不管怎样，通过我通俗易懂的讲述，你将获得科学的信息，帮助自己决定是否应服用膳食补充剂保持身体健康。

当提到膳食补充剂时，我在指什么？补充剂是为了补充饮食中可能缺少的营养，其可能是片剂、胶囊、粉末或饮料等各种形式。你可以通过任何方式补充饮食中可能缺少的营养。不过，要注意膳食补充剂不是药品，服用膳食补充剂的目的不是为了治疗、治愈或改善疾病。你的身体有一套设计惊人的系统机制，几乎能应对你能想象出的所有自然事件。

身体之所以能做到这点，是由于营养为系统提供燃料。当然有时也会存在一些挑战，在某些情况下，人类无法应对某种外部威胁。在这种情况下，就需要服用药物或进行手术。要知道，医生接受过良好的培训，知道何时开药，何时建议进行特定的手术或检查。但医学院并没有教授医生如何成为临床使用膳食补充剂的专家。因此，不要错误地认为所有的医生都知道与健康相关的一切知识，事实上并非如此。

所以，我们今天要讲的是一些科学知识，也许医生完全不知道这些知识，不过这没有关系。因为我们是教育性质的播客。

言归正传，补充剂是为了补充饮食中可能缺少的营养。不过，所有的政府都会告诉你，如果你吃得对，就不会生病，也不需要补充额外营养，每个国家都会说本国的食物供应是最好的，同时也会说本国的营养是最好的。虽然这样，大多数政府或多或少都会限制有关膳食补充剂的讨论。要知道，你的身体才是关键。你的身体才是真正的奇迹。无论你是否知道，你的身体在我心目中是最神奇的设计。实际上，你的身体设计可以应对你能想象出的几乎所有自然发生的挑战。

身体是如何做到这一点的？其实，你体内有很多系统可以应对不同的挑战。当我说到这里的时候，大多数人肯定首先会想到自身的免疫系统。行，那我们就先来谈谈免疫系统。我希望你把自己的身体想象成一个大型工业中心，把这个工业中心想象成你的身体，在这个综合体里面有很多工厂。其中一个工厂就是你的免疫系统。举个例子，假如有一天你特别有钱了，你决定买一家汽车厂。

要想让这个汽车工厂运转起来，自然要有动力。如果你愿意的话，你必须要为工厂提供一定的材料和营养，像是钢铁、橡胶、塑料在内等各种材料 以及制造汽车所需的各种材料。如果缺少任何一种制造汽车的材料，你猜会怎么样？无论那家汽车厂有多好，都不能生产出一辆可以开动的汽车。对吗？想想你的免疫系统和你身体里面的其他工厂。你把腺体系统视为一个工厂。所有工厂都需要物资材料，在这种情况下，物资材料指来自各种食物的营养。

我们希望每个人都能正确地吃饭，摄取足够的营养，为体内的所有不同工厂提供必要的燃料。这样你就有能力迎接挑战， 因为你的身体本就可以迎接这些挑战。这就是整个构想。这个想法是理想的，对吧。然而在生活中，有多少事情是理想的？并不多。在21世纪，你如今所处的环境与人类历史上大部分时间中我们祖先曾面对的环境非常不同。其中一些情况是显而易见的，比如污染，今天的空气污染和水污染比世界历史上的任何时候都要严重。

科学家可以采集数千年前的冰芯样本。他们不仅能准确地确定这些样本形成的日期，还能从这些样本中了解到每个世纪以来的空气状况。我们可以肯定地告诉你，今天的污染远比有历史记录以来、甚至比史前时期的污染都要严重得多。你可能会问，空气污染有问题吗？当然有。空气污染会造成严重的氧化应激，你应该听说过自由基和其他相关的术语。氧化应激会损害身体细胞。

有些氧化分子甚至可以破坏人类DNA。这是破坏性很强的东西，从当今地球污染中发现的这些化学物质，其中大部分在1930年之前在地球上并不存在。从本质来说，这就是合成化学时代的开始。合成化学是相当惊人的，它真的非常惊人。当你看到合成化学家能够创造出的一些东西时，真是令人震惊。但也有一些合成化学物质对地球上的生命非常有害，不仅是对人类，对动物也是一样。而且这些化合物每年都在增加。

我们知道，根据美国国家环境保护局的数据，地球上有超过75000种合成化学物质在该机构注册。我之所以用他们举例，是因为与世界上其他任何联邦机构相比，在那里注册的化学物质更多。他们告诉我们，这10,000种化学物质其实仅仅是一个开始。我们从科学研究中了解到，有时新的化合物是一种意外的发现。真的，科学家们发现，当不同的合成化学物质在水中相互接触时，经常会制造出全新的、意料之外的化合物。

知道这一点之后，我们可以想象一下，从超过75000种化学物质开始随意组合，你根本不可能知道如今在这个星球上有多少化学物质。根本不可能！所以，这就存在应激，你最好认识到这一点。当你的氧化应激水平升高时，你的细胞就会受损，我喜欢把细胞受损比喻为生锈。在我看来，生锈可能是最好的描述方式。如果你看过金属上的锈迹并观察锈迹是如何把金属腐蚀的， 那就是金属上的氧化应激。我当然知道你不是金属做的。但是氧化应激对细胞的影响，与金属发生氧化应激或生锈时发生的反应极其相似。

要想有足够的营养来应对氧化应激，就需要一种叫做抗氧化剂的营养成份。抗氧化剂存在于各种五颜六色的水果和蔬菜中。你会注意到抗氧化的植物化学物质，植物化学物质这一名称来自古希腊语，意思是植物。所以，植物化学物质不是维生素、不是矿物质也不是氨基酸。它们属于自己单独的营养类别，植物化学物抗氧化剂。当然，还有维生素抗氧化剂，比如维生素A、维生素C、维生素E，植物化学物抗氧化剂是大多数人看到后却念不出来名称的东西。但这不是重点，读不出来也没关系。

你应该吃足量的水果和蔬菜，获得植物化学物抗氧化剂，帮助你对抗21世纪的氧化应激。早在1995年，美国农业部（或USDA）做了一项研究。这项研究使用的检测方法由农业研究服务部（美国农业部下属的一个部门）开发。这种检测方法叫做血清ORAC。血清表示血液，而ORAC是“氧自由基吸收能力”的缩写，代表任何营养素潜在中和氧化自由基或氧化应激造成有害影响的能力。当他们进行这项研究时，让志愿者吃不同份数的各种水果和蔬菜，然后检测这些志愿者的血液。我等下再来说明份数问题。

他们发现，接受检测的大多数人没有从水果和蔬菜中获得足够量的抗氧化剂。因此，他们制定了一个标准，认为我们每人每天应该吃 5 至 7 份新鲜水果和蔬菜 。这项研究是在1995年做的，而且是每天吃5到7份新鲜的、不是罐头的、不是冷冻的，更不是果酱制品，而是新鲜的水果和蔬菜。每次他们重复这个研究时，都会发现，需要摄入新鲜水果和蔬菜的份数有所增加。这一结论合乎逻辑，因为污染每年都在持续增加。污染带来的应激不断上升。人类需要更多的燃料来应对这个问题，这很合理。

我要用压力下的汽车来做个比喻。我之后可能还会多次用到这个比喻。各位都知道，如果汽车在平坦的道路上行驶，耗费的燃料比在上坡时少。现在仔细想想，对于美国人来说，在平坦的道路上行驶5英里与上坡行驶5英里相比，上坡时需要更多的燃料。同样的距离，5英里或者在美国以外的地方，我们把单位变成公里就可以。要强调的重点是，汽车承受的压力越大，发动机承受的压力就越大。这样一来就需要燃烧更多的燃料，汽车零部件的磨损也越厉害。

你们也不例外，当然，你不是钢铁和橡胶做的，但你还是要承受更多的压力。所以，这意味着你需要更多的燃料。随着污染的不断加剧，不仅是空气污染和水污染，甚至是各种食物中所含的化学物质。我们对这些营养素的需求就会增加，对抗氧化的营养素的需求也会增加。这一点很重要，我希望大家往下收听的时候要记住。那个研究是1995年进行的。而在2006年，美国饮食协会杂志发表了另一项研究。在这项研究中，研究人员发现只有约40％的美国人每天至少食用5份水果和蔬菜。只有40％，而60％的人没有。

到2015年，又有一项研究发表。这项研究声称对营养物质的需求根据性别而有所不同，因为男性对各种营养物质的需求量几乎全面超过女性。因此，对营养物质的需求与年龄、性别等都相关。所以，根据2015年的报告，按照所涉及的试验对象，你每天需要食用一杯半到两杯的水果加上两杯到三杯的蔬菜。我知道，世界上大多数听众用的是公制。还有三个国家没有，而美国就是其中之一。但我的听众有很大一部分在美国，所以我必须两者兼顾。

所以，人们会问我，一份是多少？其实，一份就是一杯。一个美式杯子能装大约等于227克的固体物质。目前在美国烹饪时，会用一个标准的8盎司杯专门测量液体， 但我们现在也在使用它测量固体，然后转换成毫升 以方便世界上其他地区的人。但在这种情况下，我们讨论的是将固体物质水果和蔬菜放置在同一个容器。按这样转换过来，每份食物大约是227克的固体物质。2017年，又有一份报告发表，这份报告源自美国疾病控制与预防中心发布的发病率和死亡率周报。

这份报告说，每10名美国成年人中，只有一人达到每天水果和蔬菜的最低推荐摄取量。大家注意到这其中的趋势了吧。这一趋势告诉我们，随着时间的推移，人们每年摄入的健康饮食在减少。他们越来越缺乏所需要的营养。与此同时，人们身体所承受的环境压力，仅算上来自空气污染和水污染的压力，当然还有其他的压力。但是单单这些压力就告诉我们，身体对营养的需求肯定在增加，但现实情况是健康的饮食选项正在减少。这不是一个好现象，对吧？

因此，我们目前的建议是每天吃7到13份的新鲜水果和蔬菜。实际上，朋友们，我不确定即使是一个纯粹的素食主义者，每天会不会吃这么多的水果和蔬菜。吃下这么多东西是非常耗时的，而且朋友，你的消化酶系统必须高效运转才能消化这么多的水果和蔬菜，否则你会感到相当痛苦并产生大量的气体。所以，总体来说，这并不是一个很好的方案，对吧？这里有一份名为梅尔（Mare）的人发表的研究。她决定检测20种不同水果和蔬菜中各成份的含量，并比较它们在20世纪30年代和80年代的营养价值。

她从已发表的英国食品成分表报告中选择了20种水果和蔬菜。她的意思差不多是这样，我在这里大致转述一下。顺便说一下，这篇报告是1997年发表在英国食品杂志上的。梅尔（Mare）提到，当她比较检测结果时，发现蔬菜中钙，镁，铜和钠的含量在统计学上显著降低，而水果中铁和铜的含量也在统计学上显著降低。在那50年期间唯一没有显著差异的矿物质是钾。

产生这样的结果这是有原因的，请大家听仔细了。梅尔（Mare）的另一个发现是，在那50年里，水果和蔬菜的含水量提高了。这主要是由于耕作方法的原因。很多人或许不知道，农民过着非常艰苦的生活，我的意思是农民真的很辛苦。首先，当今的农业是一门科学，不是你去找些土壤，挖个洞，扔个种子进去，然后就祈祷能够获得好收成的问题。这不是现代农业的工作方式。农业的利润空间非常小。农民几乎必须成为科学家和数学家，使用各种高科技设备才能确保他们获得足够的产量以继续经营下去。

以美国和加拿大这样的国家为例，这两个国家生产的食物远远超过了美国或加拿大人口能够消耗的食物总量。农民之所以生产更多的食物，是因为如果他们不生产这么多的食物，许多农民根本无法继续经营。所以，这些食物显然卖给了其他国家，有时还送给了其他国家。这里的重点是，现代农业几乎已经快要成为一门科学。现在的农产品是按重量出售的，对吧？而且水很重。如果能改变耕作方法，使水果和蔬菜的含水量比往年高。那它们就会更重，就会卖出更多价钱。因为买卖是按重量计算的。

梅尔（Mare）发现，实际上各种水果和蔬菜的水分含量增加了，而固体质量却减少了。在她的这个研究中，这可能是各种营养素减少的一个原因。我想指出的是，要记住客观性才是科学的关键，我想说，她的研究还需要继续深入。 但实际上，我知道的几乎每一个研究，包括那些我亲自参与的研究，都有时间和经费上的限制。而且你只能研究某些问题，不可能在一项研究中研究所有问题。这是不可能的，这就是为什么有一项研究又有另一项研究的原因。

这就是为什么几乎在每篇科学论文的结尾某处，通常会有一个声明，指出无论研究结果的数据有多好，都还需要进行更多的研究。在这种情况下，我想说，可能还有其他原因造成了梅尔（Mare）检测的20种水果和蔬菜种有19种的矿物质含量下降，这需要进行更多的研究。矿物质含量下降并不一定只是因为水分。没错，水分的含量确实有所增加，这是一个事实。但还需要更多的研究来弄清楚是不是还有什么其他的原因。

在美国，顺便解释下，我会经常引用美国的研究数据，因为基本上在大部分领域美国的统计数据比较容易获得。瑞典、丹麦或其他一些国家在有些领域的统计资料保存较好。但是一般来说，我比较容易从美国获得与这个主题相关的、更加广泛的统计数据。好了，言归正传，所有的人确实都有相同的基本生理要求。回到这个例子，在美国，我们当然会被告知现代饮食是非常棒的。美国的食物供应令人赞叹，再也没有比这更棒的了。

但是，如果这是事实，如果美国人真的选择了健康的食物，如果我们再考虑到另外一个事实，根据可靠营养品协会调查显示，大约有75％的美国人服用膳食补充剂，而大约73%的加拿大人服用膳食补充剂。那么你应该找不到太多的人每天没有得到足够的维生素和矿物质。如果你把这些信息结合，你会得出结论，可能绝大部分人每天都获取了足够的维生素和矿物质。而根据美国政府美国农业部的说法，超过90%的美国人至少一种或多种营养素的摄入水平不足。同样，这一结论因年龄和性别等因素而异。

所有这些信息告诉我们的是，尽管有很多食物可以吃，尽管政府已经制定了指导方针，告诉人们推荐的饮食方式，但仍然有90%的美国人没有摄入足够的维生素或矿物质。超过70%的人缺少数种不同的维生素和矿物质，而其中一些维生素和矿物非常重要。例如，接近50％的美国人镁的摄入量不足。或许你马上就会说，那与钙有关 对吧。对，当然有关。镁与分解钙有关，所以你可以吸收利用钙。但镁在体内有大约600种功能，而不仅仅是这一种功能。

这一问题真的非常重要，有大约50％的美国人没有摄入足够的镁，朋友们，镁可是具有大约600种功能，这一点不容小觑。现在，我们再来谈论另一个话题，我们刚才一直在讲矿物质、植物化学物质、抗氧化剂。现在让我们来谈谈维生素。具体来说，有一项研究是由两位医生弗莱彻（Fletcher）和费尔菲尔德（Fairfield）共同完成的。这是一项针对人类志愿者的血液研究。他们研究的问题是：人们是否摄入了足够的维生素？在这项研究中，他们只检测维生素，不检测其他的成分。人们仅通过饮食就能获得足够的维生素吗？他们发现，绝大多数人都没有。

实际上，这一结论来自他们的研究，而不是我说的。大多数人单靠饮食并不能摄入所有维生素的最适量。让所有的成年人都服用维生素补充剂是稳妥的做法。这两位医学博士的研究发表在美国医学协会杂志上。你的医生知道这些吗？可能不知道。在美国，粗略估计有50%的医生订阅了美国医学协会的杂志。即使如此，医生也是凡人，朋友们。我们不能奢望他们时刻都在努力工作，对吧。难道不是每个人都想拥有自己的时间吗？难道不是每个人都想有时间和亲人挚爱在一起吗？难道不是每个人都想娱乐放松一下吗？当然想。

所以，不要指望医生能神奇地全部读完现存的数百万份研究，更不用说紧跟当下趋势，在新的研究发表后，立刻有所了解。如果医生不知道这些信息，也不要责怪他们。放过他们，行吗？到目前为止，我们已经谈到了植物化学物抗氧化剂，谈到了维生素和矿物质。这些信息应该足以帮助你做出选择。但我想确保你对我使用的几个词有清晰的认识。足够或是缺乏。当你查看产品标签时，要注意标签在每个国家都是不同的。我希望那不会让我发疯。在我自己的国家，美国，如果你愿意的话。可以不断地改变这个标签。

因此，你可能会看到每日所需建议量、每日所需摄入量；你还可能会看到每日需要量。和每日最低需要量，各国产品标签上的说法可能有所不同，请各位留意维生素产品上的这类标签。弗莱彻（Fletcher）和费尔菲尔德（Fairfield）的建议是让人们每天服用多种维生素，仅此而已。由于他们必须保持研究的客观性，所以这两位医生并没有提出更详细的建议，只是让大家每天服用多种维生素矿物质产品。他们也没有特别推荐任何产品，因为他们是科学家，而科学家不推荐产品，他们只负责报告研究发现。

因此，当你看到那些标签后，让我们谈谈标签的含义，关于每日所需摄入量。如果标注每天所需摄入量的50％ 则意味着什么？如果这样标注表示它可以为你的身体提供当日所需足够营养的50%。记住，这与缺乏不同，二者的定义不同。当我们谈到缺乏时，则可能意味着各种类型的疾病状态 ，如坏血病（Scurvy）和脚气病（Beriberi）等等。我们指的不是这些。我们说的是要保持足够水平来维持体内所有系统的正常运作。注意，是所有系统中，这才是重点，好吗？因此，这就是足够与缺乏的区别。

好了，现在我们只关注这些类别的营养，其实我们还可以做得更多。但是播客需要限制在一定的时长内，让人们真正能够在合理的时间内听完。所以，总结一下，核心问题是：你的饮食完美吗？统计数字告诉我们，很有可能并不完美。事实上，统计数据显示，大约90%的人都没有达到这一要求。你的生活毫无压力吗？你知道吗，心理压力会导致你需要更多的营养。确实如此，这就是为什么心理压力会影响你的健康和免疫系统。你承受的心理压力越大，你的免疫系统就越不容易对免疫挑战做出响应。

在21世纪，你真的不太可能过着毫无压力的生活。顺便说下，一般认为复合维生素B和维生素C是可以抗应激的维生素。复合维生素B和维生素C。其作用机制比较复杂，但我们知道这些就够了。你或许有疑问，你对21世纪地球上的污染影响有免疫力吗？当然，你没有。所以，就像那辆开上坡的汽车，这意味着你需要更多的抗氧化保护、更多的营养、更多的燃料。同时我们还面临着许多其他方面的压力。

所以，朋友们，听完《纽金特报告》后决定权永远在你自己手中。我的工作是为你提供科学准确的信息。这样，你就可以为自己的健康做出正确决定。这是你自己的选择。 我真的很享受这一过程，正如我所说的，《纽金特报告》是一份充满爱的劳动成果。我想尽我所能帮助这个星球上的人，多多益善。只有清楚告知你之后，你才能做出明智决定。本集《纽金特报告》就到这里， 我期待着在下一集与你相会。 同时再次提醒各位，请记住要安全、理智、保持客观。

感谢收听本集《纽金特报告》。如需了解更多关于健康和营养的客观事实，请访问我们的网站’drnugent.com’。请将你的问题和反馈发送至我们的邮箱 info@drnugent.com。请在脸书（Facebook）、推特（Twitter）和Instagram @TheNugentReport上关注我们。《纽金特报告》带给你最新信息，让你获取客观事实。