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Chapter 1
Micronutrient Deficiency
The Hidden Pandemic Keeping Us Tired, Fat, and Brittle
I can’t reiterate this enough: The fate of your health is a choice—not a destiny dictated by your genes.
—David Perlmutter, MD
Our belief that micronutrient deficiency is the most widespread and dangerous health condition of the twenty-first century has become the foundation of our nutritional philosophy, and it is at the heart of the Rebuild Your Bones osteoporosis protocol you are about to start. Let’s take a moment to dissect this statement and explore the facts that led us to this conclusion.
Let’s start with this fact: According to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published statistics, only 7 percent of the entire U.S. population over the age of two has an adequate intake of vitamin D, an essential fat-soluble vitamin whose deficiency has been shown to greatly increase the risk of osteoporosis. Otherwise stated, 93 percent of all Americans are deficient! Additionally, the data also reveals that 92 percent of the U.S. population is deficient in potassium, 86 percent is deficient in vitamin E, 70 percent is deficient in calcium, and approximately 50 percent is deficient in vitamin A, vitamin C, and magnesium. Although these statistics alone are disturbing to say the least, it gets worse when you realize that deficiencies in any of these micronutrients have been scientifically proven to either increase the risk of osteoporosis or lead directly to bone loss. In fact, Americans were found to be at least somewhat deficient in all eighteen of the essential micronutrients the USDA examined. There wasn’t a single micronutrient for which all Americans met the government’s minimum standards.
Although this shows us that at least 93 percent of Americans are deficient in at least one essential micronutrient (vitamin D), the USDA neglects to publish the percentage of the population deficient in more than one micronutrient, or all eighteen for that matter. However, according to Mehmet Oz, MD, of The Dr. Oz Show, when an independent research team investigated this question, their study of three million people revealed that less than 1 percent of the participants got enough essential micronutrients from diet alone. With approximately 325 million people in the United States, this means that depending on which statistic you use, between 300 million and 321 million Americans have a micronutrient deficiency.
To get a little perspective on the sheer magnitude of this number, consider the fact that when you take the total number of Americans affected by the world’s most prevalent and deadly diseases (including osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes), it totals up to just over 194 million people—combined! And although we are in no way trying to downplay this devastating statistic, it’s just over half of the 300-plus million Americans who have a micronutrient deficiency. This makes micronutrient deficiency the most widespread health condition of the twenty-first century.
Micronutrient Deficiency Spreads Globally
Micronutrient deficiency is not just a problem in the United States. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than two billion people in both developing and developed countries have micronutrient deficiencies. According to a 2010 study in the journal Public Health Reviews, “These are silent epidemics of vitamin and mineral deficiencies affecting people of all genders and ages, as well as certain risk groups. They not only cause specific diseases . . . such as osteoporosis, osteomalacia, thyroid deficiency, colorectal cancer, and cardiovascular diseases . . . but they act as exacerbating factors in infectious and chronic diseases, greatly impacting morbidity, mortality, and quality of life.”
In Great Britain, researchers determined that every person residing in the United Kingdom (UK) was at risk for micronutrient deficiency to some degree. In fact, the number of British children diagnosed with the bone disease rickets, due to a vitamin D deficiency, is on the rise, with figures quadrupling in the last ten years.
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 90 percent of residents are deficient in vitamin D, and in China, research shows that 84 percent of men and 89 percent of women are deficient in vitamin D, and 40 percent are deficient in vitamin B9. Researchers caution that this may leave a large percentage of these populations at risk not only for bone-related conditions such as osteoporosis, but also for diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, multiple sclerosis, and other autoimmune disorders.
In India, research found that 75 percent of the population shows alarming levels of deficiency. And according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of countries affected by a vitamin A deficiency nearly tripled from 39 to 122 between 1987 and 2005.
All these statistics point to the fact that America is not alone in this micronutrient deficiency pandemic. We, as a global community, must recognize micronutrient deficiency as the silent and harmful pandemic that it is, and take steps to reverse it—before it is too late.
Micronutrient Deficiencies Bring Danger
Now that we have proven to you that micronutrient deficiency is the most widespread health condition of the twenty-first century, it’s time to show you why we believe that it’s also the most dangerous health condition of our time. Here is a scientific fact to consider: Micronutrients are so powerful that being deficient in even one can kill you. It’s the truth. Take scurvy (a deficiency in vitamin C), beriberi (a deficiency in vitamin B1, or thiamine), and pellagra (a deficiency in vitamin B3, or niacin): These diseases killed millions of people all around the world until medical science discovered that they were the direct result of a single micronutrient deficiency.
In 1912, scientists Casimir Funk and Sir Frederick Hopkins examined the relationship between micronutrient deficiencies and disease. After studying the effects of deficiency on disease, they released their vitamin hypothesis of disease, which stated that certain diseases are caused by a dietary lack of specific vitamins. Today, approximately one hundred years later, nothing has changed regarding the causation of disease.
However, many people want to believe that our modern health conditions and diseases are somehow different from those of the past, and that our current epidemics of osteoporosis, cancer, blindness, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and obesity (to name a few) are caused by “age” itself or something other than a micronutrient deficiency. But thousands of peer-reviewed studies over the last century show that in most cases, these diseases are not infectious or genetic and are instead caused by a deficiency in essential micronutrients. Most medical and nutritional professionals agree that genetics play a very small role in determining your overall health. Even when it comes to cancer, one of the deadliest diseases in the world, only 5 to 10 percent of all cases can be attributed to genetic defects. This is fantastic news because it means that the remaining 90 to 95 percent of cases are directly affected by factors you can control.
Let’s start with a statement from the Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA): “Insufficient vitamin intake is apparently a cause of chronic diseases. Recent evidence has shown that suboptimal [below standard] levels of vitamins, even well above those causing deficiency syndromes, are risk factors for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. A large proportion of the general population is apparently at increased risk for this reason.” As you can see, the AMA is fully aware of the fact that micronutrient deficiency is a risk factor for modern diseases, including osteoporosis, and that a large proportion of the general population is vulnerable.
Do other prominent doctors agree that diseases can be directly linked to micronutrient deficiencies? Dr. Mark Hyman, New York Times bestselling author and director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, puts it this way: “[Today] vitamin deficiency does not cause acute diseases such as scurvy or rickets, but [it does] cause what have been called ‘long-latency deficiency diseases.’ These include conditions like blindness, osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, and more. Most conventional doctors have it completely backward when it comes to vitamins and minerals—doctors tend to only use vitamins if medications don’t work, when they should be prescribing the vitamins in the first place. Imagine a drug that could cure a fatal disease within days or weeks, using a very small dose, without toxicity and with a 100 percent success rate. Such a drug does not exist and will never exist. But that is the power and potential of nutrients.”
The AMA and Dr. Hyman agree that micronutrients really are powerful and that their deficiencies can serious health implications. Could these deficiencies be the missing factor we have all been searching for on our quest for disease prevention?
