I am currently conducting research for several articles in a new magazine hitting the press later this Spring..and in my search I stumbled up some very important research about the consequences of vitamin deficiencies.
I am well aware that many of my readers are dedicated raw foodists, and I myself have gone through raw food diet consumption of anywhere from 25% to 100% of my daily intake, depending on the season and my motivation. However I have found that, for me, balance is the key. Everything in moderation is my mantra.
When looking at the micronutrients in one's diet, a raw food diet promotes longevity in many many ways, however I comes up significantly short in some critical micronutrients - including folic acid, niacin, iron, zinc, selenium, and vitamins B6, B12, C, and E.
I urge the use of high quality dietary supplements to my raw vegan friends, as well as my SAD (Standard American Diet) friends. I personally use customized supplements created for me by Ideal Health, which are based on clinical metabolic testing (which can be done at home), as well as adding a few extra supplements based on day to day needs (like a little extra ginseng here, or some magnesium for insomnia etc..). There are many great companies who offer high quality supplements, I encourage you to consider adding these vitamins to your regime, especially for those of you who avoid animal products such as eggs, lean beef or seafood.
Excerpt from Article reprinted from Mutation Research Frontiers, 7 September 1999
Source: The Marshal Institute: http://www.marshall.org/article.php?id=73
Low intake of any one of nine dietary micronutrients — folic acid, niacin, iron, zinc, selenium, and vitamins B6, B12, C, and E — appears to mimic radiation by breaking DNA and chromosomes or causing oxidative damage to DNA or both [45]. Some of these micronutrients come from fruits and vegetables and could account for much of their protective effect against cancer.
Many other micronutrients whose main dietary sources are not fruits and vegetables, also are likely to play a significant role in the prevention and repair of DNA damage, and thus are important to the maintenance of long term health.
Deficiency of vitamin B12 whose main dietary source is meat, is common. About 4% of the U.S. population consumes less than half of the RDA of vitamin B12 [67]. About 14% of elderly Americans and about 24% of elderly Dutch have mild B12 deficiency, in part accountable by the Americans taking more vitamin supplements [68]. Vitamin B12 would be expected to cause chromosome breaks by the same mechanism as folate deficiency. Both B12 and methyl-THF are required for the methylation of homocysteine to methionine. If either folate or B12 is deficient, then homocysteine, a major risk factor for heart disease [61;69], accumulates. When B12 is deficient, then tetrahydrofolate is trapped as methyl-THF; the methylene-THF pool, which is required for methylation of dUMP to dTMP, is consequently diminished. Therefore, B12 deficiency, like folate deficiency, should cause uracil to accumulate in DNA, and there is accumulating evidence for this [Ingersoll et al., unpublished; 70]. The two deficiencies may act synergistically. In a study of healthy elderly men [71], or young adults [56], increased chromosome breakage was associated with either a deficiency in folate, or B12, or with elevated levels of homocysteine. B12 supplementation above the RDA was necessary to minimize chromosome breakage [56]. B12 deficiency is known to cause neuropathy due to demyelination and loss of peripheral neurons [reviewed in 55].
Niacin, whose main dietary sources are grain and meat, contributes to the repair of DNA breaks [72;73]. As a result, dietary insufficiencies of niacin (2% of the U.S. population ingests <50% of the RDA [67]), folate and antioxidants may act together to increase DNA damage.
Deficiency of zinc, iron, or vitamin B6, can lead to DNA damage and appear to be radiation mimics [45]. Low intake (<50% of the RDA) in the U.S. population is 18% for zinc, 10% for B6, and 19% of menstruating women for iron [45]. We estimate that half of the U.S. population may be low in at least one of these nine micronutrients. Optimizing micronutrient intake (through better diets, fortification of foods or multivitamin-mineral pills) can have a major impact on public health at low cost. More research in this area and educational efforts aimed at increasing micronutrient intake and balanced diets, should be high priorities for public policy.
