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"ELUSIVE PROTEINS" : WHAT IS ESSENTIAL IS OFTEN INVISIBLE TO THE EYE
DEBUNKING SOME NUTRITIONAL MYTHS PERPETUATING THE POVERTY LANDSCAPE
"ELUSIVE PROTEINS": WHAT IS ESSENTIAL IS OFTEN INVISIBLE TO THE EYE
Proteipaq Ready-to-Use-Foods (RUF) and Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic-Foods (RUTF), specifically formulated to orthomolecular (ortho- meaning "correct" or "correcting") nutritional levels, have been developed to provide therapeutic assistance to all who are nutritionally disadvantaged, whether through circumstance, life-style or medical malady.
However, in order to put this statement into perspective, it is necessary to refer briefly to the background which is giving rise to current levels of malnutrition and concurrent disease syndromes increasingly prevailing.
For "food" to constitute meaningful nutrition, it must provide, in absolute priority, protein of specific composition; plus carbohydrates and fats of specific qualities, together with vitamins and minerals in proper amounts and balances.
In many parts of the world (notably sub-Saharan Africa), nutritional deprivation is endemic, due mainly to a significant reliance on agriculture widely limited to a “single-availability” environment of cereals and grains, which, whilst being abundant in carbohydrates, are quite inadequate as providers of protein, vitamin and mineral nutrition; the very constituents which together constitute "the elusive proteins".
Given that protein, supported by the actions of vitamins and minerals are absolute fundamentals to bodily and immune integrity, it follows that peoples who are reliant upon impoverished foods such as maize, sorghum, cassava, millets and rice will correspondingly be physically and intellectually impoverished.
Such levels of under-nutrition is the underlying cause to the gnawing poverty and resultant incidence of disease which is increasingly affecting more than 50% of the world’s human population.
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DEBUNKING SOME NUTRITIONAL MYTHS PERPETUATING THE POVERTY LANDSCAPE
Beginning with protein:
The word "protein" is derived from the Greek word "protos", which means "first"; precisely, as protein is the fundamental constituent of all living cells.
Hormones, enzymes, anti-bodies, neurotransmitters; in fact, all bodily constituents consist of protein fundamentals, or are protein-dependent in their functioning - without protein fundamentals (amino acids), there would be no life on earth as we know it.
Protein consists of nitrogenous molecules called amino acids – 21 specific amino acids are the fundamentals to human protein nutrition, as they are the foundation upon which all protein structures are formed and synthesised by the body.
However, at this point, we are confronted by a misnomer: whilst all 21 of these specific amino acids are generically essential, eight of these are confusingly termed as "essential"; "essential" in that they have to be supplied in their existent forms from foods, as the body is unable to form their unique molecular structures from food constituents, as is the case with the remaining thirteen amino acids - sometimes equally erroneously termed as "non-essential".
The next anomaly also brings the accuracy of food-labelling into question: in order for the body to synthesise any one of the essential amino acids, it is absolutely necessary that all eight of these essential amino acids are concurrently available.
In the absence of this pre-condition, the body will "de-aminise" the remaining essential amino acids by stripping-off and wasting the nitrogen portion; effectively rendering them into carbohydrates.
Those foods which simultaneously provide all eight essential amino acids in a balanced profile of sufficiency are termed "complete" protein; whilst those which contain fewer than eight, or in weak composition, are termed “incomplete”.
Complete protein foods provide structural and functional nourishment; incomplete protein foods do not – so how can food-labelling permit any reference to protein content without a corresponding reference as to its bio-availability?
Turning now to vitamins and minerals, it must be emphasised that vitamins, whilst providing essential substances to bodily biological processes, are "functional" rather than structural nutrients, as they do not in themselves contribute to bodily mass – their critical importance lies only in the fact that they are the exclusive activators and intermediaries to biological syntheses which relate directly to, or involve protein metabolism.
So, supplementing incomplete protein foods with a whole lot of vitamins is about as much use as putting the cart before the horse, as the protein constituents which they are intended to activate and support are simply not present, or not present at viable levels.
Like vitamins, minerals are essential for just about every bodily process involving protein and protein-dependent constituents; similarly, supplementing incomplete protein foods with a mass of minerals without due attention to the protein fundamentals, can never fulfill any concepts of adequate nutrition.
The comparative following, entitled "Risk Exposure : Elusive Proteins" illustrates the progression of protein delivery potentials over four foodstuffs typically available to indigent societies over most of sub-Saharan Africa:
All the foodstuffs depicted are presented upon the basis of a "level playing field"; i.e. prepared and ready for consumption.
The comparative is compiled in accordance with the 1985 FAO/WHO table of Daily Recommended Guidelines (DRG) for human essential amino acid protein nutrition (mg/100g) in the 10 to 12 year age group; and, for the sake of brevity, only reflects data for five of the eight essential amino acids – specifically those which are the most difficult to obtain. This comparative also clearly demonstrates how the nutritive value of the protein composition of a particular foodstuff cannot be determined by the sum of the amino acids making-up the protein contained by that foodstuff, but only by the quantity and balance represented by each of the amino acids individually.
The first column is a typical representation for those who do not receive any food-assistance;
whilst the following three columns portray a possible scenario of progressive improvement dependent upon the measure of food-assistance afforded.
The comparative continues by illustrating just what can be derived from orthomolecular formulations such as the sachetted Ready-to-Use-Foods (RUF) and Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) distributed under the “PROTEIPAQ” label. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . which illustrates yet again how composite protein nutrition is not determined by the total sum of its parts, but by the profile of the parts which make-up the whole.
Unfortunately, there are no silver-bullets or quick-fixes to reducing malnutrition and poverty – and there won't be any realistic improvement until the focus of food shifts from carbohydrate fillers to proper protein-based underliers; irrespective of which society, where.
Gradual improvements to formulations being used for supplementary nutrition over the years has undoubtedly reduced mortality rates, due in part to vitamin and mineral inclusions allowing an increased benefit of at least what little protein is present; however, contemporary methodology is contributing little else to improving the poverty landscape, as the bias remains intractably stuck on carbohydrate, which, at the end of the day, is the cause of the problem in the first place.
However, current social apathy to these "awkward" scenarios are trending to stirrings of moral regeneration, as evidenced by the hardening attitudes of donors, which indicates an increasing expectation of the administrators which they fund for more tangible results to simultaneously include the dynamic of "upliftment", rather than merely a perpetuation of the limiting status quo.
“Proteipaq” nutritional and therapeutic orthomolecular formulations are presented in 50 gram sachets as Ready-to-Use-Foods (RUF), in variants formulated to suit a diversity of needs and applications. They are complete by the inclusion of all essential nutritional elements, and are thus the starting-point for a variety of medical strategies which rely on orthomolecular fundamentals; predictably, as they are formulated upon a specific protein base-stock supplemented to proper essential amino acid equilibrium, from which any nutritional or therapeutic programme can be supported.
They are effective tools with which to manage the risk of nutritional inefficacies arising from the “elusive proteins”, allowing for quantifiable improvement in a holistic and surprisingly cost-effective manner, not least by virtue of their specifically formulated compositions being largely based on food constituents, but also by their innovative delivery methodology.
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AFLOTOXINS IN FOODS
Aflotoxins are particularly potent human and animal carcinogens, seriously affecting specifically corn (maize), peanuts and consequently peanut butter; consumption of such mycotoxins results in a significant probability of hepatic necrosis, cirrhosis and finally carcinoma affliction in humans, whether from direct contamination, or indirectly from food products such as meat which originates from animal feed contaminated with microform wastes.
Problem is that these micotoxins are extremely heat-stable, and appear to be largely immune to pH conditions, which means that no completely effective neutralising potentials are currently commercially feasible.
It would appear, however, that the incidence of contamination can be managed - but only up to a point - by stringent handling procedures during and post-farming activities; however, despite strict regulatory limits of contamination having been set by many countries, absolute safety is never a given, and even low levels of contamination can have risky carcinogenic potentials in the long-term.
Suggested further reading: www.ehso.com and www.scienceinafrica.com
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VITAMIN & MINERAL OVERDOSING
New scientific findings indicate conclusively that vitamin and mineral supplementation is not necessarily sound practice; and validates a wide body of belief long held amongst professionals that such supplementation – particularly in excess – without due cause is inconsistent with long-term health.
Although much further research is indicated to quantify the early findings, reading between the lines strongly suggests that the modern practice of “overdosing” (i.e. supplementation in excess of bodily daily requirements) in the erroneous belief that “2 is better than 1” is now symptomatic of the indiscriminate peddling and willy-nilly consumption of these substances.
Of greater concern, however, is the universal ignorance of the inter-dependence between protein and vitamin/mineral metabolism: consumption of incomplete and marginally complete protein foods - whether or not fortified with micro-nutrients – immediately results, inter-alia, in conditions of involuntary vitamin and mineral overdosing with as yet not fully understood consequences.
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DIETARY FATS - MIRED IN A PLETHORA OF MYTH
Facts are: pro-life fats as provided by monounsaturates, together with EFA (essential fatty acids) as supplied by unheated polyunsaturates are absolute dietary essentials;
whereas the fats which are potent contributors to disease conditions are saturates (includes LDL cholesterol), whether in natural presence (as in meat or dairy) or in unnatural forms resulting from any degree of artificial hydrogenation (as in peanut butter) – and trans-fats, which result from heating polyunsaturates (as in frying or baking).
Contemporary nutritional practice is widely based upon low-fat/high carbohydrate dietary concepts (presumably based upon the erroneous belief that any intake of fat invariably leads to overweight or obesity).
However, this notion, by focus on the functional aspects of nutritional metabolism without due regard to physiological outcomes, is flawed in two respects:
- carbohydrates – especially saccharides (sugars), potentially deposit far more fat into bodily tissue by the very nature of the metabolic process; but, far more seriously, the bodily acidosis (pH balance) which such metabolism initiates compromises bodily function which, when becoming acute through prolonged dietary misadventure, leads to pre-diabetic, diabetic and other bodily mis-function; and;
- as regards energy potentials, fat metabolism is the healthiest means to creating energy, by producing twice the amount of energy (typically in excess of 3000 kJ) compared to sugar (typically around 1600 kJ) but with only half the amount of potentially toxic residues remaining;
which indicates that low-fat/high carbohydrate dietary concepts do not specifically result in long-term health.
Seriously recommended reading:
"The pH miracle for Diabetes" by Robert O. Young Ph.D. - ISBN 0-7515-3685-7
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