“These are the 5 most common nutritional deficiencies I see in my Orange, chiropractic and integrative medicine practice: Magnesium, Zinc, Vitamin D, Vitamin E and Omega 3 Fatty Acids (ALA, EPA, DHA). I feel that these deficiencies are not just representative of my local area but are a glimpse of what the world, in general, is experiencing. Below is a brief summary for each nutrient. My ranking of nutritional deficiencies are based on dietary analysis, clinical observation and blood tests.” Marcus Ettinger BSc., DC

1. Magnesium

Deficiency: 8 out of 10 clients show clinical signs of magnesium deficiency. The average American diet only contains 50% to 60% of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). According to Dr. Guosong Liu, half the population of industrialized countries have a magnesium deficit, which increases with aging.

Symptoms: Anxiety, confusion, heart attack, hyperactivity (ADD/ADHD), insomnia, nervousness, muscular irritability (twitches, spasms or cramps), restlessness, Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS), weakness, heart palpitations, depression….

Recommended Foods: All green leafy vegetables (ex. Swiss chard and spinach), Seeds (pumpkin or sunflower seeds), Beans (black or navy beans).

Recommended Nutritional Supplements: Calm “magnesium caps” See: Magnesium and the Pathogenesis of disease (400 – 600 mg’s per day)

2. Zinc

Deficiency: 7 out of 10 clients show clinical signs of deficiency.

Symptoms: Acne, ADD/ADHD, brittle nails, delayed sexual maturity, depression/apathy, diarrhea, eczema, fatigue, growth impairment, hair loss, high cholesterol levels, immune impairment, impotence, irritability, lethargy, loss of appetite, loss of sense of taste, low stomach acid (HCl), male infertility/abnormal sperm, memory impairment, night blindness, paranoia, white spots on nails, poor wound healing, psoriasis….

Recommended Foods: Calf’s liver, beef, mushrooms, spinach, green peas and pumpkin seeds.

Recommended Nutritional Supplements: Zinc Glycinate (50 – 100mg’s per day).

3. Vitamin D

Deficiency: 10 out of 10 clients show deficiency (99.8% of all of my Labcorp, client blood tests have shown deficiency).

Symptoms: Allergies, auto immune diseases, burning sensation in mouth, cancer, diarrhea, insomnia, myopia, nervousness, osteoporosis, poor calcium utilization, rickets, scalp sweating, weight gain….

Recommended Foods: Cod liver oil, shrimp and eggs.

Recommended Nutritional Supplements: Power Vitamin D3 or Power D3 Softgels. Recommended dosage of Vitamin D3/Cholecalciferol is (6,000 – 10,000 IU’s per day for adults and 2,000 IU’s for children above the age of five. A base-line blood test should be done with a goal of achieving a blood level between 50 – 70 ng/mL ). Skin exposure to the sun, 15 minutes per day, is another great way to get adequate Vitamin D exposure. Note: living in southern California, I only take my Vitamin D during the months of October – the beginning of June. I surf a lot and as soon as my wetsuit comes off and I can get 15 minutes+ of direct sunlight, I no longer need the supplement form. In fact if if I kept taking it I would sunburn within 15 minutes. This is what your body does when the vitamin D level is sufficient.

4. Vitamin E

Deficiency: 3/10 Males and 2/10 Females show signs of deficiency.

Symptoms: Neurological disturbances (gait disturbances, poor reflexes, loss of position sense, loss of vibration sense), shortened red blood cell life….

Recommended Foods: Green leafy vegetables (Mustard greens, chard, spinach and turnip greens), almonds and sunflower seeds.

Recommended Nutritional Supplements: Power E Complex – d-alpha Tocopherol w/mixed Tocohperols (400 – 800 IU’s per day)

5. Omega 3 Fatty Acids (ALA, EPA, DHA)

Deficiency: 8/10 show signs of deficiency.

Symptoms: Diarrhea, dry skin and hair, hair loss, acne, eczema, psoriasis, immune weakness, infertility, poor wound healing, premenstrual syndrome, gall stones, liver degeneration, ADD/ADHD and depression….

Recommended Foods: Wild-caught salmon (Important: avoid farm-raised salmon because of pollutants, artificial color and lack of EFA’s), flax seed and/or flax seed oil, walnuts and sardines.

Recommended Nutritional Supplements: Ultra Omega 3-6-9 (2 – 4 caps per day) or High Lignan Flax Seed Oil (3 – 6 caps per day)

Research appearing in the American Journal of Hypertension (published online Aug. 12, 2010) looked at the relationship between serum magnesium levels and carotid artery plaques. The subjects were 728 Japanese men and women with a mean age of 67. Low serum magnesium was found to be strongly associated with increased IMT (intima-media thickness) and carotid plaques.

This makes sense because magnesium influences vascular (blood vessel) tone and is a cofactor for acetylcholine-induced endothelium dependent relaxation (meaning it helps blood vessels relax). Other research that appeared in Magnesium Research (Volume 1, Number 1, February 2010) looked at magnesium supplementation and its effect on the health of the blood vessel lining. The subjects of the study were 60 elderly diabetic patients. Thirty of the subjects, mean age 71, received 368 mg of magnesium supplementation (given as 4.5 g of magnesium pidolate). The other 30 received no supplementation and acted as a control group. Endothelial (blood vessel lining) function was evaluated by flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery at the start of the study and again after 30 days of intervention. Supplementation with magnesium resulted in a significant improvement in blood vessel lining function (ability to dilate after a period without oxygen – that’s a good thing).

Our “Calm” is our best selling magnesium formula and is a great magnesium supplement for people with cardiac and blood pressure issues, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, tachycardia, psychological stress, panic attacks and leg cramps. CALM contains 400 milligrams of magnesium per cap.

Marcus Ettinger BSc, DC

The need to sleep!

Do you get enough sleep? Many of us actually do not get enough sleep, and we aren’t even aware of it. We have just adjusted to it without even realizing that we are not getting good sleep.  We just think the energy level that we have is “normal”.

The fact is that we are not getting the real rest that we need, and if we did,  we would notice a difference in our morale/mood, energy level, and alertness that would shock most of us.  But the big issue is that the lack of sleep can affect your immune system, making you more susceptible to illness.  Sleep is, after all, when the body can take the time to heal.

In addition most of us also don’t realize the impact that the foods we eat have on our sleep.  Of course we know that caffeine keeps us awake. So, clearly we want to avoid anything that has caffeine in it at least six hours before bedtime. But just as caffeine is something that keeps us awake, there are many foods that actually help us get better sleep. Any food that contains tryptophan is a ‘sleeper’ food.

Tryptophan is an amino acid that produces melatonin in the brain. Melatonin slows down the traffic in the nerves and helps our brains rest. The brain, of course, is the body’s central control center. When it’s active, so is the rest of the body – but when it rests so does the body.

You’ve heard of having a warm glass of milk to help you sleep. The ‘warm’ part really has no nutritional effect on sleep. But it is a psychological trigger that soothes us from our baby days, when our mothers fed us warmed milk or baby formula. however, the nutritional components of milk actually does promote sleep, because milk has calcium and tryptophan.

Calcium actually helps the brain use the tryptophan in a more productive way, making it produce melatonin faster, which relaxes our brains enough to let us fall into a deep, relaxing sleep.

Again, this is because of the calcium. Not only does this calcium help the brain produce melatonin, it also reduces pain and stiffness, helps decrease leg cramps, restless legs, and muscle spasms that many people experience during the night that keep us awake.

FYI – magnesium can also have the same effect.  Some people need calcium, some magnesium and some need a combination of both.  In fact, one of our customers mentioned to us that if he has any trouble sleeping, he just gets up and takes some of our Coral Calcium, and sleeps like a baby within a short time.

The nice thing is that taking one or the other will not harm you.  They are just natural minerals and the also have other great nutritional aspects for the body as well.

Here is a recent email we got from one of our customers:

February 8, 2010

Dear CAOH,

“I would like to thank California Academy of Health, and share with you that Calm has restored my sanity.  I was at my wits end after having suffered through six months of insomnia at this time last year.  I didn’t want to go on prescription medication and had tried multiple over-the-counter sleep aids, none of which helped.  I have ordered Goji Berries from www.caoh.com for a couple of years now, and was browsing your on-line product catalog.  I was interested enough in the name of the product to read the description.  I ordered a bottle of Calm, and that $20 provided instant relief of my insomnia.  I take one capsule after lunch and have slept like a baby for the past year.  That’s six months of sleep for $20!  And it’s all natural.  I don’t know why more physicians and OBs don’t recommend absorbable magnesium to their patients, especially those in peri- and menopause.”

Thank you CAOH!

Cathy
Philadelphia, PA

Here are some products that can help with sleep:

Question: Hello,

My husband was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure and I now need to confirm that none of the supplements he currently takes will aggravate or contribute to this condition.  Can you please let me know if ANY of the ingredients that are in your Liquid Power Ultra Complete Daily Multiple will increase blood pressure in users.  (Note: I had read that men who’ve had heart attacks should not take L-Arginine, – Liquid Power lists the amino acid Arginine – but I don’t know if that would also affect those with high blood pressure.)

Separately, we are trying to find natural remedies to help with his high blood pressure condition.  We’ve currently started a daily regime of CoQ10, OPC, Hawthorne and Garlic, which seems to have had some preliminary success in lowering his numbers.  Can you tell me if there is a specific product by CAOH that we might look at for his condition?

Sincerely,

A. Sandoval

Answer: AS,

Nothing in the Liquid Power will raise his BP. The only other supplement I would add is magnesium (very important). Start w/one a day and work up to two a day. Reason is that magnesium in some people can have a slight laxative effects a la Milk of Magnesia. I take 3 and have no problem, most people don’t until they get to 3 or 4.

Sincerely,

Marcus Ettinger DC, BSc

Reply back: Dear Dr. Ettinger,

I want to sincerely thank you for taking the time to send me your response below.  My husband and I are both very happy to hear that we can continue to use the Liquid Power product without interruption … and also, thanks to your recommendation regarding the magnesium, my husband’s BP numbers have been significantly reduced!  Thank you for that information.

Sincerely,

A. Sandoval

Full product catolog for California Academy of Health (CAOH).

We all know intuitively that people who eat three to four servings of green vegetables per day tend to stay more healthy.  It almost doesn't matter what else they do – a healthy diet tends towards a healthy life.  Everyone in the nutrition field, has raved and preached of the power of greenfoods.  They are rich in magnesium, chlorophyll, fiber, vitamins, and yes essential fats (those omegas).  They are the most powerful healing foods on earth.  The one most powerful one of all is Chlorella!

You might not know that Chlorella is a single-celled algae originally produced as a source of protein for populations that could not afford animal protein foods. Yet chlorella offers more than just protein. Miraculous stories have surfaced of people getting noticeable improvement in health and well-being when consuming chlorella.  When you realize that chlorella contains carotenoids, magnesium, and the super detoxifier chlorophyll – the health benefits of which have been well documented – we begin to understand chlorella's true power.  Americans are chronically low in magnesium and in great need of detoxifying. Chlorella may be the perfect antidote to our refined foods, nutrient-poor diets and toxic environment.

Chlorophyll is a remarkably protective and cleansing compound.  It has been reported to inhibit cancer in all human organs.  Chlorophyll is regularly used as part of regular supplementation, detoxification and health-building programs. The National Cancer Institute has even begun to take notice of its ability to prevent cancer.

Chlorella contains a range of carotenoids that is superior merely to taking a supplement such as synthetic beta carotene.  When you take a supplement that contains beta carotene, and it does not specify that it is derived from algae such as chlorella or d. salina, then you are only getting some of the benefits of carotenoids.  There are many carotenoids – well over 600 – and using chlorella as your source of carotenoids gives you much more benefit.  While beta carotene has protective power, chlorella has and does much more.

Carotenoids protect against heart disease.  Cholesterol cannot clog arteries until it oxidizes, and many studies have shown carotenoids can prevent this dangerous reaction from occurring.  Although vitamin C appears to be the first line of defense in protecting cholesterol from going bad, carotenoids are also very important.  A study of 333 patients showed that taking a carotenoid supplement reduced major cardiovascular events by half.

Chlorella is also a rich source of the remarkable mineral magnesium.  Magnesium performs no less than 300 different tasks in the body.  It is essential for heart function, immune function, blood pressure regulation, blood sugar balance, stroke prevention, and for both muscle strength and muscle relaxation.  It is critical for energy production.  It promotes mental health, relieves PMS, and reduces asthma attacks.  No cell in the body can function without this mineral.

According to the USDA, 80 percent of Americans fail to get enough magnesium.  Refined white flour contains only 20 percent of its original magnesium content.  Sugar, sodas and junk foods, which make up a large part of the American diet, contain virtually none.  Our crops are grown in soils with increasingly lower levels of magnesium.  On top of this, our toxic environment depletes us of it.

The great American magnesium shortage may be one of the main causes of our epidemic of heart disease.  Magnesium is extraordinarily important for heart health.  Magnesium also helps mitral valve prolapse, fibromyalgia, and fatigue.  Emotional or physical stress depletes magnesium.  Magnesium also significantly enhances muscle growth that occurs in response to sustained weight lifting programs.  It also plays an important role in bone health. In some studies, magnesium intake was a stronger predictor of bone density than calcium intake.

Chlorella gives you all the benefit of magnesium, carotenoids, chlorophyll and more.  Studies have shown that people with high cholesterol levels who were put on 5 grams per day of chlorella for three months saw their cholesterol levels decline significantly. There were no side effects, unlike cholesterol medications, which can actually shorten life span, according to recent studies.  Cholesterol medications have been found to cause impotence in men–another reason to use natural alternatives like chlorella.

Chlorella is also an immune booster.  It contains a compound known as chlorellan that stimulates the body to make more interferon.  Chlorella helps protector cells, called macrophages, function more effectively.  Strict vegetarians often rely on seaweeds and algae such as chlorella to supplement their need of Vitamin B.

In addition, chlorella has been used to help heal issues with the GI tract. Ulcers, colitis, Crohn's disease and diverticulosis all seem to do better when chlorella is part of the diet.  Chlorella has also been found to stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria which are essential for intestinal health.

The point here is that chorella should be an important factor in your family's supplementation and diet.  Chorella is also an important part of our popular comprehensive liquid multi nutrient Power Multi-V™ which should be part of your daily nutrition routine.

Question: Hi Dr. Ettinger,

I take one serving of Liquid Power along with 1 Calm capsule in the morning on an empty stomach, and 1 Calm capsule in the afternoon on an empty stomach.  Is this the best way to take it and can one take more than 1 serving of Liquid Power per day?

Have a great July 4th weekend.

Best Regards,

Sean Bailey

Answer: Sean,

I don’t see anything wrong with taking two of each, one in the AM and one an hour before bed. Let me know how this works for you.

Sincerely,

Marcus Ettinger DC, BSc

Related Products

Liquid Power
Calm
Liquid Coral Calcium
Calmag Plus

Question: My daughter has terrible “stress” headaches and trouble sleeping.  She suffers from migraines too.   I just ordered Magnesium Caps from you.  She drinks a lot of coffee – she is in a very intense doctorate program now.  Is there something she can take that might give her the same “kick” caffeine does but without the side effects.  Oh, she is also a vegetarian.  Do you suggest anything else that can help her sleep at night and relax besides the mag. caps.

Thank you,

Kindest regards,

Betty Stewart

Answer: Betty,

Let’s see what the magnesium will/won’t do first. If that doesn’t handle the headaches, my advice would be for her to get a consult with a holistic minded practitioner who will act as a coach. Believe it or not, as a whole, vegetarians are some of the sickest clients I see.

Let’s give the magnesium a chance and then shoot me an e-mail in 14 days, with feedback.

Sincerely,

Marcus Ettinger DC, BSc.

Related Products:

Calm
Calmag Plus
Coral Calcium Caps
Coral Calcium Liquid

Question: Hello! I have osteopenia and it is suggested that I take 1,500 of calcium in a 2:1 ratio with magnesium. I see that your suggested dosage of liquid coral calcium contains 575 of calcium. Does that mean I would need to take 3 dosages each day to receive the 1,500?

Question: Hello,