The Nutrition Mind Connection
by Dr L Gerald Olarsch N.G.
& Susan Stockton, M.A., CR. C

'OTbe fact that Johnie can't read and that we have a $200 billion annual national medical bifl bodi stem from the same cause a poor delivery of elements from the soil in both quality and balance."

John Hamaker

The statement above was made in 1979 by John Hamaker. It remains true today, except that our national medical bill is now closer to one tfillion dollars per year. Despite the vast resources of our nation, our health status is deplorable. We rank on a par with Third World nations in this regard due to a virtual plague of degenerative disease. The situation today is that every third person is allergic to something. Every fifth person is mentally ill. Every 30 seconds someone dies of a heart attack, and every 55 seconds someone dies of cancer, which has now become our number one childhood killer, baffing accidents.

ACADEMIC DECLINE

In 1981, Hamaker wrote, "Along with the rest of the country, Michigan's scholastic achievement scores have been dropping steadily for two decades." The downward spiral continues, and it is linked to nuttient deficiency. It is an established and. accepted fact that impaired mental functioji results from nutrient deficiency. The brain requires a vast array of nutfients, including vitamins, minerals and amino acids, to produce neurotransmitters (brain chemicals that pass messages from cell to cell) and other important brain compounds. Altered brain cherriistry can result from deficiency of just a single nutrient, giving rise not only to diminished mental capacity, but also to mental/emotional disturbances and behavioral disorders such as hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, anxiety, depression, eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia), drug and alcohol addiction, autism and violence.

If impaired mental function results from nutrient deficiency, then improving nutritional intake ought to result in improved mental function. The fact that it does indeed do so was demonstrated in a study described in a reprint entided, "Tbe Impact of a Low Food Additive and Sucrose Diet on Academic Performance in 803 New York City Schools." In 1980, 1981 and 1983, major "dietary policy revisions" were made with regard to the use of sucrose, fats and food additives. During the four year period in which these food factors were reduced in the diet of the school children, the mean national academic performance of the 803 schools rose from 41 to 51 percentile. This resulted in New York City schools moving from I I percent below the national average to five percent above it. A "reduction in malnutrition" was cited by the researchers as the cause of the rise.

School lunches, like hospital meals, are notoriously inadequate. Yes, they're planned by a dietitian. Realize, however, that it is the job of the dietitian to know how many cans of #2 b6ans it will take to feed 382 mouths. It is not her job to assure that nutrient dense foods go into those mouths. Most institutions (and households) today make widespread use of processed foods. Food processing procedures like refining, pasteurizing and irradiating seriously deplete foods of their nutrient content. What's worse is that the foods are already seriously depleted before they ever get into the hands of the food processors.

THE BOTTOM LINE

This brings us back to John Hamaker's point: Poor soil quality is the bottom line common variable responsible for widespread physical and mental deterioration. Poor soil quality makes for nutrient deficient crops, which in tum creates weak bodies and minds. Diets lacking in nutrients especially trace minerals lead not only to physical maladies and impaired leaming, but also to antisocial behavior and even violence. It's no coincidence that both degenerative disease and crime are escalating, as IQ and nutritional status decline. These things are connected. At the bottom of the chain is the connecting link of impoverished soil.

MINERALS RULE

Minerals rule over all other nutrients. Vitamins, enzymes and aniino acids, as well as fats and carbohydrates, require them for activity. Trace minerals (such as zinc, copper, chromium) are needed in small or trace amounts by the body. They are no less important than macro n tinerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium, sulfur and chlorine), which are needed in larger amounts.

There are 84 known niinerals, 17 of which are considered to be essential in human nutfition. If there is a shortage of just one of these, the balance of activity in the entire system can be dirown Qff. A deficiency of a single mineral can negatively impact the entire chain of life, rendering other nutrients ineffective and useless.

According to state document #264, which was published 63 years ago, 99 percent of Americans are mineral deficient. The situation is even worse today, as minerals continue to disappear from our soils.

WHERE HAVE THE MINERALS GONE?

Modem agribusiness fanning methods, including widespread use of N P K fertilizer, over farming, loss of protective ground cover and trees, and lack of humus, are some of the factors that have made soils vulnerable to erosion. The result is a reduced nutrient content of crops.

N P K fertilizer is highly acidic. It disrupts the pH (acid/alkaline) balance of the soil, as does acid rain. Acid conditions destroy soil microorganisms. h is the job of these n dcroorganisms to transmute soil minerals into a form that is usable by plants. In the absence of these microbes, these minerals become locked up, unavailable to the plant. Stimulated by the N P K fertilizer, the plant grows, but it is deficient in vital trace minerals. In the absence of trace minerals, plants take up heavy metals (such as aluminum, mercury and lead) from the soil. These toxic metals are then passed on to us through the food chain and they are readily assimilated in the body, deficient in protective nutrient minerals.

When trace minerals are scarce in plant bodies, they're scarce in human bodies, and we then hold on to toxic niinerals and traces of agricultural chemicals. Also, plants deficient in trace minerals tend to be deficient in vitamins and in protein, as well. It is primarily the amino acid component of protein from which neurotransniitters are made. These neurotransniitters have a huge arnount to do with our mental functioning, as well as our physical health. Mineral deficient plants are also protein deficient plants. Between 1950 and 1975, the calcium content in one cup of rice dropped 21 percent, and iron fell by 28.6 percent. Protein content dropped nearly 11 percent. In 1945, wheat was 17 percent protein; by 1985, its protein content dropped to 9 percent.

Tables showing the nutrient content of foods can no longer be relied upon, for minerals are disappewing faster than updated charts can be published. There is also great variation in niineral content of foods grown in different locations and under different conditions.

Trace minerals, rapidly disappeanng from our soils, play a major role in electrolyte formation in the body.

ELECTROLYTE LOSS

Electrolytes are mineral salts which conduct electricity when dissolved in solution. In the body, the bloodstream provides the fluid medium for electrolyte forination. Electrolyte deficiency or imbalance results in energy loss and fatigue. The disruption of balance, or homeostasis, that results leads invariably to disease.

Nature forms electrolytes through a transmutation process wherein inorganic colloidal minerals are changed into a more usable crystalloid forin. This occurs when water cascades over rocks, picking up minerals from the soil, tumbles over the terrain, and forms vortices. Most of us today, however, cannot look to our drinking water as a source of electrolytes. We drink, by and large, from stagnant, polluted sources. Such water is noi only n dneral deficient, but the minerals it does contain remain in the difflcult to use colloidal form. Therefore,

our best bet for obtaining onpolluted water that contains usable (crystalloid) electrolyte minerals is to purify our water mechanically (preferably through reverse osmosis) and return the electrolytes. Be sure to select a true electrolyte formula, one that contains trace minerals in crystalloid form.

Replacement of electrolytes will balance pH and stabilize osmotic pressure (the force on the inside and outside of cell walls). This will result in significantly lowering the risk of infection, increasing digestive efficiency, restoring peristaltic action, increasing oxygen to the cells, reducing water retention, correcting neuromuscular imbalances, improving enzyme production, regulating blood sugar levels and hormonal production, chelating (removing) heavy metals from the body, and increasing energy levels.

THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION

The ultimate solution to the demineralization problem does not, however, lie in supplementation. It lies in soil remineralization. We must abandon the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that lock up soil minerals and poison both the soils and our bodies. According to a 1993 study conducted by the Environmental Working Group, by age 5, chfldren in this country consume more pesticides than is considered safe for a lifetime. While we're harrning ourselves gravely with.the use of pesticides, we don't seem to be making much of a dent in the insect population; over 500 species have now become pesticide resistant. The answer to the pest problem is to change the terrain of the soil from one that produces sick, nutfient deficient plants to one that produces healthy, nutrient dense ones, for insects only feed off sick plants.

An escalating crime rate, social unrest, failing IQs they all relate to the disappearance of soil microorganisms, which is the result of man's attempts to conquer and control the Earth rather than to honor her and work in harmony with her laws.

Dr L G. Olarsch is a widely published, retired naturopathic physician who has practiced holistic medicine for almost 40 years. He has worked and studied at Earps Labs, and has studied under Dr Bemard Jensen, a world expert on nutrition and iridology.

Susan Stockton is the author of several popular healih books and teaches altemative health classes.