Anne Simons
Basic Knowledge of Health and Nutrition
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided in this book is accurate. It is, however, not meant to replace medical advice or support. The author and the publisher assume no liability for potential damage resulting from the use or abuse of the material presented in this book.
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my most cordial gratitude to Mr. Gerhard Brand, M.D., general practitioner and specialist in homeopathy as well as natural healing, for his expert review of the orthomolecular medical sections in this book.
© 2013 by MayaMedia GmbH, Verlag Dr. Andreas Gößling, Coburg
This book ist based on Part 1 of „The Bible of Natural Healing Agents“ by Anne Simons, Copyright © 2000 MayaMedia GmbH Verlag und Agentur Dr. Andreas Gößling, Coburg
All rights of distribution including broadcasting, television, photomechanical reproduction, sound carriers and digital media of any kind and reproduction of excerpts as well as translation are reserved.
Translation into English by Gabriele Graf, Graf&Nestler Translation Service, Munich
ISBN 978-3-944488-04-2
www.mayamedia.de
Introduction
WHAT DOES HEALTH MEAN?
How the body provides vital elements even to the smallest cell: metabolism
How nutrients get into the blood stream: resorption
How the body makes nutrients available: nutrient assimilation
Health – actually a “miracle”
THE BASIC COMPONENTS OF NUTRITION
Proteins
Protein components: amino acids
Importance of proteins in the digestive process
Biological valence of proteins
Carbohydrates
Fats (lipids)
Fat digestion
Essential fatty acids
Obesity
Vitamins
Designation of vitamins
Water and fat-soluble vitamins
Risks of hypervitaminosis
Risks of vitamin deficiency
Increased vitamin requirements
Prophylactic health care through vitamins
Synthetic or natural vitamins?
Minerals
Quantity elements
Trace elements
Ultra trace elements
Organism as network
Mineral deficiency
Enzymes
How do enzymes affect the organism?
Enzyme and vitamin deficiency
Free radicals and antioxidants
Oxygen - an element with two faces
Free radicals in the body
The assault on the cell
The mighty shield: antioxidants
Vitamins are radical scavengers
The amount of antioxidants required per day
OPCs and other active vegetal substances for maintaining health
The immune system of plants
OPCs – vascular protection and strongest antioxidants
Indoles – reducing the risk of cancer
p-Coumarin – inhibition of carcinogenic substances
Saponins – against inflammations
Essential oils - vegetal essences
Capsaicin: emergency remedy for the heart
Flavonoids / isoflavonoids – vegetal ingredients inhibiting cancer development
Genistein – preventing the genesis of tumors and metastases
Bitter constituents
Tannins
Alkaloids
Glycosides
Roughage
APPENDIX
Literature
Annotations
In 1968, the American Nobel prizewinner and vitamin researcher Linus Pauling coined the term “orthomolecular medicine”. This treatment with natural remedies has attained increasing importance in the field of medicine and the thinking of people in general ever since. The Greek-Latin term “orthomolecular” could be translated as “right molecules”. Pauling defines the concept as follows: “Orthomolecular medicine refers to maintaining good health and treating disorders by changing the concentration of those substances in the human body which normally exist there and are indispensable for health.”
According to this concept, optimal health can be achieved by providing the body with the right molecules in appropriate concentrations. At issue are all those substances that the body extracts from food through the gastro-intestinal tract and breaks down into their basic ingredients during the metabolic processes:
The orthomolecular approach proceeds from the assumption that numerous diseases have their origin in a deficiency or an imbalance of the previously mentioned substances. If they are identified and if the body is provided with all the necessary nutrients, the indisposition and/or disorder can be overcome.
It is not coincidental that this therapeutic branch developed in the U.S.A. in the second half of the 20th century, when the mass production of food resulted in a tremendous loss in nutrients. It is not by chance that a part of the American population rank among those members of the species who display the greatest food deficiencies. The so-called “civilization diseases”, which especially affect a considerable number of young people, constitute a huge economic problem in the U.S.A. today, not to mention the suffering of the affected individuals.
This book conveys a general survey of metabolic processes and gives answers to fundamental questions: How does the body provide vital elements even to the smallest cell? How do nutrients get into the blood stream? How does the body make nutrients available? What is health?
Finally, you will find a description of the basic components of nutrition: proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants and roughage.
“Basic Knowledge of Health and Nutrition” is part of a quartet of books, each of which can be read independently and stands for its own.{1} As a whole, the four volumes have the goal of explaining the connection between nutrient deficiencies and disease. They offer practical hints for treating specific deficiency disorders by administering appropriate vital substances.
The other volumes:
“The Components of Life” presents these basic components in detail: What is their effect on specific locations in the organism? Which nutrients are contained in our various foodstuffs? What are the risks of insufficient nutrient provision? You will probably know that magnesium is an anti-stress mineral and that potassium is good for your heart, but do you also know that the amino acid methionine supports liver detoxification or that molybdenum keeps your kidneys in good health? In this volume you learn all about all vitamins, minerals, trace elements, amino acids, essential fatty acids and other lipds as well as enzymes and what they do in your body.
“The Healing Power of Plants” presents the healing plants from A to Z. The most important vegetal and animal extracts are introduced whose highly remedial protective substances are of major importance, both in their pharmaceutical application and in the field of food supplements. The attention which natural sciences pay to so-called “phytochemistry” and “vegetal chemicals” is indicative of the tremendous significance of the healing power of plants, which due to their specific compositions and structures contain an outstanding chemically effective potential. The list includes indigenous medicinal plants such as bearberry, fennel seeds and parsley, as well as vegetal remedies of other folk medicines, e.g. Asian ginseng root, African yohimbine bark or Peruvian cat’s claw creeper. Special focus will be placed on the following questions: What ingredients are contained in these plants? What is their efficacy?
“Treating Disorders in a Natural Manner” proceeds from deficiency symptoms and presents a “therapy list”. The diseases caused by nutrient deficiencies are described in alphabetical order; missing substances are examined as potential reason for indisposition, and specific applications are suggested. In this manner the medical layperson can give thought to which substances should be made available to the body in order to restore health. The list ranges from “acne” to “weight reduction”.
Health is defined as a condition in which the body functions so that a person feels physically and psychically well, and enjoys optimal vitality and zest of life.
Vitality and zest of life can also be perceived as energy which is supplied to the organism in the form of nutrition. A healthy body is able to extract from food the whole range of vital ingredients that are needed, and to transport such substances to their appropriate destinations so that every cell is provided with all the elements that required to function properly.