Reprinted with permission from World At Large, a news website of nature, politics, science, health, and travel.
Chris Kresser, MD is one of the most influential doctors in the health field, informed by a 15-year career of diagnosing and treating nutrient deficiencies.
Co-director of the California Institute for Functional Medicine and Director of the Kresser Institute for functional medicine training, his work often focuses on the un-enviable task of sifting through the tens of thousands of studies on diet and nutrition to understand all the nuances of how our bodies turn food into everything we need to thrive.
Dr. Kresser has described nutrient deficiencies in America as a “silent epidemic”. Many of the recommended daily allowances for vitamins, amino acids, and minerals were set during leaner times like the Great Depression or World War II, and designed to prevent scurvy, rickets, or stunting.
Combined with the increased prevalence of calorie-dense hyper-processed foods in the human diet, and increases in the cost of fresh produce, these forces have created a population that is very much deficient in certain key nutrients.
It’s safe to say that Americans have higher aspirations for health than simply avoiding rickets or scurvy. That’s why Dr. Kresser created a free quiz that will calculate a rough estimate of your risk for nutrient deficiencies
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Currently some deficiencies are almost universal. According to the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, almost nobody in America consumes enough potassium.
Their research estimates that 97% of Americans don’t absorb enough magnesium, which primes the immune system to fight cancer and infections, and 94% don’t get enough vitamin D. These two compounds require each other for proper absorption—and the high levels of insufficiencies are likely a result of that.
World at Large has reported that 92% don’t get enough choline, which isn’t classified as a vitamin or a mineral, and therefore isn’t required to be reported on nutrition labels. WaL also commented on the fact that, as recently as 2018, the government agency USDA recommended Americans eat chocolate cakes and McDonalds breakfast sandwiches to combat choline deficiency—revealing the depth of ignorance about that critical micronutrient.
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Linus Pauling also found that 89% of Americans are deficient in vitamin E, while Dr. Kresser’s own research shows that most Americans are supplementing with a mildly-toxic form of vitamin E.
The quiz takes just 3 minutes, can be done here, and includes the download of a free e-book at the end.
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ASK Your Loved Ones to Take The Quiz And Find Out How To Be Healthier…