Initially, the body hints of a nutrient shortfall with any of a hodgepodge of minor symptoms: fatigue, weakness, insomnia, irritability, nervousness, depression, poor concentration, memory loss, aches and pains, recurrent infections, allergies, circulatory problems, and just not feeling good. These are the vague symptoms that drive patients to doctors, and drive doctors up a diagnostic tree. Because most conventionally trained physicians have little education or experience in nutrition, they are unable to make the connection between a patient’s complaints and a nutrient deficiency. Then when the test results come back normal (as they usually do in such cases), the symptoms tend to be dismissed as “all in your head” or, even worse, as “a natural part of aging.”

Treatment offered usually bypass nutritional supplements in favor of drugs such as antiinflammatories, antidepressants, tranquilizers, and the like. These not only mask symptoms but also deplete nutrient stores even further. This accelerates the degenerative process, which is the forerunner of disease and aging.

Chronic nutrient deficiencies invariably lead to serious health problems. Data collected from large populations show that as the availability of nutrients declines, the frequency of illness increases. Unfortunately, when heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, or some other serious deficiency-driven condition develops, neither doctor nor the patient is likely to realize that the symptoms had begun years before.

Ultimately, nutrient deficiencies deprive us of years of life. The average adult survives only into his seventies or, if he is lucky, his eighties. Yes, there is always someone who beats these odds and lives to a ripe old age – a 101-year-old who eats nothing but junk food, swigs coffee all morning and downs a shot of whiskey before bed, smokes two packs of cigarettes a day, and has never swallowed a single multivitamin. The fact that few of such people “live as long as they want to,” are truly remarkable! Unfortunately, they give the rest of us an opportunity to rationalize our own eating habits and lifestyles.

Shoring Up with Supplements

“The food you eat can either be the safest & most powerful form of medicine…or the slowest form of poison.” ~ Ann Wigmore

All of us can take a giant leap toward longevity just by taking supplements. Supplementation not only protects against deficiency but also bridges the gap between average nutrition (which culminates in premature death), and optimum nutrition (which extends life span by decades). The extra nutrients that supplements provide prevent marauding free radicals from harming healthy cells, speed the repair and regeneration of damaged cells, and facilitate renewal. The upshot of all this is a longer, healthier and more life of vitality.

Supplements are intended to enhance the nutrient density of your diet. Nutrient density means the ratio of micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients) to macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, and fat). The higher this ratio, the healthier is your diet.

The “Anti-Ageing” diet, for instance, has a naturally top-notch nutrient density. Supplements boost the ratio even higher because they supply nothing but essential nutrients – no carbohydrates, protein or fat. The combination of a nutrient-dense diet and supplements creates an environment conducive to peak cellular performance. When your cells thrive, your body thrives – and that translates into extra decades of optimum health.

“I feel Healthy; so it will not happen to me – I am too young to worry about my health right now.”

This is one of the greatest medical myths and we have heard the above statement quite often! Please do not get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with “feeling healthy!” However, feeling healthy and actually being healthy may be two very, very different things. We have heard about some of the greatest athletes who looked to be in the peak of health and dropped down dead. We Indians are indeed fortunate that one of our greatest cricketers, Yuvraj Singh won his fight with Cancer. What about the pretty Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala? They both had the resources to fight it out. We know very well that if the critical illness like cancer does strike, an ordinary man will be ruined financially on his way to a surely death. Have you ever thought about the fact that people degenerate over time and may not be aware of several health issues?

It is unfortunate that we are now seeing many teenagers coming up with illnesses earlier and at a higher rate than ever. Here are some important statistics to recognize when talking about age and health:

• All degenerative diseases are on the rise;
• Disease is regularly occurring at younger ages;
• Infants and children are contracting catastrophic illnesses at increasing rates;
• About 50 years ago, there were no pediatric oncologists (children’s cancer specialists) because there was no need;

The reality is that our bodies are very forgiving and adapt to so many stresses. Yet, sometimes, there is no warning before sudden death or critical illness. People will die “prematurely” from diseases caused by or compounded by deficiencies of food supplements.

Only Diet Will Not Help

Let us take a hard look at the facts and what we are facing in today’s world:

• A man’s chances of getting cancer during his lifetime are now about 50% and a woman’s chance are now about 40%;
• In 1900, only about 5% of the population died of heart disease, cancer or diabetes. Today, 95% of us will die from any combination of these causes;
• In the last about 20 years, in spite of billions of dollars spent on research, cancer has become the number 2 killer;
• Every year few million of women feel fine before being diagnosed with breast cancer. A sizeable number of these women eventually die. Many of these have gone to their doctor saying “This cannot be happening to me – I feel fine!”
• For majority of men and women with heart disease, a fatal heart attack is their first symptom;
• In the US, for the last few years the #1 cause of death in people under the age of 30 has been cancer;
• The WHO states that the world’s cancer rate is predicted to increase by 50% by the year 2020.

You may be telling yourself there is nothing you can do about all these “recent” changes in our health over the last 20–50 years. Bad news can overwhelm us and we do not like to recognize good option and healthy choices anyway.

All we need to do is turn back the clock and get the nutrients in our diets our parents and grandparents did 50 years ago. But there is one small problem. We cannot possibly do it today with our food supply.

Would you let your car go 50,000 km without an oil change? Of course not! So, please do not do the same thing to your body, whatever may be your age, by not providing them with the essential nutrients so vital for us. It is amazing that supplementation still generates as much controversy as it does. Detractors often charge that supplements do nothing more than create expensive urine. And to some extent they might be right! Without proper delivery mechanism, the nutrients will not get into cells for maintenance and rejuvenation. Here comes the need of Micro-clustered water as the medium of delivery.

On account of soil depletion, pesticides, fruits and vegetables being plucked off the vines too early and sent to cold storages and so on, we cannot possibly re-enact the diets of those 50+ years ago. Not to mention that many of our foods have been genetically altered and no longer are what we would have called food, a generation back.

However, we can supplement our diet in a way so we do get what our ancestors got in their diets 50 years ago. However, the challenge is to find the right supplement for individualized needs.

Everyone will die, but how you look and feel for the last 20–50 years depends on your lifestyle and intake of “Antioxidants” and “Food Supplements” throughout your entire life.