health, can’t you

There was one company who developed a “magic pill” that you
could take to get all of your nutrients in the proper proportions
that you needed for the day. They actually gave it to the
astronauts but they had to take six of those a day. Each magic
pill was the size of a softball.
The bottom line is there is no magic pill. It wasn’t until the 1940’s
that we as a country started to put together nutritional
requirements in relation to disease and when we started to
establish the different recommendations.
Something that has always intrigued me is that if you do take
that historical perspective and go back you find that in the early
years there were just a few nutrients for which the recommended
daily allowances were established and through the years, through
the studies and the whole process of understanding we have
continued to add to the list of things that are required. It hasn’t
been until quite recently that we have learned about trace
nutrients like selenium and things like that, that have recently
been added to the list. Those levels continue to change as we
learn more. One of the things that interest me is the addition to
the list; it is almost a never-ending process. I always come back
to the concept of nutrition and variety and not getting locked into
a few fixed food items.