Daily Value
Daily Value is a podcast that takes a deep dive into essential nutrients and dietary practices that fuel our bodies and minds. Hosted by Dr. William Wallace, a leading product developer in the Natural Health Product industry and a dedicated educator in health and nutrition, this show is your go-to resource for understanding the science behind the vitamins, minerals, and supplements that influence human health.
Each short, digestible episode unpacks the latest scientific findings, protocols, and insights into how specific nutrients contribute to overall well-being. Whether you're a health professional, nutrition enthusiast, or just curious about how what you consume affects your health, Daily Value offers evidence-based discussions to help you make informed decisions for a healthier life.
Join Dr. Wallace as he shares his expertise, developed from years of experience in product development and nutrition science, to advance your knowledge and awareness of dietary interventions for optimal health. Get your daily value and add meaningful insights to your day, one episode at a time.
DISCLAIMER: William Wallace holds a Ph.D. He is not a medical doctor. Content generated for this channel is strictly for educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice. The content of this channel is not meant to substitute for standard medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult with your primary healthcare practitioner before beginning any nutrition-, or supplement-based protocols. This is especially important if you are under the age of 18, undergoing treatment for a medical condition, or if you are pregnant or nursing.
Daily Value
The Hidden Global Crisis: Micronutrient Deficiencies on the Rise?
In the latest episode of Daily Value, we dive into the global crisis of micronutrient inadequacies, based on research published in The Lancet Global Health. This study provides the first-ever global estimates on inadequate consumption of 15 essential micronutrients, revealing widespread deficiencies impacting billions of people.
Talking Points:
- Widespread Deficiencies: 68% of the global population lacks sufficient iodine intake, 67% are deficient in vitamin E, and 66% in calcium. Iron, riboflavin, folate, and vitamin C deficiencies also affect over 4 billion people worldwide.
- Gender Disparities: Women and men are disproportionately impacted by different micronutrient deficiencies.
- Health Impacts: These deficiencies are linked to cognitive impairment, weakened immune systems, and increased risks of chronic diseases.
We discuss the public health implications of these deficiencies and provide insights into strategies like dietary diversification, food fortification, and micronutrient supplementation to tackle this growing issue.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(24)00276-6/fulltext
Hello everyone, welcome back to Daily Value. I'm William Wallace and I will be your host. Today we're discussing a pressing global issue. It's one that I'm quite passionate about and pay special attention to. That topic is micronutrient inadequacies, but more importantly, it's global dietary micronutrient inadequacies. This topic was spurred by a recent publication in the Lancet Global Health this past August, which was the first study ever to provide global estimates of inadequate consumption of 15 essential micronutrients, highlighting a significant gap across nutrients and demographic groups.
Speaker 0:This episode will explore the scale of this proposed problem, how it differs for males and females worldwide, and its possible implications for public health. As always, please remember that this podcast is for educational purposes only and does not substitute professional medical advice. Consult with your healthcare provider before attempting any nutrition or supplement-based protocols that we go over here. Unlike more, we'll call them easy to track nutrients like proteins, fats and carbohydrates, or total calories for that matter. Micronutrients can be far more difficult to keep on top of. After all, there are 29 essential micronutrients, and there aren't even good biomarker tests that are widely available for public use to assess the status of those 29 nutrients.
Speaker 0:Micronutrient deficiencies in the form of vitamin and mineral deficiencies are among the most common forms of malnutrition and can be quite sneaky in nature, as they can often slide under the radar for most people, up to the point that they become so bad that a functional deficit of some kind is experienced. There are several ways to develop a micronutrient inadequacy or deficiency, but obviously simply not taking in enough of a specific vitamin or mineral would be a primary pathway to developing the deficiency. Now, any vitamin or mineral deficiency can turn out to be quite serious if left unaddressed, and each with its own health consequences. For instance, iron deficiency is the leading cause of anemia worldwide. Iron plays a key role in the formation of certain neurotransmitters like dopamine, by acting as an essential cofactor for the rate-limiting enzyme in dopamine synthesis. As such, even an iron inadequacy can lead to impaired cognition. It can also lead to unfavorable pregnancy outcomes and for that reason it's considered a nutrient of public health concern for women of reproductive age in the United States. Past research estimating global deficiency rates have suggested that one in two children under five years old are deficient in either iron, zinc or vitamin A, and that two and three women between 15 and 49 years old are deficient in either iron, zinc or folate, which is vitamin B9.
Speaker 0:The absolute best way to determine a deficiency is to use a validated biomarker test of some kind. That would typically be in the form of some kind of blood work, but of course, not all blood tests for a given vitamin or mineral are useful for determining status. On top of that, nutrient deficiencies are not always caused by not taking in enough of a specific nutrient. For micronutrients, disease or absorption issues can also be a reason for inadequacy or deficiency development. As such, when looking at a large population and assessing its risk for nutrient deficiencies, sometimes estimating nutritional intake is the best option, albeit not perfect. Obviously, this approach is the exact one that was taken by researchers out of the Harvard School for Public Health, uc Santa Barbara and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition. What they found was that more than 5 billion people worldwide are not consuming enough of at least 3 nutrients, with 68% of the global population estimated to not be getting enough iodine. Of the global population estimated to not be getting enough iodine, 67 of the global population not getting enough vitamin E and 66% of the global population not getting enough calcium. This study goes on to suggest that more than 4 billion people worldwide are not taking in enough of the following four nutrients, those being iron, with 65% of the population not getting enough iron, 55% not getting enough riboflavin that's vitamin B2, 54% not getting enough folate and 53% not getting enough vitamin C. Those estimates were for the entire global population, including men and women. Now, when the researchers looked at the same countries and aid groups, they found that women were disproportionately affected by deficiencies in iodine, vitamin B12, iron and selenium compared to men. On the flip side, men were more affected than women by deficiencies in magnesium, vitamin B6, zinc, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B1, thiamine and vitamin B3 niacin.
Speaker 0:It's important to note that this study did not include supplements or fortified food intake, so they were simply assessing regular food intake from unfortified sources, so this could have caused overestimations of some deficiencies. One example would be for iodine. Its estimated deficiency was very high among women worldwide, but it's also estimated that 89% of people worldwide consume iodized salt, so in this case, that nutrient deficiency could very well have been overestimated. On the other hand, the researchers did not take into account nutrient-nutrient interactions and how that might affect nutrient absorption from food itself. For instance, high phytate intake might inhibit zinc and iron absorption, high oxalate intake can inhibit calcium absorption to a degree, and so on. As such, it would be important to know in what region of the world and what populations there were high intakes of other food compounds that could alter nutrient status for a specific vitamin or mineral.
Speaker 0:The primary takeaway from this study and topic is that most of the global population has an adequate intake of at least one micronutrient. Now consider all 29 essential micronutrients and ask yourself, based on my sex, my age, my socioeconomic status and where I live in the world, which one of those 29 micronutrients am I most at risk for not getting enough of, and, beyond that, which other ones do I run a high risk of missing out on? The findings from the study do underscore the pervasive nature of micronutrient deficiencies. This issue becomes far greater in low and middle income places within any country, where diets may lack diversity and nutrient density At the individual level. How do we prevent deficiencies or inadequacies for ourselves? Well, we can lean on a trusted health professional for biomarker testing for one, but that's not always practical and we can't trust any and every health professional to choose the right tests for us. On top of that, not everyone can afford micronutrient testing for themselves.
Speaker 0:In this case, a diversified diet rich in essential nutrients is an obvious play.
Speaker 0:Specifically, seeking out fortified foods can be a great option for many people. Now, natural health food enthusiasts might have some of us believing that food fortification is a bad thing, but when you look at the actual outcome data on the topic thing but when you look at the actual outcome data on the topic it's done far more good than harm, and on a global scale. Micronutrient supplementation is also, of course, an option. In summary, the global prevalence of inadequate micronutrient intakes is a major public health concern. The idea that nearly all of us are under-consuming at least one essential micronutrient by a large margin, and probably more than one, is something to be aware of. Further, taking into account our own personal circumstances, to hone in on which micronutrients those may be and resolving inadequate intake can certainly help reduce the burden of micronutrient deficiencies at the individual level and possibly at the global level. Thank you for tuning in to Daily Value. If you found this episode insightful, please subscribe and share it with others who might benefit. Stay informed, stay healthy and I'll see you next time.
