“According to experts, development has brought about a new global scourge — widespread malnourishment among overweight individuals eating calorie-rich, nutrient-poor diets. In fact, the world’s population of 1.2 billion overfed and undernourished individuals now equals those starving from a lack of healthy food.”
- Dr. Joseph Mercola

In a perfect world, we would get all necessary nutrients from the food that we eat. That is the “ideal” situation. Adam and Eve certainly didn’t have access to a health food stores – nor did they need access. Times being what they are though, we do not live in a perfect world. Individuals with fibromyalgia need to supplement missing nutrients in their foods.

Reliance upon chemical fertilizers and the loss of topsoil has depleted American fields of nutrients. Few farmers replace missing trace minerals in the land. Often, produce is picked before it is ripe so that it travels better. Unfortunately, many plants produce nutrients during the ripening stage, while the fruit is on the vine. Once picked, the produce is stored in a cool, dark place to prevent spoilage. This storage causes up to 50% nutrient loss in just five days. Then we really clean up the nutrients by chopping, cooking, processing, and canning the foods.

Note: A storage method that allows for much more nutrient retention than canning fruits and vegetables is blanching, then freezing them. To learn how to blanch fruits and vegetables to prepare them for freezing, visit http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/foods/348-596/348-596.html.

What it all boils down to is unless you organically grow your own food in soil that has been tested and amended, vine ripen it, eat it fresh, and eat it raw, it is nearly impossible to consume adequate nutrients through diet alone. Despite all of these efforts, you may still need to supplement because cytokines promote increased vitamin utilization.

Cytokines cause many fibromyalgia symptoms. In the brain, cytokines can cause behavioral changes. They can either prompt or worsen depression, anxiety, or anorexia. They may cause a person to become withdrawn. Cytokines create fatigue and interfere with sleep patterns. They are one thing responsible for what has been termed “brain fog.”

We know from studies done at the Department of Family Medicine at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte that daily use of multivitamins and mineral supplements “dramatically” reduced infections in patients with Type-2 Diabetes and persons 45 and older. Researchers found that 73% of those who took the placebo developed colds or other minor infections during a one-year period, but only 43% of those receiving the multivitamins and minerals became ill during the same time period. The biggest difference came in what percentage of the test subjects developed skin infections, which are problematic with diabetics. Of the test subjects who were taking placebos, 93% of the Type 2 Diabetes reported an infection compared with only 17% of those receiving the multivitamins and mineral supplements.

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