Expanded Definition of “Supplements”

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Dr. G

Our definition of “supplements” is usually limited to nutritional supplements. Generally, a nutritional supplement is a product intended for ingestion that contains one or more ingredients intended to have either a supplemental effect on overall diet or perhaps a specific medicinal effect on physiology.

Let’s expand our definition of supplements to include supplementing components of our environment that are beyond capsules, liquids, tablets and creams, and that can have a dramatic impact on our health and physiology.

Last week we discussed how we can “dose” natural forces like temperature and environmental exposure to help our thyroid physiology. This week I want to expand on the idea of “dosing” things like cold, heat, and light so that we consider them to be nutrients, much like the nutrients we take to improve our physiology.

In the world of functional medicine we use principles of biochemistry and nutrition to remove interference with optimal function of our organ systems and metabolic processes. The concept for functional medicine is born out of the idea that the use of natural substances is more desirable than the use of “chemical” or pharmaceutical agents.

There is a misconception that avoiding pharmaceuticals in favor of naturally occurring substances is motivated simply by fear of the negative side effects. Of course that fear exists and rightfully so, but the other very real concern is that pharmaceuticals are, by their very nature, a treatment for a single symptom–rather than the core cause–of a problem. Using pharmaceuticals to address an acute crisis or to eliminating suffering, like inhibiting severe pain, is logical as a short term solution. However, expecting chemical pain inhibition to somehow correct the cause of the pain, which may be due to a lifestyle issue, like sitting at the computer for 50 hours per week for two decades, is not logical.

Naturally occurring substances like food, spices, botanicals, and extracts should be desirable for more reasons than simply, “they are less dangerous.” What makes them more desirable is the fact that a naturally occurring substance will, at best, up-regulate or down-regulate a biological process to a maximum of 60%, whereas a pharmaceutical, in order to even be considered for passage by the FDA, should up-regulate or down-regulate a biochemical process by 95%-100%. The major difference here is that naturally occurring products can modulate a process as opposed to shutting an individual process down.

We know there is very little need to consider singular actions in the body. If you shut down a biochemical pathway involved in pain, you are also simultaneously shutting down some other aspects of healing, causing side effects. Think of the pharmaceutical as something that turns something “on” or “off” like a light switch, and the naturally-occurring interventions are dimmer switches.

The next focus is finding what else, other than ingestible substances like food, supplements, nutraceuticals, vitamins, and botanicals, can have an impact on “modulating” our physiology and therefore be helpful to our condition of “chronic I-don’t-feel-good-itis,” or whatever your particular diagnosis may be.

In previous posts, I have mentioned the rationale behind the use of temperature, light, movements, seasonal and geographical considerations for lifestyle choices. Here I would like to discuss the rationale behind the use of specific wavelengths of light for different applications.

When I say light, I am not only referring to the visible spectrum of light: 400-700 nm wavelengths that give us all the colors of the rainbow. I am referring to the entire electromagnetic spectrum that includes frequencies we cannot see with our eyes but that do have impact on our cells that can be profound. These wavelengths extend from gamma, X-ray, and ultraviolet frequencies, all the way past the visible spectrum to the invisible near and far infrared, all the way to microwave. After all, these wavelengths have been around for as long as the sun has been warming the earth and life appeared on this planet. That life evolved to adapt to all of the forces present. All of those forces have played a role in evolution and by logical extension, they must and do play a role in our physiology.

We can extract a nutrient like resveratrol out of a grape and concentrate it to the point we can simply have a tablespoon per day so it can have a desired immune regulatory effect in our body, without having to eat 100 pounds of grapes in a single sitting, or 12 cases of wine. Similarly, we can also concentrate a single frequency of light to dose it in a way that does not require standing naked on a mountaintop for 12 hours per day and expose ourselves to all of frequencies emitted by solar radiation, in the hopes that we can benefit from the portion of that spectrum we may need the most. After all, the benefits of the resveratrol in 12 cases of wine will not overcome the ill effects of exposing yourself to that much alcohol and sugar. It could kill you. The same holds true with different frequencies of solar radiation. Standing naked on a mountain top everyday could have wonderful effects on your mitochondria from the infrared section of the spectrum while the ultraviolet end of the spectrum could do simultaneous damage to your skin and eyes.

We can use technology to dose and concentrate nutrients to our benefit. Those nutrients are modulatory (dimmer switches) that can give us natural, desired physiology that may have been damaged by the unnatural world we have created for ourselves. We must think of nutrients as being the forces on our planet that impact our physiology. Here is a list of different nutrients we can use to our benefit. (If I am missing any that you can think of, please add them to the comments section).

•      Food and all of its traditional nutrients.
•      Water
•      Oxygen (atmosphere)
•      Gravity
•      Temperature
•      Electromagnetic fields including that which is emitted by the earth itself, as well as the sun, which includes the visible and invisible spectrum discussed above.

Each of the “nutrients” mentioned above should ideally be in the form and dose that is native and natural to the earth and our species. However, we have to recognize that we have permanently altered our daily personal environments and their balance and influence on our bodies, resulting in health challenges unique to our time in history. It is up to us to be able to use technology to ameliorate the effects of those changes and to use technology to our advantage to promote health and healing when we are sick.

Let’s expand our definition of supplements: Laser, light-emitting diodes, cold thermogenesis, sauna, pulsed electromagnetic frequencies, LDOA movement strategies, and energy frequency-enhanced water.

Next week we are going to discuss the available “supplements” the electromagnetic spectrum has to offer, as well as their rationale, uses, indications and contraindications.

Thanks for reading!