Scientific studies continue to identify nutrient insufficiency as a major underlying driver of chronic disease. This isn’t as simple as diseases of nutrient deficiency, like scurvy where deficiency in vitamin C results in fatigue, depression, and connective tissue defects resulting in gingivitis, petechiae (pinpoint spots caused by bleeding under the skin that can look like a rash), rashes, internal bleeding, and/or impaired wound healing. Instead, a collection of nutrient shortfalls mean that biological systems in the human body don’t have the nutritional resources they need to function optimally.
Nutrients are the raw materials our biological systems use to do their jobs, and in addition to the 49 essential nutrients, there are hundreds of non-essential nutrients that are used up to make cellular structures and in the countless chemical reactions of life. When we fall short of our body’s needs for nutrients, this puts strain on each biological systems that uses those nutrients to function properly. Over time, this wear and tear caused by not enough nutrients gradually increases the risk for chronic diseases of that biological system. For example, deficiencies of vitamins and minerals involved in glucose metabolism and insulin signaling (which include vitamin D, chromium, biotin, vitamin B1, and vitamin C) have been theorized to underlie type 2 diabetes.
Unlike disease of malnutrition like scurvy, every chronic illness has multiple nutrient connections, and every nutrient has multiple chronic disease connections. Understanding the collection of synergistic nutrients, and identifying the nutrient-dense foods to add to our diets that help us meet our requirements of all those nutrients, is the key to adopting eating patterns that lower our risk of chronic illness.
Below, you’ll find evidence-based summaries of how individual nutrients influence specific health conditions—from metabolic and cardiovascular health to immunity, bone strength, brain function, and beyond. Each article distills what research shows about the full range of nutrients that reduce risk or mitigate symptom severity, and which foods naturally provide those nutrients.
But this isn’t about chasing magic bullets or reducing health to a single nutrient. Nutrivore is built on the understanding that no one nutrient—or one food—does everything. Instead, good health comes from nourishing your body with a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods so you meet your nutritional needs across the board. Think of the following articles as a tool for developing “nutrient awareness”: connecting the dots between your health and the nutrients that support it, and how to incorporate nutrient-dense foods into everyday eating without restriction or perfectionism.
Nourishment is powerful. And when you understand the “why” behind nutrients, it becomes even easier to build the variety, balance, and flexibility at the heart of Nutrivore.
Health Goals and the Nutrients That Support Them
Learn about the nutrients that reduce risk of chronic diseases, and their best food sources, with the articles below!
Learn All the Nutrients for 20+ Health Conditions!
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Each e-book in this series lists all of the nutrients that reduce risk, or alleviate symptoms, of the featured chronic condition, summarizes the biological links between each nutrient and the health condition, and highlights the best food sources of each nutrient.
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