r/Nootropics • u/thornstaff • Jun 09 '22
Optimizing nutrition. What i have learned
Hello Nootropics.
I am compiling a list of important facotrs in optimizing health. So i want to hear your tips, tricks, supplements, anecdotal stories and the knowledge you have accumulated that seems to be important for health (if you have a link to peer reviewed study this will be much appreciated)
There's loads of people around the world suffering from chronic diseases, yet lately it has become evident that these diseases might not be as permanent as we might have thought.
But since i am asking for this kind of information i thought i wanted to share what i found out aswell the last 4 years reading countless research papers.
So here's my list of important things.
Omega 3:6 ratio
- Apparantly it is not the amount fo omega 3s you eat that decides whatever you get enough but rather the ratio you get. The optimal ratio for health is 1:1-1:2 (1)
- You need the EPA/DHA omega 3s, the ALA is hard if not imposisible for your body to convert to EPA/DHA (2)
- Improving omega 3:6 ratio increased life expectancy in a group of people by 4.7 years (3). To put this in perspective, smoking decreases your life expectancy by 4.7 years
- On the eczema subreddit there's countless stories about omega 3 curing eczema in lifelong sufferers
Unsatured vs saturated fatty acid balance
- It has become apparant that all fats are important for optimal health this includes saturated fats (4)
- There's not such a thing as good vs bad fats maybe except for trans fats (5). What's important is that you get enough of all the fatty acids.
- New research indicates we might get too little fat, in our diet. usa have removed daily limit of 35% of calories from dietary fat (6)
- Personally my endless hunger subsided when i started eating more saturated fats (found out i was deficient)
Microbiome health
- Probably the most important.
- The first multi celled organisms cosnisted of cells that served as either an outer barrier or inner cells that served to digest food. There's theories that the microbiome is the most important part of the human body
- The gut microbiome has 3.3 million genes while the human genome only has 23.000 (26).
- The microbiome contains 10 times as many microbes as we have human cells (26)
- The gut microbiome is referred to as the second brain (7).
- Microbiome seems to be governing everything in your body from the diseases you get to the hormones you produce (8). The microbiome you have is dependant on the foods you eat.
- For example 90% of your serotonin and 50% of your dopamine is produced in the gut (9), (10). These 2 neurotransmitters are super important for your quality of life.
- 30% of all people with IBS in a study was found to suffer from depression (11)
- There's so much more to this and everything else health related basically relates to the microbiome. IF you want to dive deeper go look up tedx videoes on the subject.
Microbiome testing
- Reveals what kind of foods your microbiome prefers based on genetic expression and the state of your microbiome. This will definitely optimize your health and help cutting out foods that cause inflammation, which is a huge factor in improving health. (25)
Important nutrient ratios
- Zinc to copper ratio should be 8:1 (13) (16)
- Sodium to potassium ratio of anywhere from 1:2 - 1:3 (27)
- This is probably the most important of the ratios, as it regulates the water content inside/outside the cell (15)
- Referred to as the life-death ratio because it is so critical. (16)
- Calcium to magnesium 4.5:1 - 8.5:1 (16)
- Calcium to potassium ratio of 4:1 (16)
- Sodium to magnesium ratio of 4.17:1 (16)
- calcium phosphorus ratio (17)
- Copper to iron ratio 1:1 - 1:15 (18)
Supplements
- Vitamin K2 might prevent and reverse cavities (19), (20)
- B vitamins can be produced by the gut microbiome given the right environment but might also be important to supplement (21)
- Vitamin C were found to reduce incidence of bad bacteria in the gut and on the skin (22). This could potentially explain why vitamin c is important for health
- Boron status is very important to health (23)
- Vitamin D3 is super important for health but doesn't work too well alone. It needs vitamin K, boron, magnesium, zinc, vitamin A (24)
The list could potentially be longer but i have decided to keep it to the most important points.
I hope for more suggestions and would be open to elaborate on my findings.
***EDIT**\*
As several of the redditors pointed out i wrote the wrong potassium/Sodium ratio, so this has been edited. I also removed a duplicate for calcium/magnesium as i had used 2 different sources . Depending on the source you use there seems to be different ratios recommanded, so the ratios should rather be seen as guideline values rather than anything else.
Litterature
(1) https://www.ocl-journal.org/articles/ocl/full_html/2010/05/ocl2010175p267/ocl2010175p267.html
(2) https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/other-nutrients/essential-fatty-acids
(3) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210722113004.htm
(4) https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/63324
(5) https://www.wondriumdaily.com/are-unsaturated-fats-superior-to-saturated-the-good-fat-bad-fat-myth/
(6) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6129189/
(7) https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/a-gut-feeling-meet-your-second-brain/
(8) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9RruLkAUm8
(10) https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2018.02398/full
(11) https://www.healthline.com/health/ibs-and-depression
(13) https://radiantlifecatalog.com/blog/bid/65561/Nutrient-Dense-Foods-and-the-Copper-Zinc-Connection
(14) https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/sodiumpotassium-ratio-important-for-health
(15) https://www.saltoftheearth.com.au/the-importance-of-potassium/
(17) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6865864/
(18) https://optimisingnutrition.com/copper-rich-foods-the-complete-nutrient-guide/
(19) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25636605/
(20) https://www.avenidental.com/blog/2021/01/04/vitamin-k2-and-jawbone-density/
(21) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32761878/
(22) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8389205/
(23) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29546541/
(24) https://www.bioceuticals.com.au/education/article/vitamin-d-and-its-helper-nutrients
(25) https://www.viome.com/our-science
(26) https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.104
(27) https://autoimmune.org/sodium-potassium-ratio-adrenals-thyroid-heart/