My nutritional experiment ends.

What you need to know is that overdoses of all nutrients carry
dangers. Even Vitamin C and other water soluble vitamins.

What is the clinical data that getting more than the RDA
makes you live longer? I haven't heard of any. Has Bev?

The RDA is calculated to keep you nourished even under normal
life stresses, so if this is supposed to combatting stress
-- well, are you a police officer or firefighter or somebody
who is regularly under the stress of life threatening situations?

Now imagine if you weren't fasting on Thursday how many of
those nutrients you would be at the RDA for, where now you
are under.

Ignoramus4175 wrote:

A couple of weeks ago, I asked these newsgroups whether it was wise to
take vitamin supplements to make sure that my vitamin intake is
adequate.

Two themes emerged: 1) a group of people claimed that for life
extension purposes, I need more than RDA of certain nutriends, and 2)
some said that since I do not know what I eat, it is wise to take
supplement as an "insurance policy".

Since I do in fact know what I eat, I decided to run an experiment and
log all foods into fitday for one week. A caveat, I did not weigh
anything, I eyeballed the weights. I tried to be conservative, not
understate calories etc. Second, to those surprised to see nothing
eaten on thursday, I fast on thursdays these days.

Results of the experiment are at:

http://igor.chudov.com/weightloss/fitday

Some highlights:
- 1956 calories per day (5'11", 172 lbs male)
- 50% of calories from fat, 24% from carbs, 26% from protein
- 3 or so lbs of vegetables per day
- Of the nutrients selected by fitday, I meet RDA in all except
vitamin D (81%) and zinc. I also walk a lot, and most of the
time of year it is during sunlight, so I get some vitamin D from the
skin as well.

Nutrient Units Intake RDA % RDA
Vitamin A mcg_RE 6891.3 1000 689.13
Vitamin D mcg 4.08 5 81.66
Vitamin E mg_ATE 17.34 10 173.39
Vitamin K mcg 279.48 80 349.35

Vitamin C mg 219.69 60 366.14
Thiamin mg 1.85 1.2 154.45
Riboflavin mg 2.67 1.3 205.22
Vitamin B-6 mg 2.95 1.3 226.73
Vitamin B-12 mcg 13.57 2.4 565.34
Niacin mg 27.68 16 172.99
Folate mcg 529.67 400 132.42

Nutrient Units Intake RDA % RDA
Iron mg 19.73 10 197.32
Zinc mg 14.31 15 95.41
Selenium mcg 130.95 70 187.07
Copper mg 2.66 --- ---

Nutrient Units Intake RDA % RDA
Calcium mg 1105.4 1000 110.54
Phosphorus mg 1939.9 700 277.13
Magnesium mg 529.88 420 126.16
Sodium mg 3118 --- ---
Potassium mg 4456.5 --- ---

My fitday journal is at:

http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJ...?Owner=ichudov

I welcome comments as to whether my diet is optimal for life extension
purposes. To those suggesting that I eat less, I do plan on very
gradually losing a bit more weight, and to get more calories from
carbs (oat bran, whole wheat bread and raw vegetable stuff) as opposed
to fat and protein. Right now I am losing about 1 lbs per week. It is
difficult, however, to really eat more raw vegetables, as I already
stuff myself with them a lot.

Some readings have convinced me to take a vitamin E supplement. My
general preference though, is to not take any supplement for which
very convincing experimental data for humans exists. I figure that if
I overeat, say, spinach, nothing bad will happen to me. But if I
overeat some exotic metal that makes lab mice live a bit longer, I run
some serious risks becaise I am not a mouse and I am not in a lab.

i
223/172/180

Patricia Heil wrote in message ...

The RDA is calculated to keep you nourished even under normal
life stresses...


The RDA levels were set to what was believed to be the minimum needed
to avoid deficiency diseases such as scurvy and rickets. They were
never intended to provide optimal nutrition.

--Hua Kul

I was interested in what you've done Ig, but I confess didn't try to
look in detail at the vitamins, I'll leave that to others. I take a
high level mineral and vitamin supplement, and 1 gram of Vitamin C a
day. The most difficult thing I find is trying to get the right
balance between the various supplements as too much of one can throw
another out ot balance.
I'm amazed at the high fat content of your diet. although I realise
they're mostly "good" fats. I guess I've never looked at someone
else's profile who eats in these proportions. I'm more used to seeing
my own pie charts which have around 50% carbs.

janice
233/184/133

On Sun, 01 Feb 2004 18:07:02 -0600, Ignoramus4175
wrote:

A couple of weeks ago, I asked these newsgroups whether it was wise to
take vitamin supplements to make sure that my vitamin intake is
adequate.

Hua Kul wrote:
Patricia Heil wrote in message ...

The RDA is calculated to keep you nourished even under normal
life stresses...

The RDA levels were set to what was believed to be the minimum needed
to avoid deficiency diseases such as scurvy and rickets. They were
never intended to provide optimal nutrition.

I believe you're actually referring to the MDR (minimum daily
requirement), which was replaced by the RDA some time in the
70s or 80s. The MDR was based on preventing deficiency disease.

--
jamie )

"There's a seeker born every minute."

"jamie" wrote in message
news:slrnc1t511.a50.jamie@

The RDA levels were set to what was believed to be the minimum needed
to avoid deficiency diseases such as scurvy and rickets. They were
never intended to provide optimal nutrition.

I believe you're actually referring to the MDR (minimum daily
requirement), which was replaced by the RDA some time in the
70s or 80s. The MDR was based on preventing deficiency disease.

So perhaps you'd like to enlighten us about what the 'RDA' is based on?

M.