Question
Hi Dr. Healey,
I've learned where our soils have been depleted of minerals from wind, leaching, poor farming practices, etc., resulting in the unavailability of these minerals to be incorporated into the foods grown upon such soils. I can see where we are not getting the minerals we need from our diet, thus creating a need for some type of supplementation.
My question is: What form of vitamin and mineral supplements are best to take? I hear liquid supplements are more absorbable and bioavailable than caplets or capsules. Then a guy at GNC tells me that liquid supplements are absorbed more readily, but absorption is too quick and that a time release capsule or caplet form is best to take. I've read different things searching the "net" and cannot seem to get a clear picture on this subject. What would be your suggestion concerning the best form of vitamin/mineral supplementation which might offer the best benefit?
Thank you very much.
Mike Eidson, LAc.


Answer
Dear Mike Eidson,

Thank you for your question about nutritional supplementation.  Yours is a question somewhat similar to those I have heard from others who are investigating chiropractic.  Unfortunately, though, it is based on some misconceptions.  In order to answer it properly, I'll first need to give you some background on the chiropractic profession.  I'm not certain of the meaning of "L.Ac." and, so, if the information herein is a review for you, I apologize.  I don't believe you will find it burdensome, though, to put things in context.  

There are two branches or schools of thought in chiropractic.  Briefly, they are differentiated by whether they deal with the limited therapeutic approach for aches and pains (commonly termed "mixed" chiropractic because it represents a mixture of a chiropractor with a non-chiropractic matter) or a non-therapeutic approach to optimum body performance (termed "straight" chiropractic because there is no mixing of chiropractic with anything else).  My expertise is in non-therapeutic straight chiropractic.

Therapeutic "mixed" chiropractic is the older approach based on a split from the founding principles of chiropractic about a century ago.

Non-therapeutic "straight" chiropractic is the more modern of the two.  It deals with a particular, common situation called a vertebral subluxation.  This is not the same as the findings you mention in your question, but they may exist together.  It is important that you keep this in mind in that the information in this response concerns vertebral subluxation specifically.  The spine is made of many bone segments which house and protect the spinal cord and the smaller spinal nerve branches that come off the spinal cord and exit between the bones.  These nerve pathways carry information or messages between the brain and the cells of the body.  These messages are essential for the life of the cells.  Without brain messages, the cells immediately begin the process of dying; i.e., they can no longer function the way they should to maintain life.

Because the bones are moveable, they can misalign in such a way as to interfere with the messages and, ultimately, the ability of the person to function at their best or express their optimum potential.  People with vertebral subluxations are not able to get all they can out of life.

Vertebral subluxations can be caused by a wide variety of factors, what we'll generally call stresses.  These stresses can be physical (such as traumatic events like yours, but also things like sleeping posture and mattress condition, the birth process, sneezing, falling down, etc.), mental / emotional (in its many forms, probably the most familiar use of the word stress), or chemical (such as pollution, drugs, etc.), which are, unfortunately, regular parts of daily living for all age groups.  In short, a vertebral subluxation can occur for a multitude of reasons.

Tragically, vertebral subluxations are rarely obvious to the individual they affect.  They usually have no symptoms.  The reason is that most of what goes on inside you happens without your awareness.  As an example, try to "feel" your liver.  What's it doing right now?  You can't know, so you can't know if it's functioning at its best or something less.  To complicate things, nerve pathways that carry messages of control (termed "motor" nerves) have no way of transmitting ache or pain messages, so your body function may be far from perfect and you'd not have any alerting signal whatsoever.  Perhaps of more use to you, the branching of the nerve pathways is quite complex and extensive, making it exceedingly difficult to predict or determine exactly how the person will be affected.  The question of how your individual body carries out the myriad of activities just to maintain life is enormous and would require your Creator's (or creator's, for the agnostic) knowledge, or at least far more than our educated knowledge of the complexities of life.  This is a fundamental reason why you find so many conflicting or inconsistent bits of advice within the nutritional and supplementation field.  It's not just what you put in your body, it'a also what your body is able to do with it ?and that is essentially unknowable.  Nutritional advice is not much more than a dogmatic guess at best at what the body needs to express its unique potential at any given moment.  If there were truly a science to it, the advice would not change every year or between different panels of experts.  

This pitfall is not the reason non-therapeutic straight chiropractic does not deal with nutritional supplements, however.  Vertebral subluxation is, in and of itself, detrimental to life.  In order to know if someone has a vertebral subluxation, it is necessary to have that person's spine checked by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor using a method of "analysis."  When a vertebral subluxation is detected this way, it is obviously important to correct it as soon as possible.  The term for this procedure is 揳djustment.? There are no dietary ways of accomplishing this.  

Since vertebral subluxations are caused by so many different things, people choose to go to a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor on a regular basis to enjoy the most time free of the life-robbing effects of vertebral subluxation. There's a saying that straight chiropractic is not about your back, it's not about your pain, it's about your life.  Each person has a unique potential in life.  With vertebral subluxation, it's impossible to realize that potential.

A key question to ask for your purposes, then, would be, Is someone who takes great care with their nutrition better off with vertebral subluxation / nerve interference or free of subluxation / with the nerve channels open?  It is easy to see that having all the available nerve messages getting through is better than only some of them getting through, regardless of the person's situation otherwise.  It's not that you should see a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor FOR your nutritional needs ?you should visit one in an effort to be free of vertebral subluxations, even WITH those concerns.  Non-therapeutic straight chiropractic is not about diagnosing and/or treating nutritional needs or any therapeutic-model or medical condition.  It is entirely separate in its goal.  Consequently, there is no use of supplements.  

As I mentioned earlier, not all chiropractors adhere to this and it is important that you be able to distinguish which ones do if you're going to seek this type of service.  You need to understand very clearly that the practice objectives of therapeutic mixed chiropractic and non-therapeutic straight chiropractic are quite different, as described above.  What information I give you must not be interpreted from the mixed viewpoint.  

It would certainly be wise to have your spine checked for subluxations by a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor, even if you still elect to have therapeutic attention for your supplementation.  Remember, the two objectives are not the same.    

If you are interested in finding out how to locate a non-therapeutic straight chiropractor in your area, please contact me at this site again or at [email protected].  You may also visit www.gschiro.com, a site that represents non-therapeutic straight chiropractic on a state level.

Mike, I wish you the best in understanding what chiropractic has to offer.  It has been my pleasure to provide you with some information.

Sincerely,
James W. Healey, D.C.