Most supplements I see miss out on a few vitamins or minerals here and there(I’m guessing it’s probably to avoid the possibility of overdosing certain nutrients that have tighter daily limits?). But is there a supplement out there that actually provides every single essential micronutrient?
Even if one existed, intake quantities would be based on an average and serve only the purpose to stave off deficiency.
Problem is that your body’s ability to absorb and utilize micronutrients is often a very complicated and interdependent process with uptake for various nutrients being reduced or increased by the presence of others.
Take this quick search result about how copper absorption is modified by magnesium, calcium, potassium, et al: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2697140/
I think is you’re talking about survival, you could probably survive better on edible wild vegetation than a supplement.
Yes there is. Weak people who cannot chew or swallow use enteral nutrition, which can be taken to the stomach through tubes. Enteral nutrition can also be ingested by mouth, upon assessment by the doctor or nutritionist, according to the person’s nutritional needs.
I mean, technically speaking nutritional supplements like Ensure and Boost which are designated meal replacements have everything needed to survive should you need to rely on them solely for nourishment. So while you can’t get all your micronutrients in one shot, you can meet your RDA’S if you’re living off them (like 5-7 per day replacing meals.)
there are some liquid or readily prepared foods claiming to provide everything you need, if you dont find them from scratch maybe i can look where i saw them. but its only for survival of course, if optimal or good is questionable. as of multivitamin pills, potassium is one example of a nutrient that shouldnt be added to supplements in large enough amounts needed because it would damage the stomach, so this should be an argument against creating such a product, but maybe someone created it nevertheless.
No. There are some “super supplements” that have a lot of ingredients in them but they are $$$ (like $150 a month and they still only have some of what is needed). On top of that, you need a decent amount of those things, so they can’t pack one amount into a pill. That is why some of the more “super food” supplements want you to take 6 of them a day, because of the amount you need to get any benefit.
The body is fairly complex in terms of what happens inside it, and at this point, supplements cannot mimic real, whole foods. There are nutrients in real food and even things we probably haven’t figured out yet, that cannot be made in a lab. Supplements should be the avenue of last resort because they just are not used well by the body in comparison. Eat a wide variety of whole foods. Supplement what you have to (ie vitamin D, for example, you can’t do a whole lot for that diet-wise, though you can do some things) but there is no substitute for the interactions and reactions that happen within the body when you have a healthy diet. Our bodies need a lot of nutrient support to function optimally. To attempt to get that from supplements alone would bankrupt most people, and they still wouldn’t come out healthier because the body can’t use them as well as it uses real food. Everything that is done to a food changes how the body uses it, sometimes that is for the better (ie some foods we have to cook to be able to eat, like potatoes) but often it is not.
So there is TPN for patients which the RDs here should be very familiar with, and that literally is a supplement that carries everything for survival.
I think people are really uncomfortable with the ideas like this as well as meal replacements because they feel it trivializes nutrition. But the way I see it, it actually is trivial to prevent essential nutrient deficiencies. The focus of nutrition recommendations nowadays is mainly to prevent chronic diseases.
If there was there would be no need for other foods we’d just eat this one thing.
Just find a balanced diet suited to you. Remember everyone is different & you need to find what’s better for your motabilism & lifestyle.
Shilajit / Mumijo is pretty nutritious.
So is Moringa.
And so is beef liver.
I wouldn’t rely on these foods to get all the micronutrients you need though, you can use them as SUPPLEMENTS to supplement an otherwise balanced diet. Supplements are not supposed to replace a healthy diet but just add to them.