
April 20, 2019
Dr. Chris Masterjohn: Why You’re Probably Nutrient Deficient – The Genius Life
Dr. Chris Masterjohn (T: @ChrisMasterjohn IG: @ChrisMasterjohn) is an expert in nutrition and specifically micronutrients. Check out his website and podcast.
Note from Podcast Notes – we take notes on podcasts, none of this is personal opinion or support for/against a vegan diet.
Key Takeaways
- Clams, liver, and oysters are very high in vitamin B12
- Over 90% of vegans are deficient in vitamin B12
- Due to genetic reasons in how certain molecules are converted from plant foods, vegans are more likely to be Vitamin A deficient
- The best sources of zinc are oysters, beef, and cheese
- “You’re way more likely to become zinc deficient if you’re not eating animal products and you are eating a lot of plant products”
- The number one source of riboflavin is liver followed by kidney, heart, and almonds
- If you are vegan, perhaps consider still allowing yourself to eat something like oysters due to their high nutritional content
Books Mentioned
- Diet for a New America by John Robbins
- Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston Price
- Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman
Mental Health and Vegan/Vegetarian Diets
- “We can see in the literature that veganism and vegetarianism are strongly associated with mental disorders – especially anxiety, depression, and panic attacks”
- “There are definitely indications that vegetarianism and veganism is probably making people less resilient to mental stresses and more likely to have mental problems”
- “I think that you could make a very strong case for a general population that they’re nutrients in animal products that are very important for mental health”
- Like Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12
- Deficiency statistics:
- 15% of the elderly (people over 65) in the general population – this is mainly due to absorption issues which develop with age
- Over 70% of lacto-ovo vegetarians
- Over 90% of vegans
- You can only absorb about a day’s worth of vitamin B12 at a time – the rest is stored (for future use, in case your deficient on certain days)
- Only 8 grams of liver per day will allow you to hit your B12 needs
- Clams, liver, and oysters are very high in B12
- B12 is also found in things like meat and milk, but you have to eat/drink quite a bit to hit the RDA
Vitamin A
- Due to genetic reasons in how certain molecules are converted from plant foods, vegans are more likely to be Vitamin A deficient
- You can get carotenoids from red, yellow, and green vegetables (which can then be turned into retinol – the animal-based form of vitamin A that we need in our bodies)
- But the problem – many people are genetically bad converters of carotenoids to retinol
- You can get carotenoids from red, yellow, and green vegetables (which can then be turned into retinol – the animal-based form of vitamin A that we need in our bodies)
Zinc
- The best sources of zinc are oysters, beef, and cheese
- Zinc is about five times more absorbable from animal foods than from plant foods
- Animal protein increases zinc absorption
- A principle inhibitor of zinc absorption is a molecule found in whole grains, nuts, and legumes (sorry, we couldn’t quite hear the name of the molecule mentioned – it’s pronounced “phi-t”)
- “You’re way more likely to become zinc deficient if you’re not eating animal products and you are eating a lot of plant products”
- “Beef is a great source of zinc, but you can eat one oyster a day and get your zinc needs”
Riboflavin
- “Vegetarians and vegans are three times more likely to have biochemical evidence of riboflavin deficiency compared to omnivores”
- One study found that there’s been a 38 percent decline in riboflavin content in our produce from 1952 to 1999
- The number one source of riboflavin is liver followed by kidney, heart, and almonds
Vitamin B5
- The forms of vitamin B5 that we need are highest in nutritional yeast, liver, and organ meats
A Few Important Points if You Decide to Go Vegan
- You can’t just get by with a vitamin B12 supplement
- Perhaps consider still allowing yourself to eat something like oysters due to their high nutritional content
Random Yet Important
- “The main driver of people overeating is our very easy access to hyperpalatable foods”
- “What we are designed to do to have long-term health is to cycle between the fasted state and the fed state.”
- In the fasted state, we break down useless junk which is a waste of energy (known as autophagy)
- In the fed state, we invest energy in the things that are really useful – like antioxidant defense and repair processes
- Ketones reduce the likelihood for seizures by lowering glutamate levels and increasing GABA levels in the brain
These notes were edited by RoRoPa Editing Services