Learn about the key role the digestive tract plays in supporting the nervous system.

By Richard Drucker, PhD, ND

As a doctor of chiropractic, you have little choice but to be knowledgeable in nutrition considering today’s current health market. Not only do patients expect it, but overall body health demands it because the spine and nutrient utilization are closely linked.

The spinal column and its 24 moveable vertebrae, along with the brain and peripheral nervous system, are symbiotically complemented by the digestive tract — the mucous- membrane-lined tube with its various expansions and functions, that extends from mouth to anus.

 You could say that the body actually has two physical brains. The first and most familiar is obviously located in the head and has direct control over all bodily functions via the spinal cord and spinal nerves. This is where you excel and are able to restore vital nerve flow from the first brain down through the body using spinal adjustments, thus improving energy and health.

 The second brain to consider is the digestive tract. It is this brain that utilizes the minerals and nutrients it receives to feed the body and help keep the first brain and the rest of the body working in optimal order.

As the first brain can be blocked by misaligned vertebrae from sending complete and healthy nerve signals to the body, the second brain also can be impeded from its proper communication duties. A large portion of that interference can stem from the lack of proper, synergistic, and timely ingestion of organically complexed (carbon bound) trace minerals and nutrients necessary for homeostasis.

Yet, while chiropractic often can deliver immediate noticeable effects on body function and offer pain relief, improvement through proper administration of minerals and nutrients is just as important.

Those with interest in digestive health will want to provide the body with the best and most effective nourishment possible. Consider Linus Pauling’s mineral deficiency theory: Every ailment, sickness, and disease can be traced back to an organic mineral deficiency.

Pauling was trying to demonstrate the value of minerals that contain living carbon, as opposed to inorganic, toxic, or synthetic colloidal minerals. The key to exceptional carbon-bond nutritional utilization and assimilation is in being able to deliver it to the body’s cells at near complete absorption.

Why nutritional supplements?

In order to lower costs and increase profit margins, today’s commercial farmers are using cheap, abundant synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, as well as genetically modified seeds and animal feed. This typically increases growth in both produce and animals. It also unfortunately results in a higher yield producing inferior product with a continuing reduction in vital nutrients.

Donald Davis, PhD, a biochemist at the University of Texas at Austin, discovered that 13 major nutrients found in fruit and vegetables have declined substantially over a period of years.¹ 2006 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed dramatically lower levels of protein, calcium, vitamin C, phosphorus, iron, and riboflavin in produce compared with that from the past several decades.

Moreover, the steadily growing use of newer synthetic and

toxic chemicals, as well as over-farming, has triggered long-term soil imbalances, increased toxic absorption in plants and animals, and decreased needed organic minerals and nutrients. This ultimately results in food that is rife with inorganic toxins and a severe reduction in naturally occurring, organically complexed minerals and nutrients. The need for dietary supplements today is absolutely warranted.

What to recommend to patients

There are at least three important suggestions you can make to your patients in regard to feeding the two brains that are intrinsically interconnected:

1. Purchase foods that are certified organically grown,
2. Eliminate processed and synthetic foods as much as possible, and
3. Choose nutritional supplements that are ultra-hypoallergenic and contain no synthetics, or inert (dead/synthetic/toxic) substances.

When recommending supplemental nutrition, it is also important that you and your patient are aware of the nomenclature and differences in vitamin labels as explained below.

Synthetic chemical nutrients: These are vitamins that, while structurally appearing similar to plant-derived vitamins, are nonetheless artificial and thus cheaper to manufacture. Scientists have claimed that the body cannot tell the difference between synthetic and real, but it obviously can. Synthetic ingredients are not absorbed properly and generally wind up in extracellular, interstitial, and fatty tissues, and may be the primary cause of increasing rates of autotoxicity and autoimmune disease.

Natural: This indicates foods that are minimally processed and contain no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, or sweeteners. “Natural” and “organic” are not interchangeable, although some retailers try to make them appear so. Natural supplements generally cost more than synthetic, but their health benefits justify the expense. Note that a product can be labeled “natural” even if it only contains just a small percentage of natural ingredients.

Organic: The true definition of organic means “containing living carbon,” or “derived from living organisms.” This is somewhat different from the term, “organically-grown,” in which there may still be an opportunity for the use of certain chemicals in production.

To obtain true, organic nutrition, it makes sense to use supplements that incorporate organically complexed (carbon-bond) technology, derive nutrients from live, whole foods of the highest quality, and avoid the use of synthetic chemical ingredients, preservatives, binders, coatings, etc., as much as possible.

Understanding these key differences is half the battle, getting your patients to embrace the habit of a healthy lifestyle is the other half. When you understand the vital link between the two “brains” controlling the body, you can educate your patients as to the proper nutritional pathways. Then they can make better supplement decisions for themselves and their family’s health and wellness.

Richard Drucker, PhD, ND, is the CEO of Drucker Labs, which manufactures and distributes health, wellness, and nutritional products. He can be reached through www.druckerlabs.com.

Reference

¹Study suggests nutrient decline in garden crops over past 50 years. University of Texas news: http://www.utexas.edu/news/2004/12/01/nr_chemistry.