Justifying the “Food Pyramid”

[MattJacko]

As I continually obsess over macro and micro nutrients in Cronometer, I have begun to notice the best way to reach most recommended levels (B1, Folate, Copper, Magnesium and Manganese in particular) is to consume fortified grains and breads I.E. white bread, plain bagels, oatmeal, cereal, etc.

After these foods, consuming one meal with Steak, Potatoes, Butter and Milk should cover just about all macro and micro nutrients. Throw in some OJ and other fruits and you’ll be rock solid.

As I came to this conclusion, I realized this is exactly what the “Food Pyramid” suggests...minus the veggies

Just some food for thought :)

 

[Riesensackteil]

What food pyramid are you looking at? from the 20s haha?

 

[MattJacko]

What food pyramid are you looking at? from the 20s haha?

This is the one I was always taught lol

 

[skittles]

Can you post a cronometer?

 

[gaze]

the reduced iron in bread is gonna give you age spots by the time your 50

 

[lampofred]

How do you know the recommended levels are optimal? Excess vitamins can be as harmful as too little but in more unpredictable ways. I think all those nutrients you mentioned are meant to retained, so that small amounts go a long way, as opposed to consumed in abundance.

 

[boris]

Why not just take the vitamins and minerals as supplements? That way you avoid the excess iron from the fortification.

Iron's Dangers

Ray Peat

raypeat.com

 

[MattJacko]

Can you post a cronometer?

 

[MattJacko]

the reduced iron in bread is gonna give you age spots by the time your 50

Most of the iron is coming from steak. I have not heard of this though

 

[MattJacko]

Why not just take the vitamins and minerals as supplements? That way you avoid the excess iron from the fortification.

Iron's Dangers

Ray Peat

raypeat.com

I don’t believe any of the vitamins/minerals are in excess per my Cronometer, but something to consider

 

[MattJacko]

How do you know the recommended levels are optimal? Excess vitamins can be as harmful as too little but in more unpredictable ways. I think all those nutrients you mentioned are meant to retained, so that small amounts go a long way, as opposed to consumed in abundance.

I believe the only thing that would be in excess here might be some of the B Vitamins, but I am not concerned with those as they are water soluble

 

[boris]

I don’t believe any of the vitamins/minerals are in excess per my Cronometer, but something to consider

From Peat's iron article:

• Q: How does excess iron accelerate our aging process?
  During aging, our tissues tend to store an excess of iron. There is a remarkably close association between the amount of iron stored in our tissues and the risk of death from cancer, heart disease, or from all causes. This relationship between iron and death rate exists even during childhood, but the curve is downward until the age of 12, and then it rises steadily until death. The shape of this curve, representing the iron burden, is amazingly similar to the curves representing the rate of death in general, and the rate of death from cancer. There is no other relationship in biology that I know of that has this peculiar shape, with its minimum at the age of 12, and its maximum in old age at the time of death.
  One of the major lines of aging research, going back to the early part of this century, was based on the accumulation of a brown material in the tissues known as "age-pigment." The technical name for this material, "lipofuscin," means "fatty brown stuff." In the 1960s, the "free radical theory" of aging was introduced by Denham Harman, and this theory has converged with the age-pigment theory, since we now know that the age-pigment is an oxidized mass of unsaturated fat and iron, formed by uncontrolled free radicals. Until a few years ago, these ideas were accepted by only a few researchers, but now practically every doctor in the country accepts that free radicals are important in the aging process. A nutrition researcher in San Diego suspected that the life-extending effects of calorie restriction might be the result of a decreased intake of toxins. He removed the toxic heavy metals from foods, and found that the animals which ate a normal amount of food lived as long as the semi-starved animals. Recently, the iron content of food has been identified as the major life-shortening factor, rather than the calories. [Choi and Yu, Age vol. 17, page 93, 1994.]
• Q: Exactly how much iron do we need to eat?
  Children's nutritional requirements are high, because they are growing, but there are indications that in the U.S. even children eat too much iron.
  Some researchers are concerned that the iron added to cereals is contributing to the incidence of leukemia and cancers of the lymphatic tissues in children. [Goodfield, 1984.] During the time of rapid growth, children are less likely than adults to store too much iron. At birth, they have a large amount of stored iron, and this decreases as they "grow into it." It is after puberty, when growth slows and the sex hormones are high, that the storage of iron increases. [Blood, Sept., 1976.] In a study of the "malnourished" children of migrant fruit pickers in California, these children who were "seriously anemic" were actually more resistant to infectious diseases than were the "well nourished" middle class children in the same region.
  If the normal amount of dietary iron causes an increased susceptibility to infections even in children, and if a subnormal amount of iron slows the aging process, I think we are going to have to reconsider our ideas of nutritional adequacy, to look at the long range effects of diet, as well as the immediate effects. My current studies have to do with analyzing our ability to handle stress safely, in relation to our diet. I believe our nutritional recommendations for iron have to be revised sharply downward.

 

[equipoise]

Our flour is not fortified, thus no added iron.
Also 4 blood donations over a year reliably lowers it and so does coffee with meat. Living in the USA must be rough