Sample Newsletter February 2005

Mineral deficiency and the N.H.S.

Tom Stockdale

Several historical events have significantly altered the relationship between nutrition and health within the UK. The importation of Canadian high selenium wheat and the establishment of the port millers at the end of the 19th century has obscured the fact that the soils of the British Isles are not well supplied with selenium. While the high quality white flour that started to become available caused problems because it was low in fibre and vitamins, the selenium it contained appears to have been sufficient to enable most people to achieve an intake equivalent to what is now known as the recommended dietary amount. Perhaps it was those who, for one reason or another, failed to eat sufficient Canadian wheat who later became victims of the consequence of arteriosclerosis.

During the first half of the 20th century, most farmers relied upon the inherent fertility of their soil to supply most of the needs of their crops. Those fertilisers that were used were usually impure and included ground rock phosphate and basic slag from the steel industry. These phosphatic fertilisers were surprisingly effective in some areas, and with hindsight this can be deduced as having been because they supplied selenium.  However, by 1960 it had been convincingly demonstrated that spectacular increases in production were obtained by using manufactured fertilisers containing in the order of 20% nitrogen, 10% phosphate and 10% potash. Since then this type of fertiliser has been used on most farms almost exclusively.

As the 20th century drew towards its close record yields were being obtained on some farms, but on others severe problems were being encountered. These were at first inexplicable but recently it has been conclusively demonstrated that there has been a marked decline in the mineral content of our diets and it has become clear that the use of manufactured fertilisers, far from increasing the mineral content of farm produce because of their acid action, has had the opposite effect. This is probably because the overexploitation of most soils results in microbes utilising nitrate rather than oxygen as an electron acceptor, and plants absorbing their nitrogen not as nitrate but as ammonium.  It can now be postulated that the use of fertilisers like 20.10.10 is unlikely to be sustainable in the long term and that their use is likely to result in deficiencies developing in the supply of certain elements, such as selenium, which are essential for human health.

About 15 years ago, political reasons led to the use of Canadian wheat for bread being stopped and it being replaced by home-grown and European wheat. This has been followed by the average dietary intake of selenium falling to about half its recommended amount together with marked increases in the incidence of obesity, late onset diabetes and mental illness. The reluctance of the medical establishment to accept that these and other chronic conditions are caused by selenium deficiency stems from selenium only being recognised as essential for the functioning of glutathione peroxidase, and therefore an essential element, in 1957. Since then glutathione peroxidase has attracted much attention as an antioxidant with the result that its importance has been exaggerated. About 15 years ago, it was discovered that a second selenoprotein is required to activate thyroxine and so to maintain normal metabolic activity, but this line of research remains to be properly exploited. It is now known also that DNA synthesis requires thioredoxin and that this too is a selenoprotein.  Recently it has been suggested that adrenodoxin is likely to be a fourth selenoprotein and that the synthesis of all steroid hormones is restricted by selenium deficiency. Despite the evidence outlined above, the UK authorities on nutrition persist in claiming that selenium deficiency is not a significant cause of illness.

The legislation setting up the NHS was defective in as far as it enabled doctors to prescribe often expensive drugs free of charge, but not the much cheaper vitamin and mineral supplements. This legislation is overdue for amendment as the majority of doctors are now attempting to treat with drugs many conditions that are symptoms of faulty nutrition and especially of selenium deficiency. People who are suffering from chronic morbid conditions abound, and the demand for expensive services from the NHS threatens to far exceed the finance and the facilities available. If the situation is not to deteriorate still further, agricultural policy needs to be modified and active steps need to be taken to increase the mineral content of our food. As well as selenium, other minerals such as zinc, iron and boron may already be undersupplied in many diets.