If someone hits you, will you consider it a blessing? Jain monks and lay people strive to live the ideal of complete imperturbability. The underlying feeling is one of “whatever happens today, I accept it with calm serenity. I am at peace with the world.” This feeling of equal-mindedness views all situations and events with forbearance and evenness-mindedness. Equanimity is the aim regardless of the situation. It’s akin to the notion of spiritual surrender.

The Jains tell a story: If a house burns, instead of lamenting the woman inside it remarks, “With no roof to obstruct the view I can now see the stars.” The perspective is one of looking for the good in the worst and most painful situation. If someone loses her temper and you become the target of harsh words and insults, the wise ones advise us to disregard the cruel words and not take them to heart. But they take it farther and suggest we not get angry when beaten and to even refrain from hurtful thoughts. Rely on patience and endure with peace in the heart. They suggest the ideal attitude should be, “If I am hurt, it could be worse. I could have lost my life.”

Can you imagine many people taking this path? What if we did? What if when someone spoke sharply we responded calmly without harsh words in return? What if when someone insulted us instead we reacted with a quiet outpouring of love rather than the usual stream of returned insults? This would radically and profoundly transform our world right now!

Imagine a world where even a small percentage of people act with conscious self-control — where instead of reacting, people hold fast to their inner peace and remain anchored there even through the hurtful and hateful insults. What a revolution! For today, will you make that imagined dream your conscious reality? Become part of that peaceful revolution.

Debra Moffitt is author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life. A visionary and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices at the Sophia Institute and other venues in the U.S. and Europe. Her mind/body/spirit articles, essays and stories appear in publications around the globe and were broadcast by BBC World Services Radio. She has spent over fifteen years practicing meditation, working with dreams and doing spiritual practices. Visit her online at http://www.debramoffitt.com and http://www.awakeintheworld.com.

Check out the chart below for the rest of the findings:

When I was a kid I lived on a steady diet of chicken fingers, tuna fish and applesauce. Basically anything you can find on a chain restaurant kids menu. Don’t judge my parents — I loved those menus that came with crayons and the kid-friendly offerings and portions. So, for me, the idea of being raised vegan or vegetarian couldn’t be more foreign. If, as an adult, I made the decision to be either one, my parents would support me fully. Now, one could argue that allowing your child to subsist mostly on frozen peas, pb&js and Fruit Loops is another food value system being pushed on a child, but I tend to think that would be just a standard American diet, be that as it may.

Christine Taylor and Ben Stiller are the latest celebrities to go veggie — with Christine admitting it has changed her skin and energy level.

But Christine lamented she wished her children were changing their diet too.

“We have friends that are vegan and their kids came out vegan,” the Zoolander actress said. “I’m so jealous that they had the information and they started the kids early because now to go back, it’s a little harder.”

Bethenny Frankel — known for her ‘Naturally Thin’ diet, is one celebrity incorporating a veggie diet from the get-go with her daughter Bryn.

“As far as raising Bryn as a vegetarian, that was a personal choice,” the Bethenny Ever After… star blogged. “If Bryn is older and wants something at a party that isn’t vegetarian, I don’t want her to feel ostracized. She’ll find her way….I chose not to have her be vegan because I believe she needs the fat and protein in milk…Sometimes I need her to fill up on organic cheese. Her health comes first.”

Then there is Alicia Silverstone — who infamously bird-fed her child by transferring pre-chewed food from her mouth to his — who raises her son, Bear Blu, to be vegan.

“Bear was grown on vegan food and we’ll continue nourishing him with a healthy diet…He’ll be eating an organic plant-based diet,” Alicia explained. “I intend to take great care of his precious new baby body so I’m committed to giving him nothing but the purest and most healthy food possible. We want to keep his immune system strong so that he’ll be super healthy – which is just one of the many reasons he’ll eat vegan.”

I’m curious what you, Intent readers, think of raising children vegan or vegetarian. Were you raised that way? Did you or do you plan to raise your children like that? What do you think of this? Enlighten me! I know I have some bias here, only really knowing the way I was raised (and knowing that sometimes celebrities raise their children in strange ways [cough, cough Suri Cruise]), so I want your opinion!

I for one am glad that I was exposed to meat as a child. While I am the first to admit I could have benefited from being fed a wider variety of food, I am glad that I experienced what I did.

When we are young, hope comes easy. As searchers, we believe that we will someday discover some unalloyed truth. As artists, we trust that we will someday taste a fully blossomed beauty. As doers, we expect that we will be able to find some unsullied good, or at least reach some place of lasting happiness. After drinking from the bitter cup of experience, it is natural to question the maturity of our earlier hopes– to question hope itself.

Hope is not some wispy dream that may or may not be realized. Hope is our sense of the energy of life itself. Hope is the soul’s orientation into the future. It is our trust in the creative unfolding of the universe.

Hope cannot be defeated by any roll of fortune’s dice because it is not directed toward any object in life, it is aimed at life itself. Hope beats silently behind the ebb and flow of events. Buried beneath a sea of ashes, the soul cannot but dream of beauty. Chained to the withered tree of sorrow, the soul still envisions some future happiness. Lost in a hopeless fog of lies, the soul cannot but squint for a beacon of truth.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery believed that no one has the right to despair. He said that all of us are messengers of a thing greater than ourselves. From this point of view, despair is the rejection of the larger life of which our little lives are but an expression. Hope is not deceived by the puppet figures dancing before us in the shape of success or failure. Hope is not some desired outcome, but the energy that drives the heart, and the stars as well.

Jim Rigby is a Presbyterian Minister at St. Andrews Church in Austin Texas. In 2007, Jim was named “Texas Public Citizen of the Year” by National Association of Social Workers for his work on gender, economic, and racial issues. Jim has written for Huffington Post, Common Dreams, and many other sites, and his focus is on creating a deeper discussion of the relationship between religion and politics. Is it possible to affirm our different religious (and nonreligious) worldviews in ways that do not lead to intolerance and oppression, or does religion lead inevitably to superstition and sectarian violence? Can we affirm the core values of our own group, and yet, still be good citizens of the world? It is an open question. Jim argues that it is possible, if all religions are willing to go through radical reformations to align themselves to the best science available, to learn to honor artistic expression however different, and to serve universal human rights. Read more from Jim at his blog.

Move out of the way, LMFAO. Elmo, everyone’s favorite little Sesame Street character, is about to wipe Miley Cyrus and Justin Beiber out of the water. ‘Cause you know… he’s Elmo and he knows it.

Check out Elmo’s version of the hit song, “I’m Sexy and I Know It”:

Susan Blackmore, Deepak Chopra, Leonard Mlodinow and I participated in a panel during the Towards the Science of Consciousness Conference in Tucson, Arizona on 10 April 2012. The idea behind the panel came from Chopra & Mladinow’s book, War of the World Views, which inspired the title of the debate. The purpose of the panel was to have a discussion about the two, broadly termed, views of spirituality and science.  I would rather, personally, not have simplified what are complex arguments by using simple labels. Nevertheless, we were there to discuss in good spirit different points of view on the nature of reality, how humans fit in the general scheme of things and particularly what is consciousness.

As I wrote in the summary of my presentation, What do Physics and Metaphysics have to say about Consciousness? Future Science and the Emergence of Holism, modern quantum physics has opened the door to the role of the observer in describing physical phenomena, in what John A. Wheeler called “the Participatory Universe”. However, what constitutes consciousness, its nature, how it works, even how to define it, has remained open and challenging issues in, among others, physics, and psychology.

I would say that consciousness is the last frontier for science. Neuroscience has made great progress in specific functions in the physical brain and its structure but says precious little if anything about the deeper issues, such as the nature of the individual self, the interaction between observer and observed, and the body-mind problem.

The challenge is that subjective experience cannot be studied in itself as an external object. This is the so called “hard problem,” understanding subjective experience, in terms of qualia, such as the quality of blue, the quality of taste, etc. As such, one may be tempted to place this experience in a totally subjective realm and beyond the reach of science. My own view is that we have to push as far as science can go, making progress little by little.

The question arises, are there any common elements between science (particularly physics) and metaphysics which could provide a true dialogue between these great systems of human experience? I believe the answer is yes. My own role, if I may define it in such a way, is to facilitate that dialogue. It is in fact entirely possible, and it looks increasingly likely, that consciousness cannot be studied as an object, or as an epiphenomenon of physical processes, but as the underlying foundation of the universe. Deep, underlying consciousness, although cannot be objectified, it can be experienced.

The link to current 21^st century science, would be to study the properties assigned to conscious processes, the sum total of which constitutes experience. In my own view, when one proceeds along this path, one discovers that these properties are tied to foundational principles, ultimately expressed in mathematics, holding true across both science and metaphysics, and not just in the physical world, but in the mental and living worlds as well.

We may be on a path to true holism and a future science that — while retaining the objectivity and utter, stunning successes of present-day science — will also reach across the perceived divide, and I emphasize it may just be perceived divide, between physics and metaphysics. This will not just a useful philosophical exercise but may hold the key to the multitude of challenges we face in an increasingly divided and uncertain world, perhaps the key to the survival of modern human society.

Yet, the great metaphysical monistic schools, particularly of the East, held that there are steps to the unfoldment of consciousness that when examined, are actually quite common across vastly different cultures, traditions and social structures. These views are discussed in great detail in an article written by Chopra, Tanzi and myself in the journal “Journal of Cosmology” (Vol. 14, 2011).

I was prepared for a lively and useful discussion and debate about the role of science and metaphysics (and in the end science and spirituality). I view these as complementary activities and ways of looking at the world and our role in it. I was a bit baffled by the arguments brought forward by Susan Blackmore, who turned her attention to more personal aspects of the life of Deepak Chopra, and specifically questioning his spirituality and even his personal wealth. This tone was prevalent in her remarks at the panel and in following articles in the Guardian and Psychology Today. I am sure this was in good intention as they both agree on several points, as she herself pointed out, and particularly on the non-dualist nature of reality (although what exactly that non-dualist nature is, we may all disagree, but we can still debate the issue). But in any case, to quote Blackmore:

“Meanwhile mystics and meditators throughout the ages have said all this is illusion – ultimately “I” am not separate from the world around me. Seeing the true nature, or becoming enlightened, means seeing through the illusion to oneness, or realizing non-duality.”

So it seems she agrees with a certain spiritual orientation as she herself is quite sympathetic to Zen Buddhism. If that was the main issue, debating the views of Zen versus the views of Vedanta (that Chopra espouses) it would have been an interesting and quite profound debate. It actually would not be the first time that this has taken place. The great masters of Vedanta and Shaivism, such as Shankara and Utpaladeva, had debates and wrote extensively about the differences between the developing system of Buddhism and the more ancient and monistic schools that ultimately owe their origin to the Vedas and the associated philosophical systems.

In a nutshell, while certain schools of Buddhism deny the ultimate reality of the individual self (as the monistic schools do), they also reject universal consciousness, anything beyond “the void”; while the great monistic schools not only accept, they emphasize universal consciousness is the ultimate reality.

I would suggest that we stick to a healthy dialogue and point to the golden standard of holding opposite views and being able to defend them while keeping personal relationships and friendships intact. Take, for example, the great debates on quantum theory between Einstein and Bohr. The two remained friends to the end, debating to the end what seemed to be irreconcilable differences of interpretation. As we know today, they both were right in some sense, the universe can accommodate both profound views they espoused.

In today’s world of rapid spin of sound bites and polemic political gridlocks, we, in the intellectual world, should hold a much higher standard. Through dialogue we can find what are the differences and what are the common elements. We may be surprised to find that what unites us is much more than what divides us. Our world badly needs healthy dialogue, seeking the truth and finding what unites us all as humans.

Dr. Menas Kafatos is a Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Computational Physics at Chapman University. He received his B.A. in Physics from Cornell University in 1967 and his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972. He has published numerous books including The Conscious Universe, the Non-local Universe (with Robert Nadeau, Springer-Verlag), Principles of Integrative Science (with Mihai Draganescu, Romanian Academy of Sciences Press), and more than 250 articles on computational science, astrophysics, Earth systems science, hazards and global change, general relativity, cosmology, foundations of quantum theory, and consciousness.

I met Sue this week at the Yoga Service Council Conference at the Omega Institute, and within just a few hours with her I knew I had to snag an interview. Her commitment and passion for the work she does with underserved women was evident from the get-go, and because of the path she’s walked in her own life, Sue struck me as powerfully empathic and deeply insightful. Those two qualities, I believe, are absolutely essential (and somewhat hard to find) in working with people in the midst of trauma and upheaval. Sue has lived in the darkness. And because (not in spite) of that, she’s made it her mission to support others in making their way back to the light.

It’s an honor to introduce you to Sue Jones:

Thanks for taking some time to do this interview, Sue. Can you start out by sharing with me what ‘service’ means to you?

Well, I like to think of service as stewardship. Whether we are parents, teachers, leaders, healers or change makers in the broad sense, I think that our service is in the stewarding of those around us toward healing, empowerment and compassion on all levels.

I know you’re here representing your non-profit, yogaHOPE.  What is yogaHOPE, and who do you serve?

yogaHOPE  is a non-profit outreach organization organization dedicated to improving health and well being through increased access to yoga-based mindfulness tools for under-served women in recovery.

Can you tell me a little bit about what inspired you to get involved with service to begin with?  Were there any particularly powerful life experiences or ah-has that led you into this?

It’s interesting because one of the questions I am asked, more than any other is “what is your background?” and my answer is “my background is my whole life”. In the summer of 2005 I had decided to take my own life—but not because I was tired of living, or sick of the hardships and struggles. I felt like I had caused such pain to the ones that I loved the most (my children and husband) just by being the person who I was, that removing myself from their lives seemed like the ultimate gift. It seems really crazy now, but back then it made all the sense in the world to me… it would be the one thing in my life that I got right. My yoga practice, that I had just started, allowed me to put of that decision for one more day. Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months and finally I was out of the danger zone. It wasn’t long after that I knew I had to find a way to offer yoga as an intervention to women in real crisis.

One of the things I’ve been most impressed by in hearing about yogaHOPE programs is that you’ve been integrating the findings of recent scientific research in your curriculum. Can you say more about how you’ve done that? 

It definitely took a leap of faith and the willingness to suspend program growth while we delved deep into the research around all of the issues that the women we worked with were facing. Our big discovery, though not a surprising one, was that the root of everything was acute stress and traumatic stress resulting from early trauma. So we spent about two years pulling together all of the research that we could find on these issues as well as women specific programming, mind body practices, how trauma lives in the body, healing trauma through imagery and so much more. Then our task was to take all of this amazing information and put it in a program that was simple, accessible but highly effective. Not only that, but something that would be replicable, measureable and translatable across all cultures.

What is your growing edge in yoga service?

I would definitely say our growing edge is now empowering change makers all over the world to deliver this program. We are training facilitators in Haiti and the US, we are about to start training inmates in an all woman’s prison and we will be going to Rwanda in 2013.  This is when things will get really exciting because once these facilitators are out in the world, they have two tasks follow through on other than deliver the program. One is to provide us with the data from their groups, the other is to identify at least 2 women in their group who would make strong facilitators. So not only do we grow the program from the inside out, but we make a case to the world at large for why this program needs to be part of the larger health care system. I think that’s edge enough.

What was your intent in being at the Yoga Service Conference?

I mostly want to inspire anyone here to know that they can create change in the world. It’s not about having the best program or the strongest results or the largest budget etc… but to honor that just being a human being that is willing to sit with someone and say “me too”, or “I get it” or “you matter” can make the difference in someone’s life. The moment when I heard the words “you matter” back when I was in the midst of my darkest is a moment I will never ever forget.

This is the fourth in a series of interviews from the Yoga Service Council Conference, a gathering that brought together individuals and organizations from around the country who are actively engaged in using yoga to serve their communities. The conference took place at the beautiful Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, where the council first came into being four years ago this May. Each year, Omega has graciously allowed leaders in the field of yoga service to stay on campus to meet, exchange ideas, share resources, and collaborate on joint projects. Next year’s conference will take place June 7-10, 2013. Keep an eye on the YSC website for details.

I felt as though I was having labor pains, but I was not giving birth. The pressure rose up from deep within my belly and felt as though a very large bubble was trying to move up a very small straw. They would begin as fear, pain or sadness and would then manifest from an emotion to a memory that had been covered up, tucked away, buried.

I gave my daughter up for adoption 14 and a half years ago and this past Mother’s Day I received an email from her – we are going to meet for the first time, in two weeks.

To say I am overjoyed, overwhelmed and completely ecstatic, in awe, humbled, grateful, blessed, happy and excited would be a bit of an understatement. Apparently, she is pretty thrilled as well. Her dad emailed me and said that she blasted it out to all of her facebook friends. She told me she posted this picture of me on her page:

Apparently her friends think I am “the coolest.”

Everyone keeps telling me, “Don’t worry, Jessica. She is going to love you.” Why am I so scared? Why is there a throbbing pain in my lower ribs right now where one of those big pressure bubbles got stuck? Why do I go into a cathartic state when I allow myself to ride the rollarcoster of time back to feeling the movement of her inside me, my hands on my belly. Months and months, possibly years of memories stuck way down deep in the recesses of my mind, because, well, the adoption agency counselors told me I need to treat it like she was dead, so I could move on with my life. Wrapping my brain around that, at that time was one of the most unnatural things I have ever done, besides leaving the hospital without my daughter.

I made a commitment to be responsible for my choice. Never to blame anyone or anything else. I chose to have unprotected sex with someone whom I had no intention of creating a life with; I chose adoption. I am pro-choice, you know. That is what that means. Even at 19 years of age, I consciously made all of those choices and I knew that no one was unfolding my life before me, but me.

I am pretty sure I drank a lot of alcohol for a long period of time. I got in trouble and had to wear one of those ankle bracelets and not leave my house for three months. I lied to everyone I loved, because I did not know what end was up. I quit college — even after they let me come back on my scholarship. I lived in Haiti for a little while. I found Jesus. I got kicked out of my church. I chose yoga over zoloft and never looked back.

I buried several painful years of my life, including being pregnant and spending a week in the hospital with my daughter because I had to have a C-Section way down deep inside. These memories are now resurfacing like a geyser of grief and shame. Is she going to ask me about this? What will I say? I have kept myself pretty busy over the last 14 years. I have never had less than three jobs at one time. And, I have never let my life get truly quiet enough to open the door, this door now bursting at the seams, to my own heart.

I gave my daughter up for adoption 14 and a half years ago, and this past Mother’s Day I received an email from her — we are going to meet for the first time, in two weeks.

I will share more here, as this journey unfolds.

After being debt-free for 10 years, I racked up $4,200 in debt to start my new life. It’s now up to $5,000. I set aside $400 each month for credit-card bills, but it gets eaten up by curveball expenses.

I only have one income now. There’s no one to pick up my slack when I have a bad day. Or a bad month.

And it’s not just money that’s scarce—my schedule is less flexible. I’m fortunate to have an ex who’s an awesome dad. But on the days the kids are with me, they’re all mine—no extra room in my budget for babysitters.

Lately I’m having weird fantastical visions of creating a communal home for divorced working mothers so we can have a support structure in our lives—financially, emotionally, logistically.

We’d share meals, shopping, child care and last-minute impossible doctor’s appointments. It’s a dream I’m tempted to act on.

I have no advice, just empathy, as I’m still on a downward spiral, especially financially. Power to you, single working moms. How do you do it?

Team up. How could single working moms help each other out more?

Sasha Miller is a DailyWorth contributor, writing about the financial side of starting over as a single mom of two

photo source: jesspeterson’s shop on etsy

Still millions of Americans automatically pop supplements every day, and some go even further. Massive doses, popularly called mega-vitamins, are touted as cures for aging, cancer, and other hazards. The fad for meg-vitamins has not been supported by scientific research, however.  With mainstream medicine turning a deaf ear to claims about vitamins and the public being bombarded by dubious claims, we need to dig deeper for clarity.

Before we do that, the basic approach to vitamins and minerals can be restated, since few changes have occurred since the health classes taught in grade school.

Vitamins and minerals: The Basics 

The bullet points for vitamins and minerals are a bit lengthy since so many basic processes are involved. Just keep in the mind the reassurance that for most people, there is little need to manage risks in this department.

- A normal balanced diet supplies the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamins and minerals.

-  The water-soluble vitamins (vitamin C and the entire vitamin B group) need to be replenished far more frequently, often daily, than fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K), which leave the body very slowly. Minerals, with the exception of water-soluble ones like salt and potassium, leave at an even slower rate. For growing children, the chief source of vitamin D is sunshine. Children who stay indoors most of the time can readily get vitamin D from milk with vitamin D added. The iodine added to salt is generally not useful, since modern diets are not  low in iodine.

- Most Americans consume vast quantities of sugar and refined flour. This can push aside vitamin-rich natural foods, although deficiencies are regularly encountered.

- Optimal absorption can be disrupted by lifestyle choices, medications, and a number of health conditions. A few examples: Smoking interferes with the absorption of Vitamin C, and alcohol abuse with the absorption and metabolism of folate. Antacids, as well as medications for type-2 diabetes, can interfere with B₁₂ absorption. Dehydration is the most common cause of mineral imbalances, known medically as electrolyte imbalance.  Taking a “water pill” for high blood pressure leads to the leaching of sodium, potassium, and the water-soluble vitamins. This needs to be addressed on a daily basis, or the result may be electrolyte imbalance.

- For normally healthy adults, the chief caution is directed at seniors, whose bodies become less efficient with age at processing vitamins and minerals. For this group, it is the absorption of minerals, in fact, that is generally a problem rather than vitamins. Taking a mineral supplement is often a good preventive measure but not to excess.  More isn’t better, nor is more frequent.

- Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are slow to appear, since the body is good at conserving micronutrients. Menstruating women should eat foods high in iron or consider taking a supplement, however, in order to prevent anemia.

- Natural sources of vitamins tend to be preferable over synthetic sources. The body uses them more easily. For women taking iron or calcium supplements (the latter is for preventing or slowing down osteoporosis), any source needs to be absorbable.

- Scientific evidence is scant for the benefits of high levels of vitamins and minerals. (At the same time, scientific worry for people who ingest mega-vitamins tends to be greatly exaggerated.) The most likely benefit comes from taking extra vitamin E, since the natural sources for it (e.g., nuts, whole grains, the fats found in raw vegetables)  are decreasing in modern diets. Processed vegetable oils are low in vitamin E, which also oxidizes once the oil is exposed to air and begins to turn even mildly rancid. The RDA for vitamin E is unclear, but studies have shown that taking ten times the usual RDA can be of benefit and causes no harm.

Our aim is to find a level of higher health through consciousness. With that in mind, relying on drugs for miracle cures isn’t helpful, and the sad truth is that many people look upon vitamins and minerals as drugs. If you eat a healthy, balanced diet, put your attention on things other than pill-popping. In other words, don’t waste time obsessing over vitamins. No study has ever shown that people who take supplements at high doses enjoy better health or longer life. If you are following the general indicators listed above, you are okay. That said, it can be worthwhile to know more about your body and its need for micronutrients.

Let’s start with the most primal, which is neither a vitamin nor a mineral but linked to both.  We humans are self-contained, walking oceans, a fact that has been true for land creatures for hundreds of millions of years. It’s remarkable to think that the water in your cells, which constitutes around two-thirds of your total weight, hasn’t drastically changed from sea water. The proportion of salt is essentially the same, and even the trace elements of minerals like manganese, zinc, copper, and iron are a direct inheritance from ocean water. The body replenishes itself by creating new cells, a process that requires the chemicals that began as components of sea water. As long as chemical balance is maintained,  which is a top priority for every cell and its strongest instinct, the waling ocean is naturally healthy.

Reasons for Confusion

One reason for the gray area surrounding vitamins and minerals is the difference between the positive effects and the negative effects of micronutrients. Vitamins came to light not through the good they did but the bad that occurs when there is a deficiency. The most famous example is scurvy, a disorder caused by lack of vitamin C. Vitamin C needs to be replenished daily since it belongs to the class known as water-soluble vitamins, which quickly wash out of the blood through urine (vitamin C reminds us of this fact by being a strong diuretic when taken in tablet form as ascorbic acid. For some people, even a natural source like orange or grapefruit juice leads to immediate urination). British sailors acquired the nickname of limeys after the cause of scurvy became known after 1614, and the British navy stocked ships with citrus fruits. Oranges, lemons, and grapefruit are just as effective for preventing scurvy; it is interesting that the link with vitamin C was discovered and lost, only to be rediscovered, from ancient times, ling before ascorbic acid was isolated.

Into the twentieth century, as other vitamin-deficiency diseases were identified, such as rickets and pellagra, two things remained consistent. The first was that it took a poor, often impoverished diet to create such disorders. Second, the actual benefits of vitamins and minerals were difficult and often impossible to name. Iron is necessary for the production of hemoglobin, the complex chemical that makes red blood cells red; this link was relatively easy to connect.  But most links are so obscure that even when the chemical basis has been traced all the way down to the cellular level, the actual benefit is far from clear.

For example, to a biochemist vitamin C has multiple uses at the cellular level, which can be isolated and name.  For example, ascorbic acid is needed to make collagen, the protein that connects skin tissue, among other things. It enters into hydroxylation and amidation reactions;  the components of collagen production that are critical for needing it are prolyl hydroxylase and lysyl hydroxylase.  The last time most physicians heard such terms was in pre-med biochemistry, and they are generally unknown to the public. This leaves plenty of room for outsized, unsupported claims for the benefits of vitamin C. It also makes it difficult, when there is no deficiency, to see how adding more than the body’s “natural” requirement might be beneficial.

But we have to put “natural” in quotes as long as the picture is vague. Around the world human beings have adapted t so many different diets that the consumption of vitamins is by no means the same. An extra degree of confusion enters with processed foods, an invention of the twentieth century, in which micronutrients are stripped from their natural sources and then put back again, if at all, through artificial and synthetic means. Ironically, such foods are touted as “enriched” with vitamins, which is like saying that taking someone’s wallet and then handing it back adds to his riches.

In the next post we will go into a more detailed scientific look at vitamins and minerals

(To be cont.)

For more information go to: deepakchopra.com

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