In recent studies, researchers reported that the symptoms of bipolar disorder went away when people took EMPowerplus.1, 2, 3 The lesson? Bipolar disorder could be a nutritional deficiency syndrome. But how can simple nutritional deficiency have such a huge effect on health?
Your body’s footing
Our bodies are made up of several layers of structure and function. Each of these levels interacts and supports the next level of structure. This is a key concept: that the level below supports the structure and function above.
It is similar to the way that a footing supports the foundation of a house, the foundation supports the framing, and so on. Unlike a house, however, your body’s ‘footing’ requires constant reinforcement or nourishment through the diet.
Why you need a healthy diet
A healthy diet satisfies 3 needs:
- It provides fuel to power the body’s functions
- It supplies raw materials that the body needs to make its own molecules
- It supplies essential nutrients that the body cannot make for itself from any raw material.
The lowest level
The lowest level of organization in the human body is the chemical level.
This level includes individual atoms, compounds (simple combinations of atoms like water), and substances essential for maintaining life, like the ingredients of EMPowerplus. The foods that we eat must be broken down to these levels before they can be used.
The body uses these chemicals to build molecules. Molecules are larger and more complex structures such as proteins, enzymes, fats, and sugars. The body uses some of these to make even larger molecules like DNA.
Chemicals and molecules are organized into the living units we call cells. Cells are the smallest functioning unit in the living organism. There are over 200 different types of cells in your body. Among the many kinds of cells in your body, you’ll find muscle cells, nerve cells, and blood cells, to name just 3.
Moving on up
The next higher level of organization is the tissue level.
Tissues are a mixture of cell types and are grouped together to perform a more specific function. Examples of tissues in your body are muscle tissue, connective tissue, and nerve tissue.
Organs
Tissues are joined together to form the third level of organization: the organ level.
Organs are structures composed of 2 or more different tissues. They have more specialized and specific functions, and usually have identifiable shapes. Examples of organs are the heart, liver, lungs, and the brain.
Almost there
The system level is the fourth level of organization in the body.
A system is composed of several organs that share a common function. An example of a system is the digestive system, which functions to break foods down to the molecular and chemical level and then absorb it.
This system is composed of the mouth, saliva producing glands, called salivary glands, pharynx (throat), esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. Another example of a system is the central nervous system, which includes the brain.
You
The highest level is the whole organism. All the systems and parts of the body, functioning with one another, constitute the complete organism: one living individual.4
When you are fully grown, your body will have about 50–60 trillion cells. That’s about 600 times more cells than there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Now think for just a minute, every single cell has about one quadrillion molecules: about 10,000 times the number of stars in the Milky Way. in addition, every single cell needs to be nourished every single day. That’s an incredible amount of chemical nutrients that your body will need just to maintain itself! If you are still growing, you may need even more.
Be sure to tune in next week to see part 2 regarding why we have nutritional deficiencies.
Sources
- Kaplan, B. J., Simpson, J. S. A., Ferre, R. C., Gorman, C., McMullen, D., & Crawford, S. G. (2001). “Effective mood stabilization in bipolar disorder with a chelated mineral supplement.” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 62, 936–944.
- Popper, C. W. (2001). “Do vitamins or minerals (apart from lithium) have mood-stabilizing effects? [Commentary]”. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 62, 933–935.
- Simmons, M. (2002). “Nutritional Approach to Bipolar Disorder”. Letter to the Editor. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 64, 338.
- Tortora G. J., Anagnostakos N.P. Principles of Anatomy and Physiology. 6th Edition. Harper & Row, New York. 1990.