“We owe our existence to six inches of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”
-Radio personality Paul Harvey
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One interesting hypothesis about the obesity epidemic is that it is a result of soil destruction. Our bodies compel us to overeat in a desperate search for vitamins and minerals that no longer exist in our food.
What happened?
- Industrial farming pushed ruminant animals off the land, eliminating the way these animals naturally replenish the soil’s macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and micronutrients (copper, manganese, zinc).
- The chemicals used to sustain agriculture on depleted soil — fertilizers, herbicides — sterilize the soil’s ecosystem of worms, microorganisms, and bacteria. These life forms break down organic matter and release nutrients into the soil in a form plants can use.
- Agricultural chemicals further block plants from taking up whatever nutrients are left in the soil through: nitrogen dominance, pH imbalance, impaired root function, and by reducing the soil’s ability to hold nutrients and water.
In fact, a simple solution to the obesity crisis (before fixing the soil) could be population-level supplementation of electrolytes and trace minerals (and protein).
I recently came across a terrific article by a doctor about surgical and non-invasive treatments for back pain — a topic close to my heart. One simple intervention is to use proper nutrition to treat something called “ligamentous laxity” (slack in the connective tissue that stabilize joints). The doctor identified a deficiency in manganese as the critical factor in poor collagen production. As a consequence, he has seen numerous cases of back pain improve following a few months of every-other-day supplementation of manganese.
While supplements can be useful, they are also: 1) expensive, 2) poorly absorbed, 3) produced with toxic fillers and heavy metals, and 4) responsible for unintended effects (e.g., vitamin C interferes with exercise adaptation). My first choice for nutrition is always to pull from nature.
For manganese, plants are a prime source — at least on paper. Just one serving of organic sweet potatoes, a mainstay of my diet, exceeds the RDI for manganese.
Nevertheless, no rules require even organic farmers to engage in stewardship of the land. For example, traditional plowing methods (tillage) cause all kinds of damage to the soil. While organic farms refrain from hosing down their potatoes with herbicides and pesticides, my potatoes might still grow in nutrient void dirt.
Since plant-based nutrition is unreliable, and supplements are suspect, what is the best solution for manganese?
I have said for years that oysters and the liver of a pasture-raised ruminant animal are tied for the healthiest foods on the planet. Without even checking, I am sure they are packed with manganese.
Let’s flip over the cards and confirm.
According to the USDA, a dozen oysters — a modest portion — gives you the full RDI for manganese.
For beef liver, the UDSA says that 100 grams gives you about 20% of the RDI for manganese. 100 grams is a small serving, similar in size to a deck of cards. As a result of this research, I was pleased to learn that when I recently enjoyed this homemade plate of beef liver, I was in fact consuming a stupendous manganese extravaganza.