Embed Notice

@Escoffier @crunklord420 @Humpleupagus @lain @VIPPER well, it isn’t actually possible (or wise to attempt) to consume enough food to attain the desired levels of certain things

this is Linus Pauling’s critique of the “RDA” concept: we can identify low levels of some nutrients that seem to correlate reliably with certain disease states (deficiency), and high levels of those nutrients that correlate with certain other disease states (toxicity), but we have absolutely no idea what an “optimal” level of those nutrients actually is

the “RDA” for Vitamin C, for example, does one thing for you: “reduces your statistical likelihood of developing clinically-detectable scurvy to negligible levels in the long term”

that isn’t quite the same thing as “maintaining a level of ascorbate in the body capable of supporting at optimal levels all biochemical processes that demand it”