Our Food Has Too Many Toxins and Not Enough Nutrients – But We Already Have the Tools to Fix It
- Jan 6
- 2 min read
“I sometimes joke that my pets eat better than my children.” While comparing kids to pets might seem a bit much, it reflects a serious truth: nutritionally speaking, food products made for animals, whether domestic or farmed, are more complete than those made for humans.
Brazil nuts are rich in selenium, an essential micronutrient. Peter Hermes Furian/Shutterstock
Microminerals or trace elements – such as iron, zinc, copper, selenium, iodine, and manganese – are essential. Although we need them in tiny amounts, they play a role in hundreds of metabolic reactions. When these nutrients are lacking, even slightly, fatigue increases, defences are lowered, and the onset of chronic diseases, including cancer, becomes more likely.
The World Health Organization estimates that over 2 billion people suffer from some form of micronutrient deficiency. This is known as “hidden hunger”: there is food on the plate, but these invisible nutrients that ensure healthy development and ageing are missing.
An additional problem is exposure to toxic elements such as arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium, which we come into contact with through certain foods or our surroundings. Even in small amounts, they accumulate in the body and affect the nervous system and fertility, and increase cancer risk. The big challenge is that both essential mineral deficiencies and exposure to toxins often go unnoticed until the problem is already serious.
Micronutrient deficiency is a universal problem, but it manifests differently across the world. In low-income countries, deficiencies are often linked to diets based almost exclusively on cereals or tubers. In middle-income countries, “hidden” deficiencies are associated with ultra-processed diets and excessive calorie consumption that lacks micronutrients. In more developed societies, deficiencies tend to be more subtle, often associated with ageing, vegan diets or poorly planned diets low in meat and fish.
In veterinary medicine, nutrition is precisely adjusted to prevent deficiencies and optimise results. In human medicine, however, we continue to rely primarily on dietary surveys and general recommendations, which do not reflect individual circumstances. A person may be at risk of deficiency even if they follow theoretical guidelines, or they may be unwittingly accumulating toxins.
The good news is that we already have a simple tool to move toward personalised nutrition: serum analysis. Serum allows both essential and toxic minerals to be measured at the same time. Just as cholesterol or glucose values are included in routine blood tests, deficiencies in zinc or selenium – or the accumulation of lead or cadmium – could also be detected.
Targeted nutrition should not be limited to farm animals or pets. A simple serum analysis could help us live healthier lives, prevent disease and age with a better quality of life. Perhaps it is time to learn from what veterinary medicine has been doing well for years: taking care of nutrition down to the last detail.