Change takes time.

Unlike drugs, nutrients have few immediate effects that you can feel. Mostly they have to wait on nature for deficient and defective cells to die off, and be replaced by new and better cells that grow from the improved nutrient mix.

You can use mega doses of some nutrients to obtain quick, drug like effects. Multi gram doses of niacin (vitamin B3) for instance, will reliably lower cholesterol levels, and some drug companies sell niacin supplements for this purpose. But, as with drugs, there is always a toxic downside. Mega doses of niacin cause liver damage and cell destruction. Vitamin supplements are properly used for renewal of body tissues, never for their destruction.

The salamander is an amazing specimen. When it loses a leg in an accident, or has it torn off by a predator, we would expect the wound to simply heal. But, in a matter of days the stump begins to grow bone, muscle, nerve cells, and blood vessels. Within a few weeks toes can be seeing taking shape and the scaly skin hardens around them. The salamander can grow a perfect replica leg which can function just as well as the old one.

We humans aren’t quite so lucky, we can’t replace an entire leg, but we do replace other cells on a continual basis.

Renewal is slow and steady. Your blood cells take three months for complete renewal. Many cells of your muscles and organs take six months. The matrix of your bones and teeth takes about a year. That’s what improved nutrition through supplementation is all about. You have to wait until the nutrients are built into your structure for their real benefits to show.

The neglected house plant provides a good analogy. If you start giving the plant a little TLC, seaweed fertilizer, and regular watering, the existing leaves and stems will perk up a bit. But to see the real benefit of your care, you have to wait as much as six months. You have to be patient until the old leaves and stems die off, and the new ones sprout and flourish, with an improved cellular structure grown from the better nourishment.

Source: Colgan, M. The New Nutrition. (1996)

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