5 nutrients are lacking in almost everyone (Vitamin D, Magnesium, Omega-3,...) video with transcript

These 5 nutrients are lacking in almost everyone – and why the body can no longer regulate itself as a result.

YouTube, 54 minutes, June 2026 original in German. With optional voice and captions in English

Summary by GLASP/AI Studio

[01:47 - 13:44] A Holistic Redefinition of Health:Health is not merely the absence of disease. Using a bicycle metaphor, Dr. Schellenberg explains that the body is the bike (the physical vehicle), the mind represents learned skills (how to ride), and the soul is the purpose or joy of the ride. If the physical body (the bike) is broken, the mind and soul cannot function properly.
[13:44 - 17:36] The Crucial Role of the Hippocampus:Michael describes the hippocampus as the "gateway to the soul." It is the brain's center for memory, resilience, curiosity, and planning. Dysregulation here is linked to modern illnesses like depression, anxiety, autism, and Alzheimer's.
[23:44 - 31:26] True Health means "Self-Regulation":Health is not about always feeling good or avoiding obstacles; it is the body's ability to maintain homeostasis. It is the capacity to experience crises, emotional stress, or physical imbalances and successfully regulate back to a healthy baseline.
[33:34 - 37:20] The Need for the "Big Five" Nutrients:Proper self-regulation and emotional balance require specific biochemical foundations. Due to modern lifestyles and depleted food sources, humans severely lack five vital nutrients, making supplementation necessary just to reach a natural baseline.
[37:20 - 43:26] Nutrient 1 - Vitamin D:Acting as a neurohormone, Vitamin D is essential for the immune and nervous systems (including the hippocampus). Most people are deficient due to indoor lifestyles, requiring adequate daily supplementation (e.g., 1,000-3,000+ IUs depending on age/weight).
[43:26 - 48:30] Nutrient 2 - Magnesium: A highly underestimated mineral that is essential for converting Vitamin D into its active form. It is crucial for relieving muscle cramps, preventing migraines, and supporting hundreds of metabolic processes.
[48:30 - 55:08] Nutrient 3 - Trace Lithium:Acting as a biological partner to magnesium, micro-dosed lithium is fundamental for cellular self-regulation. It acts as the "brakes" for the nervous system, allowing children and adults to emotionally regulate and calm down after stress or anger.
[55:39 - 1:06:38] Nutrient 4 - Omega-3 Fatty Acids (EPA/DHA):Essential for cell membrane fluidity and brain synapses. The speakers strongly recommend vegan algae oil over fish oil to get a direct, clean source of Omega-3s without the heavy metal toxicity (like mercury) found in fish.
[1:06:38 - 1:10:13] Nutrient 5 - Selenium:Because Central European soils are heavily depleted of selenium, supplementation is often required. It is vital for the immune system, antioxidant defense, and the activation of thyroid hormones, which are critical for brain development.
[1:15:53 - 1:22:04] Taking Proactive Ownership of Health:Closing these nutrient gaps is not a "miracle cure," but rather the restoration of the body's natural baseline. The speakers urge viewers to take proactive control of their family's health and mention the "Lithium-Kompass" as a resource for parents seeking safe, scientific guidance on trace mineral supplementation.

Transcript

(00:00) Yes, hello everyone. I'm glad you're here. Today I've invited my good friend, pediatrician Dr. Christian Schellenberg, to join us for a conversation. Christian, hello. Hello Michael. Yes, I'm really excited that we're going to talk about a very special, or rather, a fundamental topic today: health.
(00:20) But before we get started, before anyone thinks they already know all this and doesn't need to listen to the end, it's very important to me that you help us spread this information. It's absolutely crucial, and this includes not only listening here, but also subscribing to this channel if you haven't already.
(00:41) Just click below. That tells YouTube this video is important, that many people want to hear it, and they'll share it much more widely. The algorithm helps us with that. That's why it's so important to subscribe to the channel and, even better, or at least as important, leave a comment." Yes, simply to start a discussion, uh, with questions that can then be answered by the community here. And we'll also look at other answers if we have the opportunity to start that. And now we want to begin today with the topic of health
(01:17). What is health, Christian? It's a fundamental quality that everyone wants. And why do people come to the practice? Well, because they want health. It's somehow been lost to them, and um, but when you ask patients or parents—I ask the parents in the children's heart practice—what health actually is, I very often notice that we essentially define health by the symptoms of illness
(01:47). Health is when I don't have a headache, when I don't have diarrhea, or in the worst case, when I don't have cancer, then that's health. And the absence of symptoms of illness isn't ultimately what's desirable; rather, we first want to look at what's really behind it, what conditions must be met. to be, so that we can then call it health, and what is health actually for? Yes, I'd really like to offer some input on that, talk to you about it, and, yes, simply encourage you to think about it.
(02:16) Yes, that's great, because I once heard something somewhat heretical in medical school: health is only healthy if someone hasn't yet been thoroughly diagnosed and examined, and that actually fits with modern times. We are increasingly pressured, even in medical practices, to simply perform diagnostics and then treat a lab result.
(02:38) So even a lab result is considered a symbol of illness. Uh, I just want to remind you, for example...Statins are always prescribed for high cholesterol, and they simply lowered the cholesterol level from 250 to 200, and suddenly, I think, they had 87% more patients. And, of course, my pet subject, Alzheimer's, is a particularly extreme example, where they only treat certain markers with expensive medications that actually damage the brain. But it's just about a marker, not the actual disease itself. But you want to delve much deeper, I understand. Namely, the question: is disease really just the absence of certain symptoms or diagnostic markers that are somehow outside a range defined by someone, right? So, do I simply have to eliminate all disease, and then what's left is health?
(03:37) Well, I look at it from a different perspective, and in my practice, I have many conversations with parents and also with young people, and it has proven very helpful to visualize this topic. This body we walk around in, the body we are, we're stuck inside it, and sometimes it's not really perceptible, and we don't have a proper, or rather, a suitable image of it. That's why I try to help a little, or offer suggestions for reflection. And, well, I basically show you this, I'll shift my position a little. I often show my patients this image, and this image of the child with the bicycle always elicits a few smiles at first, but I always say, how is this child doing, and how is the bicycle? And I often get feedback like, "Yes, you're doing well, that's cheerful, the bicycle is cheerful too." Uh, but what is that? What kind of synonym is that supposed to be? What exactly does that mean in a figurative sense
(04:41)? And we can actually experience ourselves as human beings in our entirety very, very well through this child riding a bicycle. And yes, and I'm basically going a step further there. I have to shift gears a bit, because we are basically made up of a physical, material component. We humans have a body.
(05:06) That, by the way, is our most valuable gift, the one our parents gave us at the beginning of life. And, uh, unlike a bicycle, you only get one. So we get it and we can use it until it can no longer carry us, and then that's it. Yes, and if I basically compare that to the bicycle, or to our body, to this image of the child with the bicycle, then our body really is the bicycle.
(05:29) That's the material, er, component, that's our vehicle,That's what enables us to achieve everything we want. It's in our device, which also guides us through difficult terrain, if we know how to use it well. Yes, and basically, we all know the very old, tried and tested system of body, mind, and soul. Body, Mind, and Soul Medicine has certainly made its way into academia. At Harvard University, there's a very large department dedicated to it, and as I said, if we stick with this analogy, then this bicycle basically represents the body, and then it gets a bit more complicated when we look at mind and soul. What exactly is mind? What is soul? That's where things start to get a little confusing, and yes, I've honestly given it a lot of thought.
(06:24) I just want to explain how I understand it, and the mental and spiritual aspects are basically the things we learn. These are the programs that are installed. These are the skills, yes, being able to ride around curves, um, going over hill and dale or over a curb, um, and also knowing the way, for example. Yes, these are these conscious, learned, um, skills that we have acquired. And if you then add this aspect of the soul, then it is indeed the case, as everyone can confirm, that some people enjoy racing bikes and others, like you, for example Michael, yes, you also rode far across America, yes, and very, very fast. And other people simply take a nice trip in nature and ride very slowly and simply enjoy the situation.
(07:25) Then there are people who really want to do artistic cycling and just ride around on their back wheel. So, this is this aspect, this what brings me joy, what am I actually here for in life? What is actually the reason for my being here? Yes, and I think this picture illustrates that quite well. I'd like to add something briefly at this point.
(07:50) So, many people say, yes, I cycled across the USA, and that can't be fun because, well, my soul was kind of demanding it of me. But I really enjoyed it. It was an incredible experience. My mind benefited from it, my body benefited from it, and my soul was, well, to ride this race. That's why I did it a second time and even took my children with me the second time.
(08:13) There's also a film about it where my children are there; they film it and then interview other cyclists, because I also felt that their souls could benefit from simply seeing...When you think about how wonderful it is to achieve your goals, to realize your dreams, and, uh, yes, and what you just mentioned, meaning in life.
(08:30) I've basically used this formula myself and even expanded on it a bit. I call it the Methuselah Formula, how to become healthy, wise, and old, right? That was kind of the idea behind my book, the Methuselah Strategy, and that became the foundation of my books. There, I have six such circles, but at the center is always the meaning in life; that's absolutely crucial. And, um, when people say, "Yeah, when I drove through the USA, you didn't have any fun," no, that's not true at all. That was really, uh
(09:01) I wouldn't say pure joy, you do have to put in a bit of effort, but it was something that, uh, was good for my soul, and I think everyone has, as you so nicely put it, their own needs, their own purpose in life, but that's absolutely central to well-being. So, having a healthy body without a purpose in life—I know this from my own work—then Alzheimer's is even predicted. Yes.
(09:29) So the risk of Alzheimer's increases dramatically. No matter what you do for your body. If your soul isn't happy, that's a problem. Exactly. But basically, you could also imagine if you had done your race in America and your bike was in a terrible state, your tires weren't inflated, your chain wasn't oiled, and the handlebars barely turned, left or right, then you wouldn't have been able to ultimately follow your soul's path, if I may call it that, to reach that goal,
(09:59) and experience that happiness and fulfillment along the way. And that's exactly what I'd like to look at a little more closely now: what prerequisites does such a person need? And that starts with the very young children who come to my practice. But ultimately, it never really ends in life, right up to my 60-year-old—no, excuse me, 80-year-old mother, who still has plans and goals and who, by the way, is the one who introduced me to the topic of lithium. She's very alert and clear-headed and said, "You have to take a look at Nils." Yes, so well into old age
(10:30), this is basically an important prerequisite for this body, our device, to function. If I want to look at this a little more closely, then it's basically like this: if I can assign a certain function to it, or if I can describe it again, then the function of the body is something where the person experiences, "It works, I can do this, it functions."
(10:57) Yes, I've illustrated it here with the point, "It works." Um, so it can be used.I have the ability to drive. And the mind, it dares to do something. It says, ah, look, I've had the experience. I can use this body. I can do this. Yes, or I can also push the boundaries a bit.
(11:19) I can also gradually exceed this limit, but for that, I basically need a body that functions, right? And if I then have this prerequisite, then the overarching goal is: I want to achieve exactly this in life. I want this. And that's a bit like describing it more concretely. That's how it is in my perception.
(11:46) That's how I try to implement it with my patients, and yes, so that it simply becomes a bit clearer, this totality of the human being. Yes. And if we then look at what the illness actually is? The illness, I'll show you here in a bit more detail, is when we are no longer able, through our bodies, to implement what we actually want.
(12:12) So, if we don't have properly inflated tires, if the road presents us with such huge challenges that basically overwhelm us, then we get into situations where it simply becomes difficult, and then we just don't dare to do things anymore and see that it's all just, well, I can't manage all of this under these conditions, and at some point, of course, the soul also comes into play, saying, I don't want to continue like this.
(12:37) Yes, and it's all interconnected, but the foundation is the functioning body, the machine that ultimately carries us. Yes, and I can demonstrate it again here.
(12:58) So, if the body isn't functioning, if we see that it's not working, then the mind says, I can't do this. And at some point, the soul says, I don't want to. Yes, and then we have a huge mess, and then we basically have to look at, well, where do we even begin? I can't really talk him into anything here.
(13:14) Yeah, just do it already, find some meaning in life, it'll all work out. Or go to psychotherapy and say, oh, you can't do it, but you're still a really great guy. Yeah, that's it, that's how it is for others too, by the way. Yeah, those are the kinds of concepts I try to address primarily here, but the area that's fundamentally what carries us through this world, if it's not in a certain state and we can't use it effectively, well, then in my observation, we won't get out of this hole.
(13:44) When I look at the picture like this, I see, uh, maybe I'm also, uh, yeah, geried, as they say, but I see the hippocampus, right, very prominently in the foreground. The hippocampus is, on the one hand, the body,Right? It's an organ, yes, on the other hand, uh, all conscious perception, reflection, isn't possible without the hippocampus. Yes, so we need it for that.
(14:08) On the other hand, please briefly for all listeners, what exactly is the hippocampus, where is it located? Yes, exactly. So, the hippocampus is our autobiographical memory center here in the temporal lobe, it has the structure of a seahorse, hence hippocampus. Hippocampus is the field, probably stands for the fin or something, so we have two of them, about the size of a thumb, and that's where we basically store all our memories.
(14:32) That's what it's called, that's why it's also called episodic memory, but it's much more than that. It's also the center for our resilience, our psychological resilience. So, I can do this, I can go down this path. I'm not afraid to go down this path. It's the center for our curiosity.
(14:49) So, I'm also ready to explore new paths. I want to know what's behind this mountain, behind this wall. So, I'm trying to find ways to broaden my horizons. And, uh, it's also the place where we plan. And of course, it's also the place when I get up in the morning that gives me my self-awareness.
(15:07) So, the place that tells me I am me, because when I turn my brain on again in the morning, right, after waking up, to stick with the computer terminology, then, uh, I first have to figure out who I actually am, and then I have to redefine myself through my memories every morning.
(15:30) Uh, actually, we constantly redefine ourselves through our memories, our social network, which also consists of memories. And that's why I affectionately call the hippocampus the gateway to the soul. And, uh, we know of people whose hippocampus has been removed. The first famous patient was Henry Molasson, from whom both hippocampi were removed for absurd reasons.
(15:48) One had to be removed for his own good because of epileptic seizures, but the other didn't. And the doctor later apologized. But what the doctors later said about Henry Molasson, who couldn't remember anything, who lost his past, he also lost his future, and he also lost something that is called being human, because he could no longer form social bonds. His doctor, who wrote many books about him and conducted many studies on him
(16:14), literally said, "He's a nice guy, you can have a conversation with him because his short-term memory is still there. He could maintain a conversation for a few seconds, but after a minute he couldn't remember that the topic had been discussed, and he couldn't form any emotional connection with other people or even with himself."
(16:37) And that's why I call the hippocampus the gateway to the soul. And that's where all three structures you mentioned come together: body, mind, and soul. They connect there somehow. And in fact, the hippocampus is also the place where, I would say, almost all the most fundamental illnesses occur, and modern society suffers from depression, anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorder, Alzheimer's, all these illnesses, even schizophrenia—they all have a hippocampal origin. That's why these are the leading illnesses in the modern world, and that's why I find it so great that I can talk to you about it
(17:14). Because I've dealt with Alzheimer's, you deal with children, but that's where the suffering essentially begins, where this balance doesn't work. And, yes, that's why I'm glad that you're now also talking about your experience. How do you introduce this topic? Right.
(17:36) And when we talk about the hippocampus, we can really get right to one of your special topics: the basic material requirement for the hippocampus to do what it's supposed to do, namely, constantly generate new nerve cells, neurogenesis. And there's a trace element that's very, very important here, one you've researched extensively and published on extensively. Perhaps you'd like to tell us what kind of trace element it is. Most people will already have guessed or heard of it.
(17:59) Yes, well, we can talk about this trace element, but it's very important that we—and you both agree—that it can't just be about one trace element. When our hippocampus is suffering, I know that from Alzheimer's research, and it won't be any different in children's and adolescents' therapy or clinical settings.
(18:21) In our society, we don't just have one deficiency; we have many deficiencies. Uh, so many vital nutrients are lacking in sufficient quantities. Uh, nerve cells can only be formed if aquatic omega-3 fatty acids are present. The synapses, where the nerve cells connect and can then ultimately fulfill their function, consist of 50% DHA from cocaine, hexaenoic acid.
(18:43) Without them, you can't form synapses. We know that the amount of omega-3 fatty acids that can be measured in the blood via red blood cells, as the so-called omega-3 index, correlates directly with the size of the hippocampus. But I know you're getting at something else.
(19:03) I just want to say this upfront because I'm constantly accused of running around saying that lithium is a cure-all. That I just need to give lithium and all the problems are solved. The opposite is true. Anyone who reads my book carefully knows that it's precisely about this balance that we're describing today. The first chapter is nothing other than a discussion of self-regulation and a demonstration that there is more to it than that.So, if we have several deficiencies, it's simply not enough to fix just one.
(19:25) However, it's quite clear that lithium deficiency is a fundamental problem because lithium is probably one of the oldest trace elements that have shaped cellular life on our planet. This means there's hardly a metabolic pathway, hardly a signaling pathway, hardly a regulatory mechanism in our cells that isn't directly, or at least indirectly, but usually directly, dependent on lithium.
(19:51) That means if I remove lithium, if I have too little of it in my body, then these regulatory pathways are disrupted, and this leads to fundamental dysregulation. In animal models, this can be seen, for example, in impaired fertility. But it can also be seen in an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease.
(20:14) This was published in Nature in 2025 by the Harvard group you mentioned earlier, which also uses this image to conduct its research. So, there are working groups. We know that lithium is absolutely fundamental. It's not that there's a disease that's dependent on lithium, but rather the whole body, the whole mind, and ultimately the soul suffer fundamentally from a lithium deficiency.
(20:36) This is a basic function of our body that is disrupted by a lithium deficiency, namely the ability to self-regulate. But, quite interestingly, several things have been discovered regarding the hippocampus. One is that a lithium deficiency is associated with a lower amount of hormones that promote neurogenesis, and conversely, when I administer lithium, or compensate for the deficiency, BDNF, for example, is activated.
(21:00) Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, one of the main fertilizers for the formation of new brain cells. And this doesn't just apply to the hippocampus. In children and adolescents, the brain continues to grow until adolescence. And if, during this time, there are serious deficiencies that inhibit this growth, especially in the hippocampus, diseases like autism, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's are predisposing factors, but also depression and anxiety disorders, because courage is lacking, right? Then one is more likely to have anxiety disorders
(21:34) because resilience is lost. That is indeed an important function of lithium, or rather, an effect of lithium deficiency, but also, for example, the self-regulation of cells to constantly renew their power plants in order to maintain their function.
(21:56) So, the so-called autogenous function is co-regulated by lithium. A very central mechanism, and um, yes, synapse formation, which is the compartment in the hippocampus that forms new brain cells throughout life, the so-called stem cells, these are constantly kept alive, permanently. When lithium is present, certain functions occur.
(22:26) I don't want to go into too much detail right now,But without lithium, Alzheimer's is practically inevitable, but even on the path to Alzheimer's, childhood and adolescent diseases arise, which you know all about, right? And looking at the picture of my bike here, you can clearly see that there's no magic bullet. If I haven't inflated the tire, if my handlebars are hard to steer, and at the same time the chain is completely rusted and won't move, then it's quite obvious that if I were to simply say, "I've found the holy grail, I've found the solution, we just need to inflate the front tire," then you'll see that this whole system can't suddenly work together, can't function properly, and isn't usable in the context of body, mind, and soul. And it's always very important for me to demonstrate that.
(23:14) There are always various factors interacting, but—and this is very important—there are certain key centers, like the steering function, for example. And if that's stiff, the rest of the bike might be in good working order. But I basically can't influence life's challenges at all, because as soon as I get even slightly off-balance, I don't have the usual ability to make my corrective steering movements. If I can't, I just fall over, and then I basically
(23:44) have a problem that I can no longer solve on my own. I, as a human being, as an organism—and this is exactly what has been known in medicine for over 100 years—have the concept of homeostasis, that they can maintain their own balance. And the biggest misunderstanding I repeatedly encounter with my patients is that we think health is simply feeling well.
(24:09) And in my view, that's not the case at all. I can be feeling fine and at the same time be terminally ill. Yes, and my life could end in no time, and yet I feel fine right now. So, how I feel right now isn't a marker of health. What, in my view, is a marker of health? In my view, it's when I get into a predicament, when life throws challenges my way, like when I have to ride my bike through mud or over hilly terrain, and so on
(24:41). And when I'm then able to get myself back on track using all the functions my bike needs—brakes, gears, steering, tire suspension—when I have the ability to get myself back on course on my own, from "oh, I'm feeling bad right now, yes, I'm off track," and I manage to get myself back on the right track. That's it.What I call health, and that includes it, and that's a very, very important message, a very important
(25:14) lesson, especially for young parents. It also includes the fact that I sometimes find myself in difficult situations. Yes, so if I'm always driving straight ahead and all the paths are prepared for me, all the obstacles are cleared away, and I simply have everything on the straight road, everything neatly arranged, then I don't have the opportunity to learn skills for how to get out of stupid, difficult, unfavorable situations.
(25:43) Yes, what you're describing is great. It immediately brought back memories for me. I was CEO and Chief Science Officer of a biotech company in Munich for almost eight years, and I had to hire a lot of people as the company grew.
(26:05) There were over 100 people, and one of my criteria was actually, when I had several well-written applications on my desk, whether they had taken the direct route to get that academic position, which was usually a prerequisite for working in that academically oriented company. No, I always chose those who needed the second-chance education route, those who hadn't even finished high school yet, who had first learned a trade, then said, "I'll just do my high school diploma at night school." Then, with a lot of hard work and effort, they somehow managed to complete their studies.
(26:34) Um, but these people had so much life experience; they had practically always been in some kind of predicament and had learned from it, and I found that learning experience they brought with them really cool.
(26:51) I enjoyed that, and it was also my own life, wasn't it? I did study medicine, but then I went to the US as a post-doctoral fellow and said, "Now I'm going to start again with biology." Yes, and I remember how the actual post-doctoral fellows there, the biologists, whose reputation I practically wanted to learn about, they also had an MD, right? In the US, the doctorate was called, yes, Medical Doctor MD. They jokingly called me "mentally inefficient" because I had no idea what I was actually doing at the beginning, but it was so important. So, what you're saying, I can only emphasize. It's so important to get into that
(27:26) imbalance, but what I find even more beautiful is your definition of health, namely the ability to self-regulate. I think it's a really beautiful image. Yes, and of course we have lots of little people now, and they are being cared for.
(27:46) Yes, well, as a pediatrician, I naturally see the mothers,Those who come with their children, and it's not about simply letting children get into trouble and then just saying, "Okay, falling down is just how it is, we just have to tolerate it." No, it's right to accompany children and, importantly, to see when the imbalance becomes too great, when the child is on the way to, uh, bridges, uh, a fall, so to speak, or towards, uh, a cliff, then of course you can intervene to regulate their behavior. And that's the challenge, that parents are essentially
(28:17) accompanying their children, ensuring that these experiences stay within areas that are still safe for them, but not avoiding them entirely. This is also very important for emotional regulation. Children have a very, very important task. In their early years, they should primarily learn about their feelings and truly experience them in every dimension, simply feel them in their being.
(28:48) And there, too, is essentially the unfavorable situation that I hear about very often in practice. A child falls, uh, bumps their head—it happens in my consulting room sometimes. Um, and then the intuitive reaction of parents is sometimes: "Everything's fine, everything's fine, everything's fine, I'll distract you. Everything's fine, everything's fine."
(29:14) And that, too, is an avoidance of the opportunity to address these imbalances, not only physically but also emotionally, and to regulate themselves again, so to speak, through support. And that's a very important lesson that children basically need from the very beginning of their lives, in their early years, so that they become more resilient, so that they develop a certain, yes, frustration tolerance and thus become capable of coping with life, because life isn't entirely about all our obstacles being removed, neither in the physical realm
(29:49) like riding a bike on the road, but also in the demands placed upon them. Because if you push all your problems aside and then school finally starts, well, that's when it suddenly begins, Mom isn't there anymore.
(30:06) And here it's simply important that learning about emotions is also resilience training. And I always like to give parents this tip: when children experience feelings that feel bad, I always say, "Wait a minute, that's not a bad feeling. There aren't really good and bad feelings. There are unpleasant feelings and there are good feelings. That's undoubtedly true.
(30:30) But the unpleasant ones are part of it too. And interestingly, if you give them space, the child has the opportunity—and you see this very, very often with children—to briefly bump their head and very, very quickly find themselves back in their center."But they also need to be allowed to feel this state briefly, to experience it, and then they need to regulate themselves again.
(30:53) Yes, and the mother or parents are, of course, very important in accompanying them. And this is where it gets really interesting in situations where parents tell me, "Yes, but it just doesn't work like that. If he bumps his head or if he doesn't get his red breakfast plate, he just goes berserk, and there's no way I can calm him down for the next three hours." And at that point, it gets very, very interesting. That's where it starts: what is the
(31:26) biochemical prerequisite for our emotional learning, for our emotional regulation, to function at all? And yes, through this path, we end up back with physical biochemical prerequisites. And here we can discuss a few more substances that I'd like to mention, where we should avoid a deficiency, because we have to actively take care of this, because we find these deficiencies very, very, very regularly.
(31:58) Even if we try to do everything right here, go shopping at the organic store, and actually say, "But I've taken everything into account, we live a healthy lifestyle," we still have certain disorders that ultimately burden the entire family, the child in particular, of course, and also society as a whole. Yes.
(32:19) Yes. So, I can only confirm what you're describing, this screaming child that you can't calm down, that's also a lack of self-regulation.
(32:35) Yes, because it's not, let's say, that a child, when the pain is over, just keeps screaming out of anger or whatever, and is simply unhappy with the world. Um, I think they signal that to the world, right, without interruption. I think most children who are healthy, who I believe are physically healthy, who have everything they need, are more capable of self-regulation, and I can see that in their functions, which is what we're talking about with the hippocampus.
(33:06) Yes, if I have more resilience, then I can regulate myself better, and resilience is impaired when neurogenesis in the hippocampus is disrupted. And as you just said, this is a physical question, a fundamentally physical question. The hippocampus, as part of our body, needs certain things, and we've already mentioned one aspect: lithium. I also mentioned aquatic omega-3 fatty acids, but you, from your experience, are of course familiar with many more of these factors
(33:34) that are important in our modern, let's say German, society.Because you have a broader range of experience, it's probably largely global by now, but here in Germany, what are the key factors? Yes. Deficiencies that you've discovered. I've been examining children in my own practice for over 20 years and actually analyzing their vital substances in the lab.
(33:59) And it's simply become clear in recent years that we have certain vital substances where deficiencies are almost unavoidable. Yes, and I always like to say that there are the Big Five in my opinion.
(34:24) Big F means, well, these are the substances that I have to pay special attention to so that the body's systems, its biochemistry, can function properly, and as I said, I can't really expect a good supply of them if I just eat a natural diet. That's also what's being promoted, by the way. Just eat healthily, then you don't need any supplements. I simply can't confirm that. And we're not talking about any kind of miracle cure here.
(34:47) We're not talking about a person becoming better or having certain symptoms suppressed. That's not the point at all. We simply want to enable the body's natural function by providing these specific substances, and then no one becomes better than before, but rather they are brought into that state of being. That's how it should be. Yes.
(35:11) Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to say at this point. It's really only about correcting a deficiency. That's very, very important. It's about correcting a deficiency. And if one says that a person feels better as a result, then it's really only that they can better realize their potential, what they were born with.
(35:28) So that's why it's not about promises of healing, which are sometimes attributed to us. Um, a better state naturally arises, but not because it acts like a medication and triggers an additional function, but basically simply because it optimizes what isn't working, but brings it to where nature would have liked us to be.
(35:51) Yes, that would be the intended function of this device that we all carry around with us. And just as we need air to breathe, just as we need water, we also need certain vital substances, and then we're fine.
(36:07) And if someone were to start breathing only half as much as they're currently doing, they'll notice that it's becoming quite unpleasant, and then I can only advise them to breathe normally, according to their normal needs. And anyone who only drinks half or a third of the water they drink won't feel well.
(36:23) Then, too, the body starts to cause discomfort.to no longer function properly, and then the most obvious thing to do is to say, okay, we'll start by giving them what was originally present in nature. That's also a very important point. How do we know how much of which substances should be present? It makes a lot of sense to simply look at natural living conditions and see what people had in their diet for 20, 30,000, 1,000 years. And if you take that into account, then you already have a pretty good idea
(36:52) of what biochemical prerequisites must be present. I'd like to simply mention the five substances without going into too much detail. The first substance, which we have much, much less of due to our lifestyle, is vitamin D. It's not a substance we absolutely have to eat; we can certainly obtain it from supplements.
(37:20) But vitamin D is simply deficient because we live indoors. So we've become modern-day cavemen, and we no longer have the opportunity to use the sun's rays to produce vitamin D in our skin through UVB radiation. And that's what we ultimately lack compared to our ancestors even 500 or 600 years ago.
(37:44) Even back then, in our regions, the limited sunlight was utilized much more efficiently because people spent all day outdoors. There was no light in the living room, if there even was a living room. Basically, it was all about running around outside. And in the regions where humanity originated, in Africa, there was even more sun. vitamin D is one of the substances that we pediatricians regularly supplement.
(38:08) Every child receives vitamin D during the first year and a half or the first two winters. It's a mystery to me why we stop then, because the values are still catastrophic, and I regularly measure such low values that even by scientific criteria they're so low we say something's broken.
(38:31) Yes, so this is an important vital substance, a crucial nutrient that, in my experience and according to my recommendation, absolutely should be considered and at least kept in mind. In the rarest of cases can you manage without supplementation. Just briefly, could you perhaps give us some values you would recommend? Is it based on weight or more on age? Yes, well, basically a good method is to measure, do it, measure again, and then you know roughly where you stand.
(38:59) And then you can also look at which ranges you want to reach. With vitamin D, it's a bit tricky, a bit difficult. There are two different units. That's why I can't really give specific numbers here. Otherwise, you might confuse them with the units.There's always some confusion. There are nanograms per Miller and there are millimole measurements.
(39:21) Well, that's why I'm not going to mention any numbers. But in my practice, it's always been the case that after normal supplementation, children, from their first birthday or around 18 months, have a requirement of approximately 1000 units of vitamin D. And as children get older, this requirement ultimately increases again.
(39:42) I'm just quoting experience from my practice. I'm not allowed to give a recommendation here. But I'd say I haven't yet encountered a child weighing over 30 kg who didn't have a requirement of, well, 2000 units. And adults have a minimum requirement of 3000 units to ensure proper calcium metabolism and a healthy immune system.
(40:15) So, these are, well, let's say, guidelines: 1000 units from the end of the official supplementation, approximately 2000 units from a weight of 30 kg, and from adulthood, 50 kg and up, 3000 units daily is a supplement in which I've never seen an overdose, but in which I've seen many positive effects.
(40:38) Yes, so the unit 50 nanomoles per Miller or 125 nanomoles simply needs to be multiplied by 2.5. I always go by nanomoles per liter, so 125 nanomoles per liter is my target value, but you can also say 50 nanograms per milliliter. And the interesting thing is, I read a study on children—I think you just sent it to me—that used 6000 units.
(41:03) If the mother takes this during pregnancy and breastfeeding, then there's no need to supplement the child if they are exclusively breastfeeding, because the mother will provide enough, so to speak, the 5,600 units that a baby needs, or something like that, that the child gets from the mother. But this already shows that you often have to aim for values around 6,000 for the mother.
(41:19) That's also what I take in winter, 6,000 units per day, to reach this target value and approximately 125 nanomoles, meaning 50 nanograms per milliliter. My family does the same. This value works reasonably well, and for anyone who is now worried, the European Food Safety Authority has said that 4,000 units is absolutely safe for adults.
(41:44) 1,000 units, I believe, from the first year of life, and then from the first year onward, I think even 2,000 units would be no problem at all. You can look it up again for more details. I'm speaking from memory now, but I know that 4000 mg wasn't a problem for adults, and this study also points to the fact that mothers should take a little more to ensure the child gets enough vitamin D. And very importantly, vitamin D is also a neurohormone.
(42:11) So, vitamin D acts as a hormone in our body. That means it's converted in the liver to 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, and then in a second step, it's converted in cells, including nerve cells, to 125-hydroxyvitamin D3. This is a hormone that goes into the cell nucleus and regulates genes there, including genes necessary for the hippocampus to function. That's why, for example,
(42:36) a vitamin D deficiency can lead to depression, because neurogenesis is disrupted. So it's fundamentally important that we don't just talk about bone health, especially because lower levels seem to be sufficient for bone health, and strangely enough, the guidelines are based on this lower level, which is sufficient for bone health. But other systems in our body obviously need more, like the immune system and the nervous system, which function best at around 125 nanomoles
(43:07), and not at 50, as is assumed for bones. Um, these values aren't taken into account, they're not included in recommendations, and I find that extremely regrettable. And this brings us to the next important trace element, which is basically known to everyone, where everyone says, "Yes, I know it, yes, I do it, yes," or at least "I have it in my cupboard."
(43:26) And which simply has a very, very important influence on vitamin D metabolism, and that is magnesium. Mhm. magnesium is one of the most underestimated yet also very important trace elements. And if we want to convert the vitamin D that is produced in our skin or that we take as a supplement into the storage form, the 25-hydroxy form, and then into the active form, 125-hydroxy vitamin D, we need a substance, and that is magnesium. And in a magnesium deficiency situation, we basically have deficiencies in this conversion, and in the end, not enough is produced.
(43:57) Um, yes, regardless of 600 other, uh, yes, metabolic processes in which magnesium is involved, in the regulation. Um, but here too it's simply very, very important to recognize that magnesium is important.
(44:18) And here again I can only speak from experience. We have a virtually global magnesium deficiency in our society, and everyone can basically reflect on this for themselves, especially those who do a lot of desk work. So, how much muscle cramping does each of you experience? And I also very often have parents who ask, when they come in with their children, "Oh, Doctor, I have such back pain, can I get a prescription for a massage?" Then I say: "No, no massage prescription. We need an adequate magnesium supply first." And the answer I often get
(44:51) is, "Well, I've already done that. Yes, I'm already taking that."And upon closer examination, I realize that what I do take means very frequently; it's sitting in the cupboard, and when it is taken, the dosage is far too low and essentially insufficient.
(45:11) And my experience is simply that if we supplement our magnesium intake regularly and adequately—again, it should actually be in our food, but it isn't—then, for example, muscular tension changes, and in a long-term way. Then you can certainly go for a massage, because it usually feels quite nice, but the basic prerequisite for a proper tension-relaxation pattern in muscles is promoted by this.
(45:43) And yes, that's simply one of the trace elements that I find incredibly important for children, which I consistently find deficient in in my analyses—and I'm not talking about hundreds, but thousands of children I've examined—and which has a significant impact on symptoms that ultimately affect attention, behavior, and emotional regulation.
(46:09) Which magnesium do you recommend? There are so many different salts. Yes, the best magnesium is the kind that ends up in the child's body or in the body. And basically, there are many different compounds that all contain magnesium in some way, different forms, as I like to call them. For example, we have magnesium
(46:27) in citrate, in citric acid. We have magnesium in malic acid, in malate, in lactic acid, in lactate. So, these are all different compounds. Um, there are also more modern compounds that are supposed to have certain special properties. But basically, what's important to me is, a) we should take it regularly, and b) we should take a sufficient amount.
(46:51) And a very important individual assessment has proven quite effective here. The dosage of magnesium I take, if I gradually increase the dose, eventually leads to diarrhea, meaning soft stools, and then I know, now my body has said, I've absorbed enough magnesium, that's sufficient. And interestingly, when I reach this soft stool threshold, that's when the symptoms that people themselves notice begin, that the muscular situation is much more relaxed, and that it means, well, now I actually don't need a massage anymore.
(47:23) And yes, the tendency towards headaches also decreases significantly. I would tell every migraine patient, please normalize your magnesium levels in your body by giving your body what it absolutely needs from nature but simply doesn't have. Yes, and this method of administration is particularly practical for children.
(47:48) You can simply buy it as a powder and stir it into water. And you can certainly experiment a bit with these different compounds to see what tastes good. There are some compounds that taste good. My favorites are magnesium lactate powder and magnesium malate powder.
(48:06) They are a very good compromise between good absorption, reasonable taste, and a great effect. Mhm. If you now, I don't know what the next of the Big Five is, which animal you want to hunt next, but I would suggest Lizum at this point. Exactly, that would also be my reason.
(48:30) Exactly, because, as I have been able to show, it is highly conserved evolutionarily—these were my own studies—evolutionarily highly conserved, since the beginning of life, it has been an antagonist to magnesium, and people have already written to me saying that we hear practically everywhere now that we should take more magnesium. That is of course good, yes, as it compensates for a magnesium deficiency.
(48:54) I would say, maybe eat vegetables that are grown locally, then they've grown a bit longer and have a higher nutrient content. I'm not even sure how much magnesium one actually needs. Because there isn't really a structural deficiency, is there? We don't live in a region where there's no magnesium left in the soil, unlike lithium.
(49:09) But lithium is the biological counterpart. That sounds a bit like, uh, yeah, that takes away the effect of the magnesium. But what it actually means is that we need both for the self-regulation of central control mechanisms in our cells. And uh, whenever people tell me they take a lot of magnesium, I just think: "Oh God, oh God, I hope they're also taking lithium."
(49:33) Yes, so that this self-regulation works in the long term, and uh, exactly, that's what I was thinking, which is why I would have suggested it. Let's move on to lithium, right? And that's exactly it, as you just said, lithium and magnesium are antagonists. I would also find that term difficult to use, so I wouldn't use it that way. For me, they are partners.
(49:50) Partners in the sense that... and you can explain that quite well with a very practical example. You also mentioned it again in your book, "The Lithium Conspiracy."
(50:07) It's like the gas and brake pedals in a car, and, well, you can't really argue whether the brake or the gas pedal is more important in a car. No, for proper functioning, so that we can control the device, we simply need both. And my analyses show that I have a significant deficiency in lithium, a significant deficiency in magnesium, and an even more significant deficiency in lithium. So, I'll start like this. Yes, that's the situation...which I often find, and this is basically where I want to get to.
(50:28) That means, I can't simply achieve a desired state by increasing lithium, but we basically have to consider both, and then, if the accelerator and brakes are working well, then we basically have excellent control capabilities.
(50:46) I'd like to show one aspect of lithium again, which I simply see in practical work, and this is a small excerpt from the online course, which I took in close consultation with you, on the topic of lithium, because lithium is still very unknown. Officially, lithium is not a trace element in the recognized sense.
(51:10) And many medical colleagues only know lithium from psychiatric applications, which must be clearly distinguished from that, but I think you have very, very well explained the scientific basis for why lithium is physiologically essential. That means it can't work without it; everything has to be there in our bodies. And I'll show you here how emotional regulation usually happens in children, or, by the way, yes, in older children too, yes, in us too.
(51:33) So, if I'm in some kind of state that throws me off balance due to an event and makes me very, very angry and puts me in a very tense, um, emotional state, yes, for example, fight-or-flight situations have to work that way.
(51:52) So, I have to be able to regulate myself up here, then go into action, but over time it usually goes into a range where I say, okay, at some point I've come back down to earth. Yes, that's normal emotional regulation, and children or people who have a significantly low lithium level—and I measure that regularly in my practice—
(52:16) So, I can also draw on over 500 lithium measurements from children as young as six months old to people over 80. Yes, we're a family practice; we also measure older people. We can draw on that data. And if we look at this, if this influence, this natural influence of natural lithium as nature intended, is missing, then ultimately I lack the brake, and then the whole thing looks like this.
(52:38) I get agitated and I'm in this state of agitation, and I have no way to biochemically get out of it. Yes, it's like driving a car with the gas pedal on, but the brake isn't there, it's not working, I'm spinning my wheels, and then a red light comes up, and then things really get wild.
(53:02) Yes, and then I basically have symptoms that I see in children, in emotional disorders, in children, as we call them, that the children go crazy at school, they clap their seatmates all the time,Screaming for no reason, and even if I give them the framework, even if I give them the opportunity, when the stimulus, the original stimulus, is gone, so that you can basically say, take a deep breath, life goes on. No, they just stay in that state. Yes.
(53:25) I just wanted to show that briefly, so you get a bit of an idea. Ah, what's going on here, actually? Is this, um, this
(53:43) mentality, which I see more often in my child or in society? Is it something I can influence simply by using sedatives? And that would be drug therapy, if I give a tranquilizer or certain medications. But what if the normal regulation we've already talked about, this normal, uh, balancing ability, that I can find my center again myself, what if that works? And a normal, natural lithium level, which we unfortunately don't get enough of here due to our lifestyle, plays an important role.
(54:12) Yes, I have to say, that also closes the circle metaphorically and figuratively, which you started earlier with your answer to the question in your own way. What is health, actually? Namely, the ability to react to crises. Not the absence of crises, but rather to react to crises in a regulatory way.
(54:35) To react in a regulatory way. Yes, exactly. It's even possible. To react and react appropriately, to really go through it, to gather experience, to gain life experience, and then, through reflection on that life experience, to get back into a state of equilibrium until the next crisis perhaps comes, and the manager, because one has had the experience, and, uh, that's why I'm closing the picture beautifully with your original concept of what health is, namely not the absence of crises, and yes, I just wanted to mention that at this point.
(55:08) I just thought it was a nice picture. And, uh, then we'd actually be at Top 4. We've already mentioned Top 4. These are, um, these are the Omega-3 fatty acids, and we've already reported on them, have you already reported on them? They're essential for nerve cells to function, for the signal transmission from one cell to the next. This happens via synapses; the stimulus arrives here, and then it continues. For this to work well, for us to have a good connection, as I always call it. For this, we need Omega-3 fatty acids for the fluid in our cell membrane, in our cell envelope. And what's in our normal food are other fatty acids, so there's a deficiency of Omega-3 fatty acids, which are very liquid, and a large supply of very solid fatty acids, really physically solid fatty acids. That's what frying oil is for.which we usually have a lot of in our food.
(56:04) Yes, that's basically also an obstacle to signal transmission. And here's a natural, um, basic condition that we simply don't have anymore these days, because our supply of omega-3 fatty acids is simply too low.
(56:27) Yes, that's simply because we eat far too little fish, and fish was, by the way, one of our guarantees of a lot of health for many years, and our grandparents understood that too, and as early as the beginning of the 19th century, I think it was around 1927, if I remember correctly, they gave their children a very important dietary supplement that already contained many of the aspects we've just discussed.
(56:51) It contained omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin D. That's cod liver oil, and nowadays we don't have any fish that we eat in any meaningful way. We don't have any cod liver oil left.
(57:08) Well, thankfully, because it tastes awful, of course, but we just haven't grasped that we also need omega-3 fatty acids for our bodies to function properly, for keeping these membranes fluid. Nobody buys a car and never changes the oil. I can only advise doing so, because otherwise the car will break down. But at the same time, the children themselves have never had an oil change.
(57:27) Yes, and uh, and they break down. Biochemically, no, neurologically, I find abnormalities. It's simply a real catastrophe. And talking about it is one thing. I just had a child with ADHD symptoms, with pronounced behavioral problems, and I measured the omega-3 index. The omega-3 index was 2.9%.
(57:50) Yes, I spoke at length with the mother. Like I said, it's right. People with attention deficit disorder, with symptoms that indicate they have problems at school, are allowed to receive medication. I prescribe these medications myself, yes, methylphenidate and the other corresponding preparations that are used.
(58:10) But I say, the foundation has to be right. Please, we have to add omega-3 fatty acids here, otherwise it won't work. Half a year later. I just had the check-up on my desk two days ago. The child now has an omega-3 level of 2.7. Oh my God. So, even though we talk about it, even though we basically know everything, even though the mother can buy it, yes, it often isn't done, and that's something I'd really like to include. It's no use having a toothbrush and toothpaste
(58:42) and putting them in a cupboard and saying, yes, theoretically I know that it works. Only when you brush twice a day, and you really have to do it twice,Twice a week isn't enough; then you reach the point where it actually makes a difference.
(58:57) Yes, at this point I'd like to briefly mention and put things into context, so, um, yes, the brain grows most dramatically before birth and shortly after, and, uh, but the umbilical cord, for example, is, uh, an indicator of the optimal Omega-3 index, which is around 11%, and you mentioned 2.9% and then 2.7% earlier.
(59:22) There's practically no measurement below 2%, and why? Below 2% is very likely no longer compatible with life. That means the child is really on the brink now, at 2.7%. If it drops a little further, brain function could potentially cease completely. Other systems, the immune system, for example, can't function either if the [ahem] index drops further, because the immune cells need to be fluid.
(59:47) So, as you so nicely described, the membrane must not be permeated with saturated fatty acids. It must be these polyunsaturated ones. Only then can the immune cells crawl through our tissue and destroy, for example, bacteria or whatever else has penetrated somewhere, including cancer cells. That means all these problems—inflammation, predisposition to cancer, and also brain function—depend on a healthy Omega-3 index. And there's another thing I'd like to mention. You already said fish oil, but there's also algae oil, which is the more modern option
(1:00:19) because it offers the possibility of supplying the entire human race with it, and not just those who want to consume this squeezed fish. Besides, the fat then has to be purified because the fish no longer live in the cleanest conditions in the ocean. The algae oil is completely clean.
(1:00:41) But what I want to add is that I always call them aquatic omega-3 fatty acids, because when you hear the word omega-3—and the industry works very efficiently with this term—you go to the supermarket and buy some rapeseed oil or linseed oil, and it says there's omega-3 in it. Yes, you see it everywhere, they advertise with omega-3 and with huge amounts of omega-3 that are in it. The problem is, those are actually terrestrial omega-3 fatty acids.
(1:01:06) Those are the ones that grow on land, you know, in plants, er, land plants. And it is indeed the microorganisms, the plankton, the aquatic plants, mostly single-celled organisms, that produce a principle for the entire global community, including fish, by the way: the aquatic omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, the best known, which are 5 and
(1:01:32) so six-fold unsaturated, while the terrestrial ones are only three-fold unsaturated, and from three-fold unsaturated to the six-fold unsaturated DHA,which we need, for example, for our synapses. These processes are somewhat atrophied in us. Why? Because we evolved as pescatarians.
(1:01:56) We've supplied our brains with so many aquatic omega-3 fatty acids during evolution that our bodies have essentially forgotten how to efficiently produce them from terrestrial sources. And the consequence is quite simple. We now depend on consuming these aquatic fatty acids, and the solution is algae oil.
(1:02:20) And if, in practice, you then hear, "Yeah, I only eat a lot of omega-3 fatty acids, right? Um, flaxseed oil is cheaper than algae oil." Well, I don't know, maybe you'll have to ask, but I can easily imagine, "Yeah, the mother says, well, if it's omega-3, then I'll buy this, but not that one, right?" I assume you gave such good instructions, but it's possible someone might say, "No, there's a cheaper option," but the cheaper one doesn't significantly increase the Omega-3 index. Yes, so it's super important that you point out that we don't need to squeeze the fish dry
(1:02:44); they can continue swimming freely. I exclusively use vegan algae oil. That's a very important point you should have mentioned again. It was still important, though, which is why I brought it up, to explain where it was in our evolution. Specifically, those who were around 20,000 or 1,000 years ago.
(1:02:59) Humans obviously didn't have algae oil back then, but this is the direct route without toxic exposure. By the way, there's a group of people who have quite decent Omega-3 levels. I affectionately call them the "sushi crowd."
(1:03:20) Um, and if we look closely at their blood test results, they have quite good Omega-3 levels, but their mercury levels are at least twice as high. So please be careful with the idea that we can simply improve our Omega-3 levels naturally by eating fish. I'd argue that often backfires. And in my view, vegan Omega oils are basically the best form of supplementation without any compromises. Yes, and the challenge for parents in particular is simply that it's a matter of taste.
(1:03:50) And I'd like to bring this up again, we already mentioned it earlier when talking about feelings, so the issue isn't really about whether things taste good or bad, but rather—and this is very important to understand—it's about familiar and unfamiliar, or habitual and unfamiliar tastes. Omega-3 oil might be unfamiliar to many children at first, and evolutionarily speaking, we're basically not supposed to eat anything unfamiliar until we're gradually introduced to it.Otherwise, we'd all die relatively quickly in the jungle if we'd stuffed everything in our mouths.
(1:04:22) So, it's quite true that children generally have an aversion to unfamiliar things at first. That's why my recommendation is to start with omega-3 fatty acids as vegan algae oil as early as possible and, for example, stir it drop by drop into the vegetable jar from the demi-diet stage onwards. And if you do it that way, you've simply laid the excellent foundation for the development of the nervous system right from the start, and at the same time, you've essentially preempted or avoided the taste challenge that you might encounter at 3, 5, 7, or 11 years old.
(1:04:54) So, that's another tip I'd like to give: start early and just keep going. Exactly. Yes, maybe add B at that point.
(1:05:14) I've actually already hinted at it indirectly, so our ancestors, like 20, 30, 40 years ago, and human evolution probably goes back 190,000 years, right? I described that in detail in the first chapter, from the song to the conspiracy, but also in my book, "The Algae Oil Revolution," I described very explicitly when humans actually started to [ahem] illuminate their minds and we could have conversations that already have a certain intellectual character.
(1:05:37) It's not a given that humans can do that. Our ancestors, when they ate fish or shellfish, they were essentially eating algae oil. Yes, because fish and shellfish can't produce the Omega-3 fatty acids themselves. They have the same problem as us. And they ultimately got it through the oil, the Omega-3 actually comes from plankton. Yes, and that's quite interesting, actually.
(1:06:02) That means when the fish are squeezed dry, we do get fish oil, but it was originally algae oil. And that's why it's so elegant to go directly back to the algae and leave the fish alone, so to speak. Yes, because they only accumulated it in their fat cells, but we don't need the fish to get the valuable algae oil.
(1:06:21) Yes, it's good that you pointed that out again, that's exactly the way. The algae produce it, the fish used to collect it for us, make it available, and nowadays, yes, very importantly, we can take the direct route. That, um, yes, it's great that you've explained that so clearly again, right. Big F, now for the last one.
(1:06:38) One more to go. Uh, and this is a trace element that I've been looking at for 15 years in laboratory analyses, and which has increasingly come into focus in recent years, also in children with neurological abnormalities. And that is the trace element selenium.
(1:06:55) Selenium is something that is normally present as a trace element in the soil, which is absorbed by plants into our plant-based foods, and we ingest it. And I've basically seen wonderful selenium levels in many people, and yes, in a group of people, without me ever having mentioned selenium to them. These are people who visit me in my practice who don't come from our region, for example
(1:07:19) who have been staying in the USA or Australia, or from Russia or Africa for extended periods. We have areas on this planet where we have sufficient selenium levels in the soil, and we also get enough selenium from our food. We in Germany, here in Central Europe, are unlucky because this selenium isn't present in the soil, and then we're deficient in it.
(1:07:43) What does that mean? Selenium is a very, very important substance that plays a major role in our immune system. The so-called antioxidant systems, the glutamate peroxidase systems, are dependent on selenium. So, it doesn't work without them. Yes. Um, our immune system, yeah, I always get sick and I don't even know why, I catch every cold and so on.
(1:08:06) Yes, I always say, yeah, well, but then we first have to ensure the immune system is supplied, and selenium is absolutely crucial for that. A second, a second important, extremely important function of selenium is, um, that it promotes or even enables the conversion of thyroid hormones from their precursors into their active form with certain enzymes.
(1:08:33) And active thyroid hormones are, in turn, the prerequisite for a healthy brain, that is, the development of our brain, especially in children. And, um, yes, a very interesting study on this has just been published in Nature Health. Uh, basically, if there's a selenium deficiency during pregnancy and breastfeeding, we then see abnormalities in childhood, increased ADHD levels, and we can observe neurodiversity.
(1:09:03) Yes, and that's very likely related to the fact that thyroid function is so impaired by a selenium deficiency that we have a problem here. That's why, in my view, selenium should always be included in supplementation.
(1:09:20) And if you really do follow the recommendations of the German Nutrition Society, you've already taken a big step forward. Observation shows—and this is an individual medical recommendation—that it's often not quite enough, but doing nothing at all also leads to these deficiencies, which can be corrected very easily and inexpensively.
(1:09:39) Yes, so what you're saying, the Big F here, those are exactly the ones,which I also recommend. uh, which I also take myself. So, we do this every evening, uh, usually with dinner, um, there's a little pill because there's no other way, and the algae oil is swallowed. But that's what we do at home, and I have to say quite honestly, if I had known this 30 or 40 years ago, um, I think my life would have turned out completely differently. I know this from retrospect, I can say that. During my medical studies, I was also athletic; I tried to be very athletic.
(1:10:13) I ran a marathon. I was constantly sick. Constantly. And I had hair loss. I had sores around my lips, and my nails were damaged. I had deficiencies, and then some. It must have been because I know how I ate. I had very little money as a student and, uh, I had a high calorie expenditure.
(1:10:37) That means I only paid attention to calories, but not to the trace elements. That wasn't even a topic of discussion. Even in medical school, they didn't teach us about it. Yeah, I mean, it's actually a shame that I'm saying now that they didn't teach us. I could have figured it out myself, but I didn't back then. And I was constantly sick.
(1:10:54) Every three to four weeks, I'd get an infection that would set me back. Um, then I'd somehow understand, go jogging again, meet up with friends again, and then the next infection would come. Uh, since I started this... . . .