Provocative discussion! I currently take a number of supplements for very  
specific reasons, which I won't delve into now, although I hope to get off most  
of them as the conditions they are meant to address eventually resolve.  
However, there are a few nutritional elements that I do feel will require some  
additional replenishment even in those eating something close to a Paleo  diet.
 
Vitamin D is a real *biggie*. Even Dr. Mercola, who believes in practically  
no supplementation, advises the intake of additional vitamin D, especially for 
 breast-fed infants, who apparently don't get enough from their mothers' 
breast  milk. Perhaps this is because the mothers aren't getting enough; I simply 
don't  know. But I have read (Dr. Michael Hollick? I'm not sure) that *a 
nearly naked  human with a sharp stick* in a tropical environment would absorb 
approximately  10,000 IU of vitamin D from the sun per day. That makes the current 
USDA  requirement of 200 to 400 IU look rather sickly! (Pun intended!) 
Primitive  cultures living in the far Northern latitudes would get their vitamin D 
from  fish and the livers of marine mammals, etc.,  rather than the sun. So it  
would seem that those of us trying to emulate a Paleo lifestyle in a modern  
world could easily wind up in a vit. D deficient status unless extreme 
measures  were employed to ensure adequate intake.
 
Personally, I had a savvy endocrinologist check my vit. D levels as a  
safeguard against osteoporosis about 5 years ago. To my utter shock, I was quite  
deficient, and this was in September, after spending the entire summer soaking  
up the sun in New York State (I am an avid gardener.) At that time I began  
taking Cod Liver Oil and increasing my intake of wild fatty fish. I was tested  
again (in February) and was no longer deficient. Now, given that these tests 
are  using a standard for adequate stores that many today would consider 
severely  deficient, I have elected to increase my intake even further, which I can 
do to  some extent in the height of summer via sun exposure, but obviously not 
the  rest of the year, when I take PILLS! 
 
I agree that taking most other pills for a deficiency state might be  
necessary for a certain amount of time to replenish missing stores as quickly as  
possible, but doing so without searching for the cause of the deficit is  akin to 
continuing to pour water into a leaking bucket without looking for the  
source of the leak. In the case of iron, yes, cooking in cast iron pots does  give 
us quite a bit of extra iron, but it is not a whole lot different from  taking 
iron pills- it is an artificial means of replenishing iron. If a person  is 
discovered to be iron deficient, it certainly would be worthwhile to attempt  
to unearth the reason. Celiac disease or other intestinal malabsorption  
problems, parasites, etc.  would be worth investigating. Dr. Michael Eades,  in his 
book, The Protein Power Lifeplan, has an entire chapter devoted  to iron- how 
the bodies of Paleo people controlled the amount, why many of  us today have 
dangerous HIGH iron levels, and what can be done about  it.
 
Lastly, we have a situation where few (if any) of us here on this list were  
brought up on a Paleo sort of lifestyle since birth; therefore, we may have  
developed conditions detrimental to our health over a lifetime of eat the SAD  
before switching to a more Paleo type of diet. While I now eat close to 
probably  85% grass-fed meats, wild caught seafood, free-range poultry etc. I am 
still not  getting the benefits of consuming entire animals. At my age and 
condition, I do  choose to take a high quality CoEnzyme Q10 supplement and will 
continue to do so  for the remainder of my life. Additionally, I continue to take 
cod liver oil  daily, (I use the lemon flavored liquid by Carlson) since I 
feel I cannot  possibly consume an adequate amount from the foods I eat. The 
pervasive  deficiency of essential fatty acids along with the skewed O6 to O3 
ratio is of  major concern to most of the SAD eating folks in this country. I feel 
the  correction of this situation alone would go a very long way towards 
solving many  of this country's rampant health problems. But that's a whole 
'nother  discussion!
 
Best,
Maddy Mason
Hudson Valley, NY



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