From: Kevin Kelly <kkelly@rrnet.com>

Organization: Forever Healthy

Subject: Re: Supplements? Check deficiency- but how?

Gary,

You wrote:

>Very nice Kevin,

>Now want to go about telling us how to determine if we have a

>deficiency? What blood, urine and stool and maybe even hair samples

>are needed and who to send them to and what we should be looking for?

>Are RDA's enough?

First, a clarification, not an implication from your thoughts. The

RDAs are not a digagnostic tool. Often times, the RDAs are used to

diagnose a medical condition. The RDAs are meant to be used as a

guideline, just like the height/weight charts. People do not fit into

categories. The RDAs apply to a healthy population, which covers most

people. When illness and true nutritional deficiencies exist, more

than the RDA is usually needed to bring that person back to good

health. Keep in mind what R in RDA stands for: Recommended.

Finally, only a physician can make a medical diagnosis. As a

dietitian, I can pick out nutritional deficiencies, and suspect that a

medical condition exists, but I will need the help of a physician.

Finding nutritional deficiencies is rather easy. No expensive tests

are needed. My patients/clients keep a food record for a week. This

helps me individualize nutrition programs. Looking at a food record

will usually tell me if there is a nutritional deficiency. I rarely

use a software package, but for certain cases I do. I screen all

clients/patients, and if a red flag comes up, I send them to a

physician. At that point, tests on blood, urine and stool are done if

needed. As far as hair tests, I am very suspicious of them. I think

they are almost always part of the fraudulent end of the health care

industry. I am sure there are situations where hair testing is

informative, but I think that is few and far between.

Kevin Kelly, Licensed Registered Dietitian