Integral Nutritional Guide: The Encyclopedia of the Ideas about Nutrition

By E. Gurman and B.Z. Zaripov

Nutrition is a complex phenomenon attributed to all living beings. It has many different aspects, the consideration of which is usually divided between completely different experts with different motivations.

In the book brought to your attention, the complex phenomenon is considered integratively with the only motivation - to give objective ideas and guidance to navigate in this amazing phenomenon.
Very often, nutrition literature imposes on the reader certain recipes/diets, as it were, suitable for all occasions. It is easy to use and convenient for the inexperienced consumer, but unrealistic.
It seems to us that the health of each person is the most important for him and understanding the true state of affairs in matters of nutrition deserves certain efforts and knowledge by everyone. In fact, the proposed guide is a personal adviser to everyone to achieve their own goals in life through the right (right for him/her) nutrition.

Honest scientifically correct information with minimum specific terminology and without professional jargon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798369406335

E. Gurman

Prof. Efroim G. Gurman, PhD, Dr.Sci., Published 8 books in different genres (from scientific and manual to humorous stories both in English and Russian) and 120+ scientific articles. Headed several laboratories as nutritionist, physiologist, pharmacologist. Now lived in New York where he runs veterinary clinic and VetVittles – natural pet supplements company, lecturing in several Universities. Prof. Bakriddin Z. Zaripov, PhD, Dr.Sci. Academician of several Academies Published 6 scientific and popular books, more than 400 scientific articles. Headed several laboratories and scientific institutions. Physiologist, nutritionist. Now lived in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) where he headed several institutions and lectured in Universities. Leader of international societies on behalf of Food Safety and healthy nutrition.

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Copyright © 2023 by E. Gurman, B.Z. Zaripov.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 09/07/2023

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1Appetite and Food Behavior—Timesheet of Food Consumption

Chapter 2Ingredients of Food

Chapter 3Environmental Influence on Food; Local and Social Influences; Age-Dependent Nutrition

Chapter 4The Mouth as the First Digestive Cavity; Liver; Stomach Digestion; Small Intestine; Bowel

Chapter 5Food Processing in the Gut. Cooperation of the Gut with Other Systems. Absorption and Excretion.

Chapter 6Microbiome

Chapter 7Hormonal Interaction of the Digestive System with Other Bodily Functions

Chapter 8Food Supplements

Chapter 9Culinary Input in Nutrition

Chapter 10Health Reasons of Ethnic Style of Nutrition

Chapter 11Excretion

Chapter 12General Theory of Nutrition: Adequate Theory versus Balanced One

Chapter 13Critics of Popular Diets; Monetary Aspects of Nutrition

Chapter 14Artificial/Occasional diets: Travelers, Astronauts, Comatose Patients, and Others

Chapter 15Individualized Diet

Chapter 16Be Smart, Not a Calculator: General Characteristics of Food Components

Chapter 17Final Notes and Summary

19. Recommended readings

INTRODUCTION

The authors of this book are followers of the great physiologist A. M. Ugolev, who worked mostly in the field of physiology of digestion. Our mentor made several fundamental discoveries in this field. Many of his ideas have fruitful influence on nutrition as a vital phenomenon of all living beings. His approach to nutrition was very wide, from the molecular mechanisms to the evolutionary aspects. Unfortunately, our beloved mentor passed away too early. His oeuvre was performed under not easy political system and limited contact with the world. These circumstances were, probably, the reason why his views on this important subject were not widely accepted and known all over the world. As Ugolev’s successors, we feel an obligation to continue his great journey of creation of the general integrated concept of nutrition.

Beside personal feelings, there is another highly meaningful stimulus to perform this job: the subject to which we devote our work is the most important for humanity as a whole and for each person. Because it is so important, nutrition draws the attention of researchers from different points of view. That is why different aspects of this phenomenon become rather separated. We think that such separation is unnatural and somewhat erodes the right understanding of it. Plus, extraneous motivation of those who operate on specialized aspects of nutrition may also somewhat damage the proper general perception of right nutrition.

Thus, some nutritionists stress their attention to necessary food ingredients or their dosages. Others concentrate their attention on physiology or pathology of digestion. Dietitians propose different kinds of advice, psychologists pay attention to behavioral sides of feeding, and so on. Even more, those who are involved in food production, its transportation, storage, sale, and distribution (including politics and economists) have their own specific motivations. They have also become some kind of influencers in this field of human and animal life. Nutrition is such an essential part of our lives that it is distributed among a wide range of sciences, including physiology, biochemistry, chemistry, psychology, theories of evolution, technology, farming and agriculture, and even economics and political science.

Such a division of the universal, complex but single, natural process harms its correct analysis. That is why we make an effort to integrate approaches to this important phenomenon of nature. We have to be thankful for the input of all these different researchers, but we have to have a consolidated view of this phenomenon in general. In our work, we will try to provide an integrated understanding of all aspects of the vital and unseparated phenomenon of nutrition.

One more note before the start about exact phenomenon. Different aspects of nutrition became the main subject of the business of making money, and monetary motivation can influence players in this field. We don’t want to say that those who make money on food, diet propaganda, regulation of the food industry, and so on lie. Even without a real lie, the switch of aspects can make a big difference. We have no monetary interest in this journey. Our only interest is to pass the ideas to the next generation, to help people to navigate in this complicated area. The last thing we want is to claim that our explanation of this important subject is fully completed. In the next week or month, new data and ideas will arrive and we hope our readers might also be the source of them.

The final note: if you think that any one chapter will make you familiar with the top secret of the right nutrition, you are wrong. Only the course as a whole will teach you that.

This book is addressed to students who plan to be professionals in pedagogy, medicine, and biology, entrepreneurs in the food industry, and medical professionals. It is also for parents and everybody who wants for themselves and their loved ones to live longer, happier, and healthier lives.

Personal Self-Presentations

E.G.: A couple decades ago, the Russian Academy published my monograph Scientific Basis of Cookery. I was surprised it did not become a bestseller although it passed strong editorial verification and received several rather excellent reviews from scientists and professionals in dietology there and from Canada and the United States. It was even stranger because I put in it my best understanding of the relationship between the physiology of nutrition and the health consequences of different food eating manners—the main concern of any reasonable person.

Now I understand why. Dietology is a field where myriads of prophets are harvesting. We used to think that dietology is some kind of science. That is not absolutely fair. In real science, there is an apparatus which sooner or later lets us objectively separate fact from fiction and right theory from false. In contrast, ideas about diet are usually based on statistical data. This methodology is not so simple and provides an overview of important details and accepted facts, separated from the whole picture. Plus, experimentation in this field is expensive, needs long observation, and usually relies on questioning, which is often rather subjective.

Evolutionary nutrition is the first function of any living being. it passed so long evolutionary testing and adaptation and it is so well-done now, that it might resist almost any stupid recommendations of feeding at least in a short period. In my book, I analyzed numerous popular diets and came to the conclusion that most of them had no strong scientific basis. Yes, some of them are built rather well and are attractive. Some use this or that scientifically proven idea. In the end, those who really know the physiology of nutrition cannot accept them without skepticism and certain limitations. The main reason for that is the necessity of a new scientific approach to this important subject.

The standard scientific approach in many sciences suggests that one agent causes one main effect: gravity causes a subject to fall down, warming causes expansion of a subject’s size, certain microbes cause inflectional disease, and so on. The new scientific approach has to be based on a not-so-common methodology and an understanding of the plurality of effects caused by a multiplicity of causal factors.

It took me the next couple of decades to come closer to this conclusion, partially while I tried to understand how supplements work. (See my recent book Supplements: Integrated Approach, 2022.) Even now, my stronger side is the criticism of other diets rather than the proposition of a new one which might be recommended for everybody. (The secret of such a nutritional style I will explain at the end of the course for those who will follow my thoughts to the end of our journey.) I guess it is a principle point because the best diet is an individualized one which might demand detailed knowledge of the person who will use it.

The principle idea of a new approach to the diet should be based on understanding that food, the digestive system, and other bodily functions comprise a non-separable unit. Actually, when we analyze nutrition, we have to see the long chain of connected things. These include appetite; food content and its processing through the mouth, gastric juices, small intestine, and bowel; interaction with microflora; supply of the organism’s needs with calories, constructive materials, and regulatory factors; interaction of the gut with endocrine and neuro-systems; excretion, and so on. All of these steps have to be observed through the prism of evolutionary and genetic prehistory of organisms and food. That is not all. You have to take into account environmental conditions and the specific status and lifestyle of the eater. Plus, all these aspects have to be seen in a time-related manner. In addition, we have to account for the economic situation of the eater, his or her biography, and food availability. Too many factors for the simple conclusion have to be accounted for.

It is really super complicated. I know that normal contemporary people avoid long explanations; they prefer short and simple rules and advices. However, think about these two reasons. Each of you is more or less unique and nobody is more interested in your success than you yourself. The importance of your health and life success might push you to follow this conversation. Simpler is not always better or right.

I was lucky to meet my colleague and friend Bakriddin Zaripov at a young age. We were both students at Ugolev’s laboratory. Our ways of thinking are very similar and we both have great memories of our mentor. This is the winning ticket to be co-authors of the book.

In the next sections of our conversation, we will share with you our thoughts about one-by-one aspect of the whole subject. You can also send us your questions and we will review interesting things for the next edition. On our side, we promise to avoid or minimize specific terminology while keeping explanations strictly and scientifically valid.

B.Z.: Academician A. Yu. Yunusov lectured to us in our third year at the university. His lectures were very interesting, informative, and entertaining. When his lectures touched on the physiology of digestion, he spoke in detail, fascinatingly and substantively, about a new, recently discovered type of digestion: membrane digestion. This had been discovered by an outstanding scientist, academician A.M. Ugolev. Even then, I knew that I would deal with the topic of digestion and nutrition all my life. After all, for all living things there is nothing more important than proper nutrition.

I began my scientific career at the Institute of Physiology of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan. Naturally, I chose the laboratory of physiology of digestion, which was headed by Professor K. R. Rakhimov, one of A. M. Ugolev’s first students. When Professor Rakhimov considered that my qualifications had reached a certain level, he sent me for further professional development to the Institute of I.P. Pavlova in Koltushi, then the capital of physiological science in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

I was happy to get into the laboratory of A.M. Ugolev. The first meeting with Alexander Mikhailovich was unforgettable. His global scale, subtle paternal charm, fruitful advice, and setting of original scientific problems fascinated the young scientist. From that moment on, I was (and still remain) mentally connected with this great laboratory and with the name of my dear mentor, Alexander Mikhailovich Ugolev.

I worked for many years in various scientific and organizational positions. I started as the head of the laboratory and ended as the Deputy State Adviser