The SONA Study is the longest running study conducted to determine the level of nutrients which the body needs daily in order to obtain optimal health, and in the case of the 15 year study, remain disease free. This article summarizes the highlights of that 49,000-page study.
If you have not read The SONA (Suggested Optimal Nutrient Allowance) Study, it certainly understandable. The report is 49,000 pages long, and it took fifteen years to complete the study. The next logical question would be, “What is it, and why should I care?”
The SONA Study is the longest running study conducted to determine the level of nutrients which the body needs daily in order to obtain optimal health, and in the case of the 15 year study, remain disease free. Without recreating the 49,000 pages, here are some of the highlights.
Through the years, the medical industry and the U.S. government have acknowledged that there are essential nutrients which the body must have, yet cannot make on its own. It is why the RDA (Recommended Daily Dietary Allowance) has been revised upwards of ten times since its creation in 1941 by the National Academy of Sciences. The RDA was originally created to prevent scurvy (vitamin C deficiency), beriberi (thiamine deficiency), and pellagra (niacin deficiency). However, as we have learned through ongoing studies, the RDA is still inadequate. It was developed from six to nine month studies which are much too short a window into the human life cycle to be accurate.
The RDA does not address all the toxins, stress, alcohol consumption, tobacco use, or prescription drugs the body is subjected to – and the depletion of nutrients that these all cause. As a quick example, any smoker is going to show an additional need for vitamin C, beta-carotene, zinc, vitamin B6, and vitamin E. Studies have shown these deficiencies can lead to many of the complications that smokers are prone to have. At some point, the RDA again will be revised upward since none of these depletions are accounted for.
There needed to be a long-running study, involving thousands of people, so extensive and detailed, that the level of nutrients required to be healthy over one’s lifetime and enjoy life could be determined. Funded by the U.S. Senate, the University of Alabama School of Medicine took on the 15-year, multimillion dollar project. Drs. Cheraskin and Ringdorf were the senior investigators and covered six various regions of the United States. Many of the findings and articles on various minerals, amino acids, essential oils, and vitamins published over the past 20 years have come as a result of this ground-breaking study. The study was going to finally determine what, and how many, essential nutrients there actually are.
The study’s basic goal was to find the ideal daily consumption of each nutrient to determine the optimum amount a person should have to maintain health. Let’s just take a look at one vitamin as an example - the well known vitamin C. The average mean daily intake of the healthiest, disease-free participants was 410mg per day. Now, compare that to the RDA recommended 90mg per day, and you can see the huge discrepancy.
In addition, to validate the effects of this one vitamin, 33 clinical studies published in the American Journal of Clinical nutrition found the higher the intake of vitamin C above the RDA, the more significant the protection against cancer. Smoking depletes vitamin C, along with other nutrients, leaving the body defenseless. One can therefore understand why smokers make up some 95% of lung cancer patients. Taking a multivitamin that is based on the SONA Study makes a lot of sense. It will be far superior to the RDA-based vitamins, most of which include all kinds of non-essential nutrients just to help market products.
In 2002, after decades of anti-vitamin policies, the American Medical Association finally chose to recommend daily multivitamins. This may open the door so that, over time, doctors will have more training on nutrition. For years, the one brief class they usually receive has been woefully insufficient. After nearly 100 years of knowing how important the essential nutrients are, perhaps we are close to recognizing that you simply cannot be healthy without proper nutrition, and the essential vitamins, minerals, essential oils and amino acids in the right ratios. It just is not possible.
The SONA Study has given us the tools we need to make wise decisions, so now let’s take a quick look at the basic requirements.
Essentially, the RDA represents the “minimum wage” (which you really can’t survive on) for health. The SONA Study represents the only nutritional guideline, backed by science, which will provide real health over your lifetime. There are 46 essential nutrients that you must have and which the body cannot make. They consist of 23 minerals, 13 vitamins, 8 essential amino acids (10 for children, 11 for premature infants), and 2 essential oils.
The multivitamins manufactured by Enerex Botanicals in Canada and distributed by EnerexUSA, are the only vitamin/mineral/enzyme formulas based on the SONA Study. There are three formulas - SONA Multi Original, SONA Multi for Athletes & 55+, and SONA Pre & Post Natal - and they are combined in the right ratios, with micro-nutrients, in a chelated tablet for maximum absorption. They are taken throughout the day so you have a steady stream of nutrients as your body needs.
Taking the appropriate SONA vitamin formula, along with an Omega 3-6-9 formula made with Primrose Oil (also available from EnerexUSA), and combine those with a healthy diet of natural foods, pure water, and exercise, will put you on the path to live a long and healthy life, or transcend out of a life of ill-health.
So...take charge of your life and get healthy!
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