In this integrative healthcare webinar, Hardy Nutritionals® Founder, David Hardy, focuses on broad-spectrum nutrition as a means of both prevention and treatment for various kinds of illness.

Hardy has been researching and formulating micronutrient treatments for the past forty years. His extensive experience has clearly shown that addressing all nutrient deficiencies is essential for optimizing our health. This shouldn’t be surprising because science has proven that every metabolic process in the body requires specific essential nutrients to function properly.

In the past, the scientific method has persuaded nutrition researchers to investigate only one nutrient at a time. This method has identified some significant benefits of single nutrients that health practitioners have applied. But a new approach is revolutionizing clinical nutrition. It’s actually very simple. It involves putting all the benefits of single nutrients together to create a powerful synergistic effect.

Hardy gives a simple analogy to illustrate the power of this new, synergistic, multi-nutrient approach that a growing number of healthcare professionals are applying with great success.

In this analogy, a dam represents the human body. If there are no deficiencies in the dam, the dam holds water and functions as it should. If there are no deficiencies in the body, it too will function as it should.

Hardy then superimposes data on the dam from the US Department of Agriculture and Centers of Disease Control which shows that a large percentage of the US population is not meeting the minimum requirements for 16 essential nutrients in their diets. This human nutrient deficiency data creates holes in the dam, causing it to leak—representing the damage nutrient deficiencies cause to the body.

If a single hole in the dam (the biggest hole) is fixed the dam still leaks. This repair represents a treatment using only a single nutrient. All researchers would be able to measure is the difference between the first limiting nutrient—the biggest hole in the dam—and the next limiting nutrient—the second biggest hole in the dam. Taking care of only one nutrient deficiency at a time does not optimize health, even though it may produce measurable improvements. 

Fixing more of the holes in the dam, but not all of them, represents treatments that use only a few nutrients at once. The health benefits are still limited. Indeed, it’s not until you fix the entire dam that you restore the dam to its optimal function. It’s not until you treat every deficiency in the body that you really see the astounding effects of complete nutrition.

This analogy illustrates why the broad spectrum approach to clinical nutrition is so much more powerful than single nutrient treatments.

Since scientists have begun to use a multi-nutrient approach in their research, they have discovered that properly-formulated broad-spectrum nutrition delivers remarkable benefits to many aspects of health.

For example, a recent meta-analysis examined all the published research that used essential minerals and vitamins for treating mood disorders. The findings confirm that no simple interventions using just one or a few nutrients could be considered an effective treatment of a mood disorder. Only broad spectrum combinations of vitamins and minerals achieved this status.

Hardy then reviews a few examples from randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials on study participants who took broad-spectrum vitamin-mineral supplements. In all of these studies, vitamin-mineral supplements showed statistically significant improvements in mood compared with placebo.

For example, researchers at a maximum-security US hospital showed reductions in the incidence of violent and nonviolent offenses in juvenile delinquent youth—predominantly in subjects whose blood samples showed evidence of improved nutritional status.

Researchers from several United Kingdom universities showed reductions in prison offenses (including violence or serious rule violations) in hundreds of young adult prisoners.

Researchers from a Netherlands university and the Netherlands Ministry of Justice also found fewer aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors in young adult prisoners.  

A Harvard researcher recently commented on these first three independent double-blind studies: “Especially in view of the minimal side effects, the 3 [randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials] in young incarcerated offenders are sufficient grounds to proceed now with implementation in correctional facilities.”

This next study Hardy shows gives good evidence that many incarcerations may be preventable simply by using broad-spectrum vitamin-mineral supplements. Researchers in the United States showed reductions in violent and nonviolent misconduct—threats, fights, vandalism, defiance, disrespect, and obscenities—in children and adolescents with aggressive behaviors and disordered conduct.

Vitamin-mineral supplements clearly improve mood in the elderly as well. Researchers at a university in the United Arab Emirates showed improvement in standard geriatric measures of depression in hundreds of acutely ill, hospitalized elderly patients.

Researchers from several universities in the United Kingdom documented improved depression symptoms in older male nursing home residents.

Researchers from Australia showed reductions in anxiety and stress and improvements in alertness and daily functioning in healthy older men.

Although the research examined so far all showed statistical significance, none even came close to approaching the significance of this recent clinical randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted in New Zealand. In just 8 weeks, adults diagnosed with ADHD who took the clinical nutrient treatment^† showed “statistically robust improvements in a variety of areas of psychological functioning”.

Compared with placebo, those taking the micronutrient treatment^† reported more than double the improvement in attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity symptoms. It also produced nearly double the improvement in moderate or severe depression, as rated by clinical psychologists. And more than twice as many people were ‘very much improved’ or ‘much improved’ overall, compared with the placebo group.

The one year follow-up to this trial showed that those remaining on the micronutrient treatment^† continued to experience improved mood whereas those who discontinued it or reverted to medications worsened.

The potential applications of broad-spectrum nutrition in mental health are astounding. Dr. Julia Rucklidge, who published the double-blind research on adult ADHD using one of Hardy’s formulas^† states, “The evidence now is pretty remarkable in terms of using vitamins and minerals for the treatment of mental illness, and while we've been collecting data to look at it specifically for the treatment of ADHD for which we found a robust effect compared to placebo in adults with ADHD, there are also other studies that have been done both in my lab and also internationally that have shown the effect of micronutrients for the treatment of stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism,…across the whole range of disorders like depression, anxiety and stress.”

In clinical experience and research, Hardy’s formulas^† have shown never-before-seen results.

Dr. Charles Popper from Harvard Medical School, who has treated hundreds of patients using Daily Essential Nutrients and other formulations developed by David Hardy^†, describes his first experience with one of Hardy’s formulas, “I first became involved in nutrition as a psychiatrist observing a 10 year-old boy who had bipolar disorder—a very serious form of it. He was having major temper tantrums for an hour, two hours, four hours a day every day for some months—a very seriously disruptive set of symptoms. And he took a vitamin-mineral supplement and within 5 days his symptoms cleared entirely. The tantrums were gone on the 5^th day of treatment and he wasn't even irritable; he wasn't even grouchy. Now, we don't have any psychiatric drugs that can do that. I've never seen a psychiatric drug do that in any case...!”

Researchers in Canada documented a similar astounding outcome in a young boy with three devastating diagnoses that were not alleviated with conventional treatment and medication. Hardy’s micronutrient treatment^† not only removed the symptoms of all three disorders, restoring him to a normal life, but did so at about 1% of the cost of the conventional treatment.

Researchers from Ohio State University followed a young boy with severe mood dysregulation who had seen little or no benefit from conventional medications for more than six years. The boy was stabilized in just weeks and essentially normalized within a few months using micronutrients^†.

Following a major earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, researchers measured the power of one of Hardy’s formulas^† in reducing stress, anxiety, and depression in earthquake survivors. 

The formula delivered nearly four times the effect of taking no supplement and nearly two times the benefit of Bayer’s Berocca Performance, a vitamin-mineral stress formula proven effective in several double blind studies. The increased effectiveness of Hardy’s micronutrient treatment^† over a carefully formulated and proven product was nothing short of astounding.

These research findings are consistent with the very positive responses our formulas have delivered in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.

All of this research establishes a solid case for the use of our broad-spectrum micronutrients as a promising treatment for mood symptoms.

Daily Essential Nutrients is a specialized, broad-spectrum micronutrient treatment containing every essential mineral and vitamin science has identified, combined in a critically balanced and highly bioavailable format.

In a recent TV interview, Dr. Popper discusses how critical bioavailability is: “Especially in psychiatry, when we are using these as medical treatments, we look for very much higher quality vitamins and minerals that are demonstrated to have much higher absorption rates than the routine commercial formulations.”

Just like in nature, the minerals in Daily Essential Nutrients are pre-combined with organic molecules in a special chelation complex which renders them as much as 100 times more soluble and much more effective than the simple rock form of each element found in most supplements. 

Daily Essential Nutrients contains optimal levels of some of the most expensive and effective forms of vitamins available. It includes powerful antioxidants, several botanicals, amino acids, and other proprietary ingredients which all contribute to its potency.

It is not only in stress, anxiety, mood, and behavior disorders that our formulas have delivered ‘jaw-dropping’ results. Research is showing that our formulas can dramatically assist in addiction-recovery, including smoking cessation. Our formulas have also been shown to significantly improve sleep quality in the majority of people.

Fascinating research at the world-renowned Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience has shown that Hardy’s broad-spectrum micronutrient treatment^† could revolutionize recovery from traumatic brain injuries.

Researchers conducted a series of controlled studies with rats that were fed micronutrients^†, to test its effects on brain injuries and brain-related disorders. The researchers fed one group of mother rats Purina Rat Chow (considered to be an ideally fortified lab rat diet with 22 added vitamins and minerals) and another group of mother rats the same base diet fortified with Hardy’s more complete, specially-processed formulation^†.

When the offspring were 4 days old, researchers performed surgery on some of them, removing either the entire frontal lobe of the brain (critical for proper cognitive function) or part of the parietal lobe (important for sensory information processing). No surgery was performed on the remainder of the young rats.

After 100 days, neuroscientists carefully examined the brains of all the rats to find out why the rats fed the micronutrient formula^† showed much calmer behavior in open field tests and dramatically improved cognitive function in Morris water maze testing.

These findings are consistent with the impressive results measured by researchers around the world in many people with mood, anxiety, and behavioral disorders who have experienced life-changing mental health benefits while taking micronutrients.

When comparing the brains of rats that had no surgery—one from each diet group—the most obvious difference is the healthier-looking cerebellum in the micronutrient-fed^† rats.

Following frontal lobe surgery, the brains of rats fed the Purina Rat Chow diet showed limited recovery, while the brains of micronutrient-fed^† rats showed never-before-seen re-growth of cortical tissue allowing them to recover full cognitive function. And again, the cerebellum was healthier.

Scientists had never before measured re-growth in the parietal lobe, so it was no surprise that rats fed the Purina Rat Chow diet showed no recovery whatsoever. However, rats fed the micronutrients^† showed—for the first time ever—growth which restored full cognitive function. And once again, the cerebellum was much healthier.

When the neuroscientists carefully analyzed the rat brains under a microscope, they learned why the micronutrient-fed^† rats outperformed the Purina-fed rats. The brains of animals fed micronutrients^† had greater cortical thickness than the animals fed Purina Rat Chow—they actually had more brain matter to work with!

The brain cells of micronutrient-rats^† were more complexly-branched and better connected with neighboring cells than the brain cells of rats fed Purina Rat Chow.

This breakthrough research has broad clinical application. The enhanced brain cell health in the micronutrient-fed^† rats explains why micronutrients have produced dramatic results in people with various brain injuries (such as stroke, concussion and other traumatic brain injuries).

The proven ability of our supplement to increase cortical thickness and connectivity speaks to its potential to prevent Alzheimer’s—where brain cell deterioration and loss of cortical thickness are so evident.

A recent randomized controlled trial in patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s showed how taking just 3 vitamins for two years slowed down grey matter loss in the regions of the brain most affected by this debilitating disease by more than seven times compared with those taking placebo.

With Daily Essential Nutrients containing the equivalent or higher levels of all 3 of the vitamins used in this trial, we can expect it to deliver not only all of the protective benefits measured in this study, but so much more, based on known benefits of the many other essential nutrients in the formula.

Researchers observed that micronutrients^† have the ability to facilitate neuron re-growth. “Can this brain cell re-growth occur in humans?” Here’s a very interesting case study that points to the answer.

Because of complications at birth, resulting from a partly detached placenta, Kati was born with less than a fully developed brain. She was diagnosed with a number of serious conditions: epilepsy, blindness, cerebral palsy, and spastic quadriplegia. She seized often in spite of her medications, and even though at birth she showed some response to a bright light, indicating her optic nerve was intact, that soon deteriorated to no response at all and complete blindness.

She was kept alive only by being put on oxygen and by having one of her parents or a caregiver stand by her bed day and night to suction out her mouth because of her compromised ability to swallow. She required this constant level of care for six years, at which time the medications she was taking began to compromise her liver and she became semi-comatose—conscious for only a few hours per day.

Once she began taking micronutrients^†, she very quickly returned to full consciousness in spite of the liver compromise. Within the first month, she was taken permanently off oxygen and no longer needed to have her mouth suctioned. Within three months, her seizures ceased for the first time, and continued to be controlled even after almost all of her medications were removed. She began to show signs of recovering her sight—at first, only in the periphery of her vision. Eventually, that changed to the full scope of her view.

Hardy Nutritionals® founder, David Hardy was privileged to meet with world-renowned neurologist, Dr. Bill Tatton, who reviewed Kati’s significant case history. He confirmed that the changes in her seizures were quite clearly a response to our supplement. Dr. Tatton also indicated that her sight could have returned only if the cells in her brain registering signals from the optic nerve had recovered their function similar to the increased function produced by Hardy’s supplement in rat neurons.

Powerfully positive responses in others whose brains cells have been compromised have been measured as well.

These observations should be expected because science has discovered that deficient states in at least seven essential nutrients (3 vitamins and 4 minerals) kill brain cells. Deficient states of 4 other vitamins and 3 other minerals have been proven to degenerate brain cells.

Dr. Bruce Ames has identified 8 vitamins and minerals that break chromosomes through the same mechanisms as radiation and chemicals when they are deficient. These facts, and all else we currently know, dictate the absolute necessity of supplying our bodies with adequate levels of all essential nutrients and speak to their power in protecting health.  

The broad potential benefit of supplementation is further demonstrated by the significant epidemiological research published in reputable journals documenting decreases in serious illness associated with the ingestion of a mineral-vitamin supplement.

Here are a few of these published associations which you may not be familiar with. Breast cancer risk showed a 50% reduction, colon cancer risk reduced 75%, and all cancers reduced 60%, the incidence of stroke reduced 50%, heart attack was reduced 77%, cataract incidence 77%, hearing loss 47%, and Alzheimer’s disease 78%—all in association with taking a mineral-vitamin supplement.

The risk of having a very low birth-weight baby was reduced 86%, the risk of a very pre-term birth dropped 75%, Down’s syndrome 60%, Neural tube defects (which we know are associated with folic acid deficiencies) 48%, autism 38%, and limb defects reduced 43%—again, just in association with taking a mineral-vitamin supplement.

In recent double-blind studies, researchers have shown that multivitamin-mineral supplements can prevent many of these conditions.

Large, long-term double-blind studies in France and the United States have found that cancer and cataracts can be prevented using multiple essential nutrients. Without a doubt, more complete and more effective forms of supplements in future studies will achieve more impressive results.

Large double-blind studies conducted in the UK and Hungary have shown that multivitamin-mineral supplements containing folic acid can prevent half of total birth defects and more than 90% of neural tube defects. Multivitamin-mineral supplements achieved substantially better results than folic acid alone.

Complete nutrition has such powerful potential to prevent many serious and costly health conditions!

Daily Essential Nutrients works synergistically with many other pieces of the wellness puzzle that are already being applied in integrative medicine. This is why we enjoy partnering with integrative health professionals who add value to Hardy’s product through the expertise and knowledge they possess.

We invite you to recommend to your patients the most powerful, effective, and proven nutritional intervention available.

To get started, try Daily Essential Nutrients on a number of your most difficult patients and in time you’ll see what other health professionals and researchers are seeing. It can take your practice to a whole new level of success, as many of your patients will experience exceptional results.

Call us (1-855-955-1114) to learn how you can apply this unique treatment approach in your practice and take advantage of our special wholesale pricing for health professionals. As you track your patients’ progress on our micronutrient treatment, our support staff will be available to share the expertise we’ve gained over many years of extensive experience. 

For additional information, visit our website at www.GetHardy.com where we offer a clinical reference for healthcare professionals as well as many other online resources, including an extensive library of educational videos.

†Refers to pre-2013 versions of Truehope EMPowerplus which were co-formulated by David Hardy. Truehope EMPowerplus is a registered trademark of The Synergy Group of Canada Inc.