Kerala's major health crisis ( soil condition might be a co-factor)

Farming & Soil
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The state with the highest diabetes %, cardiac disease %, cancer incidence, cancer deaths, and overall highest mortality in the country is Kerala.

Health & Environmental Sustainability are deeply intertwined. Read on to know, how the soil condition in Kerala is affecting the health of the individuals.

In the initial days of my health care research, I was wondering why Kerala alone has got the highest % of the occurrence of lifestyle diseases & chronic diseases

Few ‘experts’ were blaming the coconut oil they use for cooking (which is not the case & far from the truth). Few were blaming the high-carb diet. But, more or less, all Indians have a similar dietary routine (recipes might be different, but mostly a high-carb diet).

But, how come the diabetes % of Kerala is 2.5x that of the national average? I wanted to go deep to find out the real root cause.

Eventually, got to know that around 80% of soil samples in Kerala had a magnesium deficiency, 70% had a boron deficiency and 50% had a calcium deficiency.

I can’t emphasize enough how crucial minerals (&trace minerals) are important to our bodies.

More than 80% of Indians are deficient in vitamin D. All patients suffering from autoimmune diseases to Diabetes have one thing in common - vitamin D deficiency.

Again, how could people living in a tropical country like India are deficient in Vit. D? After going deep, I had a moment of epiphany, and found that they were deficient in Magnesium (All of the enzymes that metabolize vitamin D seem to require magnesium).

Magnesium is also crucial for blood sugar regulation, blood pressure regulation, cardiac health, muscle tone, bowel movements, sleep, stress, overall relaxation so on & so forth

Calcium is another important mineral that is generally overlooked thinking that its only for bones and teeth. Be it, cancer proliferation/ acne /external tumour growth, they have one thing in common - calcium deficiency. Calcium is very important in intercellular communication. Any unwanted growth in the body is due to the lack of Calcium.

Boron is an important trace mineral that helps your body retain more Magnesium and Calcium. Boron lengthens the amount of time Vitamin D is available in the body.

So, it’s not a wonder, as the soil is lacking these crucial minerals, it’s affecting the health of the consumers. Up until now, this was just my theory and analysis. However, a clinical research team gave a report to the governor stating that 85% of Keralites are prone to Diabetes due to genetic Magnesium deficiency. This solidified my observations.

The impact of minerals (electrolytes) on our human body is generally overlooked. Many chronic illnesses could just be treated by giving appropriate doses of electrolytes. There are a few other significant factors as well. But, I am leaving it here as this goes beyond the scope of this forum.

Solution:

Soil health is crucial for human health. Farmers must think beyond NPK. Other minerals and trace minerals are also significant

Soil mineralization is certainly required if the soil is lacking in minerals (& trace minerals). Soil pH needs to be maintained in order to retain minerals.

For home gardeners, mineral powders must be used along with the vermicompost

Besides consumer health, soil mineralization also helps in better crop yield

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5 Likes
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Damn. I would have thought it was exactly the opposite to this. Most of my Malayali friends seem to be healthier than others. So yeah, sampling bias, I guess.

Also, take supplements of Magnesium, Zinc, Boron, Calcium, Vitamin D?

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Wow, this is insightful.

However, aren’t the symptoms from these deficiencies easily visible in plants?

When I was cultivating chilli in Assam, I used to apply foliar applications of all these 3 minerals.

Mg deficiency resulted in pale yellow leaves with green veins; Boron was a standard spray to optimise flowering and fruit setting. I sprayed foliar calcium during fruiting to increase shelf life of the fruits, however, liming of the soil before planting also gave a boost to the calcium content.

Also, I just read that most of the soil in Kerela is acidic. So isn’t liming to decrease acidity a standard practice there already? Because liming with dolomite should solve both Mg and Ca deficiency issues in one go.

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A person suffering from an ailment must be given appropriate mineral supplements to expedite the healing. But, a normal person need not be obsessed about supplements. Ideally, food sources are better (tough but manageable).

Infact, It’s tough to get all the minerals through pills. Multiple pills might be required to grab all the electrolytes

For the daily use, an US based company has got an electrolyte powder with all key minerals & trace minerals made with all the natural ingredients & Stevia.

But, now they have stopped shipping to India due to customs issues. But, we can still get it through our friends/relatives residing there. We can rely on such brands until we get a Desi product.

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In other places where crops are not displaying any symptoms, Perhaps crops might be receiving only minimal levels of electrolytes bare enough to survive (similar to humans, symptoms are only visible when the deficiency reaches a dangerous level)

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Curious…how does one replenish soil at scale?

I believe we have to avoid tilling and mono-cropping, which would require overhauls of everything? Are there other ways

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we are interested to work with farmers and would like to show them the visible change in their work load, cost wise and outcome comes with residual free

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this is where our Nutritionally balanced Farming plays an important role…other than NPK , the required micro nutrients should be given to the plant during its life line…goodfood is the main source to be away from diseases.

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Hi, just curious, can this issue be solved through addition of these minerals into fertilizers produced from food waste?