Synthetic-Vitamins ?

What's the difference?

"Synthetic-vitamins"... We need to consider carefully which vitamins and minerals we take.

The pharmaceutical and nutritional industry would have us believe that synthetic-vitamins and inorganic minerals are as beneficial as those found naturally in our foods, and can be utilised by the cells in our bodies to enhance health and longevity.

Synthetic means 'man-made' and nothing synthetic is ever found in nature. Yet there are many products on the market that are labelled 'natural' even though they are full of synthetic ingredients.

It was the Nobel Prize laureat, Dr Albert Szent-Giorgi who first discovered Vitamin C. He found that he could not cure scurvy with synthetic ascorbic acid itself, but could do so with vitamin C found in foods. He concluded that cell utilisation requires a food matrix of nature's co-factors.

So let's look at Vitamin C. Many of us think of vitamin C and ascorbic acid as being the same thing. Actually, Ascorbic Acid is an isolate, a fraction, a distillate of naturally occurring vitamin C. In addition to ascorbic acid, vitamin C must include rutin, bioflavonoids, Factor K, Factor J, Factor P, Tyrosinase, Ascorbinogen, and other components.

In addition, mineral co-factors must be available in proper amounts. If any of these parts are missing, there is no vitamin C, no vitamin activity. When some of them are present, the body will draw on its own stores to make up the differences, so that the whole vitamin may be present. Only then will vitamin activity take place, provided that all other conditions and co-factors are present. Ascorbic acid is described merely as the "antioxidant wrapper" portion of vitamin C; ascorbic acid protects the functional parts of the vitamin from rapid oxidation or breakdown.

Over 90% of ascorbic acid in America is manufactured by one of the world's biggest drug manufacturers. Here ascorbic acid is made from a process involving cornstarch and volatile acids. Most U.S. vitamin companies then buy the bulk ascorbic acid from this single facility. After that, marketing takes over. Each company makes its own labels, its own claims, and its own formulations, each one claiming to have the superior form of vitamin C, even though it all came from the same place, and it's really not vitamin C at all.

Studies have proven that antioxidants and nutrients derived from foods promote health and are effective in the prevention of cancer and degenerative disease.

A huge problem exists because sales for synthetic-vitamins and drugs can involve a massive 3500% profit margin while food supplements are marked up 20 to 50%. Could the industry profits on sales of synthetic vitamins be blinding them to the truth of credible research that says that synthetics can be harmful and even lethal? The majority of today's nutritional products contain synthetic-vitamins and they are also being added to enrich breads, flour and other foodstuffs.

Early research done by Dr Agnes Faye Morgan (University of California) reported that taking synthetic-vitamins is worse than starvation. Animals fed synthetic-vitamins had toxic reactions or died quickly of degenerative diseases compared to those fed whole foods. Many other studies have shown the lack of health benefits from synthetic vitamins while other studies report toxicity and serious side effects.

Experimental case and clinical studies show that a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables can be protective against cancer and, in fact, reduce the risk of cancer.

Unfortunately modern farming practices, the need to pick fruit before it fully ripens and the mass manufacture and distribution of processed foods containing additives and preservatives, means, without doubt, that supplementation is necessary.

Since studies have revealed a progressive depletion of antioxidants in our food, many people are taking isolated supplements. Unfortunately, most of "these antioxidant preparations do not match nature's recipe", according to Rita Ellithorpe, MD. Dr Ellithorpe's research documented that whole food supplements boosted antioxidant activity 239.7% over isolated single nutrients/antioxidants and suggested that "....consumers attempting to derive antioxidant protection with pharmaceutical-like preparations or isolated or combinational antioxidants appear to be failing."

In summary, it is impossible to obtain all the necessary nutrients from our modern-day diets so it is absolutely vital that we supplement, but we do need to be extremely vigilant and be sure that the supplements we are taking are real food supplements and not synthetic-vitamins. Please do your homework and make sure you are getting what your body requires or you are not only wasting your money but you could be sabotaging your health. There are products on the market that meet the criteria necessary.

You'll find more information on 'how to evaluate vitamin/mineral products' here.

Don't forget to opt-in at the top of the page to become a Wellness Friend so that you receive the Choose Wellness Newsletter, download free gifts and access all pages on this site.