Vitamins, Synthetic or Natural

We all know that we need a variety of vitamins for great health, there are many who feel that they are lacking in one way or another, which is why Vitamin sales are going through the roof at or above 36 billion dollars a year and growing, also why the doctor’s offices are over booked with deficiency symptoms.
 
The interest in taking supplements began in the early 1940’s which Interestingly coincides with the interest in organic farming.

Okay, now let’s say you are deficient in vitamin C, would you prefer to take, an isolated vitamin or a whole food containing the vitamin you need. There are many that think a vitamin is a vitamin is a vitamin whether synthetic or natural.

To make a point let’s compare these two choices to a visual picture. Imagine listening to an orchestra playing beautiful music, the harmonizing tones of several violins are playing in unison with the low tones of the bass along with the melodic sounds of the piano and harp included with the natural beating of the drum and xylophone. As with any orchestra there would be many more instruments working together like chimes and cymbals etc. to make this a pleasurable experience. Compare this to eating a whole orange with it’s overture of flavor and symphony of nutrition enhancing the vitamin C.

Now let’s remove all the instruments except the drum, now all you hear through the whole performance is the boom, boom, boom of the drum. I think one might get a headache by the end of the concert. You would probably leave feeling let down.

The point I am trying to impress here is that when you isolate any vitamin or nutrient from the whole food it loses its power and doesn’t make beautiful music/health in the body as it would if the whole food were eaten. In other words, all vitamins and minerals work better when they perform together, especially when conducted by nature in the proper levels that only nature can provide. This ensemble of nutrients within an orange will make its vitamin C more bio-available as compared to its synthetic isolated counterpart. Whole foods have the co-nutrients that work so well in concert with one another. It’s a beautiful thing.

Bottom line is that man can not create the perfection that nature does. Imitate maybe but imitations are fake, in this case imitation is not a good form of flattery.

Common Synthetic Vitamins to Avoid

Look for clues on your vitamin’s label that offer insight into the origin of the vitamin.
•    Vitamin A: Retinyl Palmitate
•    Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): Thiamine Mononitrate, Thiamine Hydrochloride
•    Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): Riboflavin
•    Pantothenic Acid: Calcium D-Pantothenate
•    Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine): Pyridoxine Hydrochloride
•    Vitamin B12: Cyanocobalamin
•    PABA (Para-aminobenzoic Acid): Aminobenzoic Acid
•    Folic Acid: Pteroylglutamic Acid
•    Choline: Choline Chloride, Choline Bitartrate
•    Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid): Ascorbic Acid
•    Vitamin D: Irradiated Ergosteral, Calciferol
•    Vitamin E: dl-alpha tocopherol, dl-alpha tocopherol acetate or succinate

NOTE: The “dl” form of any vitamin is synthetic.

Other Toxic Ingredients to Avoid In Supplements

•    Magnesium stearate (or stearic acid)
•    Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) disguised as “natural flavors”
•    Carnauba wax is used in car wax and shoe polish
     Titanium dioxide is a carcinogen