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Natural vs. Synthetic vs. "Whole" |
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Synthetic or Natural?
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Nobody really likes what
I have to say on this subject. And, to be fair, the
answer is an inherently awkward one. Most vitamin products,
even those sold in health food stores or by distributors, contain synthetic
vitamin powders. There are only a few manufacturers of vitamin powders, and
they are almost always large pharmaceutical companies. Generally, a) Laboratory-made
vitamins are far cheaper than whole food concentrates; One of the chief
differences in “health food store” vs “drug store”
brands is what is not in the
tablet. For example, the natural brands leave out artificial chemical
colors, which is a good thing to do. Just about all brands contain
tablet fillers and excipients, needed to physically hold the pill together.
Since these will vary, the only way to find out exactly who uses what is to
write to the company and find out.
Some tableting
ingredients are pretty standard, such as magnesium stearate,
sodium citrate, dicalcium phosphate, cellulose and silica. I consider these
harmless fillers to be "natural enough" for me. Vitamins can legally be called “Natural” even
if made in a laboratory. You would not think so, but it is
true. Vitamin C, for example, is factory-made from starch. Starch
is certainly natural, so the product can be termed
“Natural.” Is this starch-based vitamin C identical to
orange-juice vitamin C? Most biochemists say yes, because: 1) they appear to have identical molecular structure 2) vitamin C in animal bodies is made from carbohydrates
anyway, and But the actual molecular construction process is not identical. Factories do not
use L-gulonolactone oxidase from animal liver to make vitamin C. Nor do
they copy the orange tree’s plant metabolism. Can one get an
identical product from a different process? Yes. But the real test must be, does the
vitamin in front of you prevent and cure disease. Drs. Linus Pauling, Ewan
Cameron, Robert Cathcart and others have established that very high doses of
factory-made ascorbic acid vitamin C work just fine against viral and
bacterial illness. It is possible that food concentrate vitamin C may be
superior. Let’s say it was twice as good. But to use 40,000
milligrams (mg) of orange juice C, instead of 80,000 mg of synthetic ascorbic
acid, is impractical, bordering on the impossible. It would be too
expensive, either to manufacture all this from oranges, or to eat from the
oranges. It would take roughly 600 oranges to obtain 40,000 mg of vitamin
C. Even if natural C were TEN times as effective, which I sincerely
doubt, it would still take well over 100 oranges a day to do the job. My recommendation?
When you are sick, eat as many oranges (and other vitamin-C rich fruits) as
you can, while you also take tens
of thousands of milligrams of cheap, supplemental ascorbic acid vitamin C. In some cases, the
natural form of a vitamin IS clearly superior to the synthetic form. The best example is vitamin
E. The natural form of vitamin E is called "D-ALPHA TOCOPHEROL,"
and is made from vegetable oil. The synthetic form is DL-alpha tocopherol.
Not a big difference in name, is it. There is considerable evidence that the
natural "D" (dextro-, or right-handed) molecular form of Vitamin E
is far more useful to the body than is the synthetic. The natural form is
also more expensive, but not much more. In choosing a vitamin E supplement,
you should carefully read the label... the ENTIRE label. It is remarkable how
many natural-looking brown bottles with natural-sounding brand names contain
the synthetic form. As you learn more and make your choices, I need to emphasize that I offer neither endorsement nor
advice about any particular brand of supplement. Email or Facebook requests for product recommendations will not receive a reply. “Whole Food” Supplement Checklist
Remember: my major objection to whole food vitamin supplements is that they are not.
This comment of mine was blocked from the “Reviews” section of a major supplement manufacturer.
"Whole food" vitamins should be entirely derived from whole foods. Look carefully at the side label claims for this product. There is no way you can get those high numbers from food concentrates alone. Laboratory/synthetic fortification is needed, and added, to reach those numbers. Yes, those are good high levels of vitamins. Yes, the tablet BASE is food. But the source of the vitamins is not. I have over 40 years in the natural health field and don't think laboratory vitamins should carry a whole-food price. Ask the manufacturer, in writing by email, if the entire label claim for potency is entirely derived
from foods and foods alone. And ask what the food source is for each vitamin. I think this product is deceptively labeled.”
I have looked at some of the most respected names in the whole food supplement business, and have found products that are fortified to label claim with synthetic vitamins.
Laboratory vitamins in a food paste or food base does not justify a “Whole food” label. The base is not what you are buying the vitamin supplement for; you are buying the supplement for the vitamin.
Why would someone want to take “whole foods” supplements?
1) They do not want to eat the whole foods, or
2) they want higher potency than foods can provide
My opinion is: For higher potency, take cheap vitamins. The exception is vitamin E, which has to be the natural (mixed tocopherols plus all four tocotrienols). For the benefits of whole foods, eat the whole foods.
All natural vitamin E is food derived, typically from vegetable oil. How much wheat germ oil would it take in a tablet or capsule to make even 50 IU of vitamin E?
If the supplement is a tablet, there is no oil in it. They use the dry (usually “succinate” form) of vitamin E.
How much brewers’ or nutritional yeast would it take to get even a moderately high amount of the B vitamins? I used to take brewer’s yeast tablets, and the answer is, about a dozen.
All vitamin C is essentially food-derived (Corn or other food starch).
Most animals make their own vitamin C. What they make is ascorbic acid.
Vitamin C is ascorbic acid, C6H8O6, and that's pretty much all there is to it. If you really want to impress your friends, ascorbic acid can also be called (5R)-5-[(1S)-1,2-Dihydroxyethyl]-3,4-dihydroxy-2(5H)-furanone. As I liked to tell my university students, now there is something for you to answer when your parents ask what you learned in school today.
Even if this molecule comes from GMOs, which I disapprove of, it is still molecularly OK. You cannot genetically modify carbon, hydrogen, or oxygen atoms and you cannot genetically modify the physics of the bonds between them.
There are two ways the atoms can arrange themselves to make C6H8O6. One is ascorbic acid. The other is erythorbic acid, also known as isoascorbic acid or D-araboascorbic acid. It is a commercial antioxidant, but cannot be utilized by the body as an essential nutrient. Erythorbic acid is never a food supplement ingredient.
Synthesized ascorbic acid is the same as animals make, and the same as found in plants and fruits. There are many other beneficial factors in plants and fruits. So eat them.
The carotene in just one medium carrot could provide 5,000 I.U. of vitamin A (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Nutritive Value of Foods, 1981). How much vitamin A is in your whole-food supplement? As it takes one medium carrot to give you the RDA of vitamin A as carotene, could that tablet hold a carrot? Could three or even six of those tablets contain a whole carrot?
Key "whole food" supplement shopping tactics
Look for very LOW potency. High potency cannot be obtained from “whole food” sources of the label-claim vitamins.
Look for HUGE tablets, and a label that will tell you to take 3, 4 or even 6 a day to meet the label claims.
You will NOT have to look for high price: that is a given.
Even the quite low RDA levels for vitamin C, magnesium, and niacin are unlikely to be met by whole food sources only.
And the issue is ONLY. A label-stated mixture of sources, or an ambiguous, vague label declaration means laboratory vitamins have been added.
I do not think you should pay a “whole food” price for a mostly synthetic product.
The complete text of Irwin Stone's vitamin C book "The Healing Factor" is posted for free reading at http://vitamincfoundation.org/stone/
How to reach saturation (bowel tolerance) with oral doses of vitamin C, by Robert F. Cathcat http://www.doctoryourself.com/titration.html
Different types (not
brands) of supplements are considered at “Buffering”
ascorbic acid is covered at and the bioflavinoids
(vitamin C cofactors) are discussed at Andrew Saul is the author of the books FIRE YOUR
DOCTOR! How to be Independently Healthy (reader reviews at http://www.doctoryourself.com/review.html
) and DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing that Works. (reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/saulbooks.html
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AN IMPORTANT NOTE: This page is not in any way offered as prescription, diagnosis nor treatment for any disease, illness, infirmity or physical condition. Any form of self-treatment or alternative health program necessarily must involve an individual's acceptance of some risk, and no one should assume otherwise. Persons needing medical care should obtain it from a physician. Consult your doctor before making any health decision. Neither the author nor the webmaster has authorized the use of their names or the use of any material contained within in connection with the sale, promotion or advertising of any product or apparatus. Single-copy reproduction for individual, non-commercial use is permitted providing no alterations of content are made, and credit is given. |
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