Whole Food Vitamins: Ascorbic Acid is not Vitamin C

[Guest guest]

At the risk of flogging a dead horse, does this clarify anything for

anyone?

 

 

 

from:

http://www.thedoctorwithin.com/index_fr.html?content=/articles/index.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHOLE FOOD VITAMINS:

 

 

 

ASCORBIC ACID IS NOT VITAMIN C

 

 

 

- Tim O’Shea

 

 

 

 

 

This will be a short chapter, but after you’re finished with it, you will

know more about vitamins than 95% of clinical nutritionists, doctors,

supplement sales force, or bodybuilders. If that sounds arrogant or

overstated, it really isn’t my fault. I’m just a messenger; a purveyor of

information. Either I’m right or the 95% are right; can’t be both.

 

 

 

Without further ado, here’s the kernel: ascorbic acid is not vitamin C.

Alpha tocopherol is not vitamin E. Retinoic acid is not vitamin A. And so on

through the other vitamins. Vast sums of money have been expended to make

these myths part of Conventional Wisdom. If you have several college degrees

and all this is news to you, don’t feel bad. Unless you think your education

ended at Commencement. Which is generally true.

 

 

 

WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS

 

 

 

Vitamins are not individual molecular compounds. Vitamins are biological

complexes. They are multi-step biochemical interactions whose action is

dependent upon a number of variables within the biological terrain. Vitamin

activity only takes place when all conditions are met within that

environment, and when all co-factors and components of the entire vitamin

complex are present and working together. Vitamin activity is even more than

the sum of all those parts; it also involves timing.

 

 

 

Vitamins cannot be isolated from their complexes and still perform their

specific life functions within the cells. When isolated into artificial

commercial forms, like ascorbic acid, these purified synthetics act as drugs

in the body. They are no longer vitamins, and to call them such is

inaccurate.

 

 

 

A vitamin is

 

 

 

“…a working process…consisting of the nutrient,…enzymes, coenzymes,

antioxidants, and trace minerals activators.”

 

 

 

- Royal Lee “What Is a Vitamin?” Applied Trophology Aug 1956

 

 

 

 

 

FORGOTTEN TRAILBLAZER

 

 

 

Dr. Royal Lee was the pioneer researcher in the field of whole food

vitamins. For decades he documented the basic facts summarized in this

chapter. His work has never been scientifically refuted. Anyone who

seriously undertakes the study of vitamins today corroborates Lee’s work.

His story is a fascinating study in itself, a study of indomitable

perseverance in the pursuit of true principles. Jensen tells us that Royal

Lee’s work will not be appreciated until the next century. (Hasn't happened

yet.)

 

 

 

Lee felt the full weight of organized drugs/medicine bearing down on him.

Reading like something out of Schindler’s List, we learn that the FDA not

only persecuted Lee for challenging the economics of synthetic vitamins,

produced by giant drug companies, but that he was actually ordered by a

court to burn all his research of the past 20 years! Burn his research! When

has that ever happened in this country? First Amendment?

 

 

 

Going off on a tangent, ever wondered how the FDA attained its present

position as attack dog for the drug companies and food manufacturers? It’s

another whole story in itself. The precursor of the FDA was the Bureau of

Chemistry. Up until 1912 the Bureau of Chemistry was headed up by a man

named Dr. Harvey W. Wiley. Here’s a quote from Dr. Wiley that illustrates

where his interests lay:

 

 

 

“No food product in our country would have any trace of benzoic acid,

sulfurous acid or sulfites or any alum or saccharin, save for medical

purposes. No soft drink would contain caffeine or theobromine. No bleached

flour would enter interstate commerce. Our foods and drugs would be wholly

without any form of adulteration and misbranding. The health of our people

would be vastly improved and the life greatly extended. The manufacturers of

our food supply, and especially the millers, would devote their energies to

improving the public health and promoting happiness in every home by the

production of whole ground, unbolted cereal flours and meals.”

 

 

 

 

 

- The History of a Crime Against the Pure Food Law,1912

 

 

 

 

 

Now obviously we can’t have a dangerous lunatic like this in charge of the

public nutrition, can we? Dr. Wiley actually filed suit against the

Coca-Cola company in an attempt to keep their artificial product out of

interstate commerce, and off the market. Fortunately Wiley was eventually

replaced by a saner individual, more attuned to the real nutritional needs

of the American people, as determined by the experts who knew what was best

for us: the food manufacturers. This was Dr. Elmer Nelson, and in his words

we get an idea of the change in philosophy that marked the transformation of

the Bureau of Chemistry into the FDA:

 

 

 

‘It is wholly unscientific to state that a well-fed body is more able to

resist disease than a poorly-fed body. My overall opinion is that there hasn

’t been enough experimentation to prove that dietary deficiencies make one

susceptible to disease.”

 

 

 

 

 

- Elmer Nelson MD

 

Washington Post 26 Oct 49

 

 

 

 

 

Bernard Jensen illustrates how the tobacco industry and the food giants like

Coke were indirectly behind the legal persecution of Royal Lee. Cigarette

ads in the 40s and 50s showed medical doctors promoting the digestive

benefits of smoking Camels. Or the advertising of Coke and other refined

sugar foods stating that “science has shown how sugar can help keep your

appetite and weight under control.” (Empty Harvest)

 

 

 

During this same period, Royal Lee was kept in courts for years, fighting to

keep the right to advertise his vitamin products, because he was a threat to

the food manufacturers. Lee knew they were poisoning the American public. He

proved that refined sugars and devitalized, bleached flours were destroying

the arteries and the digestive system, causing heart disease and cancer.

 

 

 

WHOLE VS. FRACTIONATED

 

 

 

OK, natural vs. synthetic. Let’s start with Vitamin C. Most sources equate

vitamin C with ascorbic acid, as though they were the same thing. They’re

not. 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 as shown in the figure below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_____________________A s c o r b i c A c i d______________

 

 

 

 

 

ascorbinogen

 

bioflavonoids

 

rutin

 

 

 

tyrosinase

 

 

 

Factor J

 

Factor K

 

Factor P

 

__________________________

______

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A s c o r b i c A c i d

 

 

 

__________________________

_________________

 

 

 

 

 

V I T A M I N C

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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. ( Somer p

58 “Vitamin C: A Lesson in Keeping An Open Mind” The Nutrition Report)

 

 

 

Over 90% of ascorbic acid in this country is manufactured at a facility in

Nutley, New Jersey, owned by Hoffman-LaRoche, one of the world’s biggest

drug manufacturers(1 800 526 0189). 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.

 

 

 

FRACTIONATED = SYNTHETIC = CRYSTALLINE = FAKE

 

 

 

The word synthetic means two things:

 

 

 

· manmade

 

· occurs nowhere in nature

 

 

 

From the outset, it is crucial to understand the difference between vitamins

and vitamin activity. The vitamin is the biochemical complex. Vitamin

activity means the actual biological and cellular changes that take place

when the stage is set for the vitamin complex to act.

 

 

 

Think of it like gas and a car. Pumping the gas into the tank doesn’t

necessarily mean the car is going anywhere. Other conditions and factors

must be also present, in order for Activity to occur. The gas line to the

carburetor must be clear, the carburetor jets must be set, there must be an

exact mixture of air flow, the ignition must be turned on, the spark plugs

must be clean, the exact amount of gas must reach each spark plug right

before it fires, no gas must be left over in the cylinder after the plug

fires… Getting the idea? If any of this stuff is missing, there’s no

Activity: the car doesn’t run, or at least not very well.

 

 

 

Amazing as it may sound if you’re hearing this for the first time, vitamins

are more than the synthetic fractions we are commonly taught they are. The

ascorbic acid you buy at the grocery store every few weeks, thinking you are

buying Vitamin C, is just a chemical copy of naturally occurring ascorbic

acid, which itself is still only a fraction of the actual Vitamin C. Real

vitamin C is part of something living, and as such, can impart life. Your

synthetic, fractionated chemical ascorbic acid never grew in the ground,

never saw the light of day, never was alive or part of anything alive. It’s

a chemical, a cornstarch derivative, a sulfuric acid by-product. In your

body it’s just another drug. Synthetic vitamins have toxic effects from

mega-doses and actually can increase the white blood cell count. Vitamins

are only necessary in minute quantities on a daily basis. Whole food

vitamins, by contrast, are not toxic since the vitamin is complexed in its

integral working form, and requires nothing from the body, and triggers no

immune response.

 

 

 

DEFICIENCY

 

 

 

Scurvy is a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. Scurvy is characterized

by bleeding gums, slow wound healing, softening bones, loose teeth,

ulcerations of the mouth and digestive tract, general weight loss and

fatigue. From 1650 to 1850 half of all seamen on transoceanic voyages died

of scurvy. It was discovered by ship surgeon Thomas Lind in the early 1800s

that British sailors were spared the disease altogether simply by a diet

rich in citrus fruits. Since limes travelled well, they were the common

choice during the early years, and thus the expression “limeys” was coined

to describe British sailors. It was later found both at sea and in prison

fare that potatoes were equally successful in preventing scurvy, and much

cheaper to obtain. (Lancet. 1842)

 

 

 

We find that there is less than 20 mg of ascorbic acid in a potato. Yet this

small amount, since it is complexed in a food source, is all the body needs

not only to prevent scurvy, but also to cure it, even in its advanced state.

Such a remedy is described in detail in Richard Dana’s amazing journal Two

Years Before the Mast, written in 1840.

 

 

 

Whole food vitamin C as found in potatoes, onions, and citrus fruits is able

to quickly cure any case of scurvy. By contrast, the fractionated chemical

ascorbic acid has been shown to be insufficient in resolving a scurvy

condition, simply because it does not act as a nutrient. (Lancet 1842)

 

 

 

Ascorbic acid simply cannot confer vitamin activity, as taught by the

discoverer of vitamin C himself, another Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Albert

Szent-Georgi.

 

 

 

Szent-Georgi discovered vitamin C in 1937. In all his research however,

Szent-Georgi found that he could never cure scurvy with the isolated

ascorbic acid itself. Realizing that he could always cure scurvy with the

“impure” vitamin C found in simple foods, Szent-Georgi discovered that other

factors had to be at work in order for vitamin activity to take place. So he

returned to the laboratory and eventually made the discovery of another

member of the vitamin C complex, as shown in the diagram above: rutin. All

the factors in the complex, as Royal Lee and Dr. Szent-Georgi both came to

understand, ascorbic acid, rutin, and the other factors, were synergists:

co-factors which together sparked the “functional interdependence of

biologically related nutrient factors.” (Empty Harvest p120) The term

“wheels within wheels” was used to describe the interplay of co-factors.

 

 

 

Each of the other synergists in the C complex has a separate function:

 

 

 

- P factors for blood vessel strength,

 

- J factors for oxygen-carrying capacity of red cells,

 

- tyrosinase as an essential enzyme for enhancing white blood cell

effectiveness.

 

 

 

Ascorbic acid is just the antioxidant outer shell – the protector of all

these other synergists so that they will be able to perform their individual

functions.

 

 

 

Now I can hear you asking, what about Linus Pauling, double Nobel Prize

laureate, and his lifetime espousal of megadosing on ascorbic acid – up to

10 grams per day? He lived to be 93. Are we saying that he took a synthetic

vitamin all that time? Yes, that’s exactly right. Bernard Jensen suggests

that ascorbic acid has an acidifying effect in the body, making an

unfriendly environment for viruses, Candida, and pathogenic bacteria. “Most

infectious pathogenic bacteria thrive in an alkaline pH.” Pauling’s good

health was not the result of synthetic vitamin activity. Good genetics and

the acidifying effect are likely what brought longevity to Linus Pauling. He

eventually died of cancer.

 

 

 

Dr. Royal Lee’s phrase “biological wheels within wheels” always comes up in

any discussion of whole food vitamins. Essentially it means that individual

synergists cannot function as a vitamin in a chemically isolated form, like

ascorbic acid. Vitamins are living complexes which contribute to other

higher living complexes – like cell repair, collagen manufacture, and

maintenance of blood circulation. Ascorbic acid is not a living complex. It

is a copy of a part of a living complex known as vitamin C. Ascorbic acid is

a fractionated, crystalline isolate of vitamin C.

 

 

 

Why are you a high school graduate or a college graduate or a doctor, and

you don’t know this? Because drug manufacturers like things clean and simple

and cheap to produce. To this simple fact add the politics which always

comes into play when anyone mentions the word “billions,” and you are

beginning to get the idea about where to begin your investigation. Burned

his research???

 

 

 

DIETARY SOURCES,

 

 

 

Most vitamins cannot be made by the body. They must be taken in as food. The

best sources then are obviously whole foods, rich in vitamins. Because of

soil depletion, mineral depletion, pesticides, air pollution, and erosion,

it is common knowledge that foods grown in American soil today have only a

fraction of the nutrient value of 50 years ago. That means a fraction of the

vitamins and minerals necessary for normal human cell function. Royal Lee

described the American diet as the cultivation and production of

“devitalized foods.” Dr. Weston Price describes these empty products as the

“foods of commerce.” Think it’s gotten better or worse since their time?

Thus the necessity for supplementation.

 

 

 

Vitamins and minerals are not functionally separable. They make each other

work. Example: vitamin D is necessary for the body to absorb calcium. Copper

is necessary for vitamin C activity. And so on. Mineral deficiencies can

cause vitamin deficiencies, and vice versa. Epidemic mineral deficiency in

America is a well-documented result of systematic soil depletion. (See

Minerals chapter:thedoctorwithin.com)

 

 

 

So that is the other prime difference between whole food vitamins and

synthetics: whole food vitamins contain within them many essential trace

minerals necessary for their synergistic operation. Synthetic vitamins

contain no trace minerals, relying on, and depleting, the body’s own mineral

reserves.

 

 

 

FUNNY FARMS

 

 

 

Following the German agricultural methods of Von Leibig in the mid-1800s,

American farmers found that NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) was

all that was necessary for crops to look good. (Frost p7) As long as NPK is

added to the soil, crops can be produced and sold year after year from the

same soil. They look OK. But the other necessary trace minerals vital for

human nutrition are virtually absent from most American soil after all these

years. Many of these minerals, such as zinc, copper, and magnesium, are

necessary co-factors of vitamin activity. Depleted topsoil is one simple,

widespread mechanism of both vitamin and mineral deficiency in American

produce today. This doesn’t even take into account the tons of poisonous

herbicides and pesticides dumped on crops. According to the UN, two million

tons of pesticides are used worldwide annually. (Jensen, p69)

 

 

 

American agri-business has one motive: profit. Such a focus has resulted in

an output of empty produce and a nation of unhealthy people. The earth’s

immune system is its soil. To be vital and capable of growing vital foods,

soil must be rich in both minerals and soil-based organisms - life forms.

Healthy produce naturally resists insects. Insects are like bad bacteria in

the body: they are attracted to diseased tissue, though they do not cause

it.

 

 

 

THE FOODS OF COMMERCE

 

 

 

And we’re still only talking about people who actually eat raw fruits and

vegetables, which is a minority. Processed food composes the majority of

what most Americans eat. The only nutrients in most processed foods are

“enriched” and “fortified” as described below.

 

 

 

When a doctor says that food supplements are all unnecessary because we can

get everything we need from our food, that doctor is lacking basic

information published and agreed upon by his own peers. Whether or not we

need supplementation is no longer an issue, except for one who is totally

out of touch. The issue is what kind and how much. Vitamin and mineral

deficiency can be tagged to practically ANY disease syndrome known to man.

DW Cavanaugh, MD of Cornell University actually concluded that

 

”There is only one major disease, and that is malnutrition.”

 

(Jensen, p8) Malnutrition of the affluent is the natural result of the foods

of commerce.

 

 

 

WEBSURFING

 

 

 

The best vitamins are called whole food vitamins. You won’t find this out on

the Internet, however, because the Web is dominated by mainstream

nutritional theory. In the area of vitamins, the Internet is 99% marketing;

1% actual information.

 

 

 

There are 110 companies who sell vitamins in the US. Less than 5 of them use

whole food vitamins. The reason is simple: whole food vitamins are expensive

to make. A few of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the world mass produce

synthetic vitamins for the vast majority of these 110 “vitamin” companies,

who then put their own label on them, and every company claims theirs is the

best! It’s ridiculous! Americans spend over $9 billion per year for

synthetic vitamins. (Frost p2)

 

 

 

Whole food vitamins are obtained by taking a vitamin-rich plant, removing

the water and the fiber in a cold vacuum process, free of chemicals, and

then packaging for stability. The entire vitamin complex in this way can be

captured intact, retaining its “functional and nutritional integrity.”

(DeCava p.23.) Upon ingestion, the body is not required to draw on its own

reserves in order to complete any missing elements from the vitamin complex.

 

 

 

Mainstream marketing of vitamins and minerals has successfully created the

myth that vitamins and minerals may be isolated from each other, that

correct amounts may be measured out, and then we can derive total benefit

from taking these fractionated chemical creations. Nothing could be farther

from the truth. Vitamins and minerals, and also enzymes, work closely

together as co-factors for each other’s efficacy. If one part is missing, or

in the wrong form or the wrong amount, entire chains of metabolic processes

will not proceed normally. Result: downward spiralling of health, probably

imperceptible for long periods of time.

 

 

 

MARKETING AND PROMOTION

 

 

 

What is the marketing philosophy behind the prevalence of the type of

synthetic vitamins available in the supermarket and mall vitamin stores?

Simple: profit above all else. Once the public is shown that vitamin

supplementation is necessary, the rest is marketing. Marketing is the art of

persuading by suspending logic and twisting data into junk science. Example:

what’s the actual difference in composition between Wheaties and Total, two

cereals put out by the same company? Total is advertised as being much more

nutrient-rich than “ordinary” Wheaties. Look at the labels. What justifies

the extra $1.30 for a box of Total? Answer: 1.5¢ worth of synthetic vitamins

sprayed over the Wheaties. That’s it! That’s what “vitamin enriched” always

means. The other trick word is “fortified.” Generally that means that the

food itself is devoid of nutrients or enzymes, so they tried to pump it up a

little with some “vitamins.” Cheap synthetic vitamin sprays are all that is

required for the manufacturer to use labels like “enriched” and “fortified.”

These words are red flags – if a food needs to be fortified or enriched, you

can bet there wasn’t much there to start with.

 

 

 

The mega-vitamin theory doesn’t really hold when it comes to synthetics: If

A Little Is Good, More Is Better. Macro doses of vitamin E, and also vitamin

D have been shown to decrease immune function significantly. (DeCava.) It

stands to reason. Vitamins by definition are necessary in phenomenally small

doses. The discoverer of thiamine, a B vitamin, and the man who came up with

the word vitamin , Dr. Casimir Funk, has this to say about synthetics:

 

 

 

“Synthetic vitamins: these are highly inferior to vitamins from natural

sources, also the synthetic product is well known to be far more toxic.“

 

 

 

Nutrition authority DeCava describes it;

 

 

 

“Natural food-source vitamins are enzymatically alive. Man-made synthetic

vitamins are dead chemicals. "

 

--

 

The Real Truth About Vitamins p 209

 

 

 

 

 

Oxymorons: military intelligence, rap music, synthetic vitamins.

 

 

 

The marketing of fractionated crystalline synthetic vitamins has been so

successful that most nutritionists and doctors are unaware that there is

something missing from these “vitamins.” Vitamin manufacturers compete for

customers with identical products – they all bought their synthetic vitamins

from the same couple of drug companies. To differentiate their product, each

makes claims of “high potency.” Our vitamins are higher potency than theirs,

etc. The point is, the higher the potency, the more the druglike effects are

present. Natural whole food vitamins are very low potency. Remember the 20mg

of vitamin C in a potato that was able to cure a patient of scurvy? That was

low potency. Low potency is all we need. Low potency is enough to bring

about vitamin activity. High potency overshoots the mark – the chemical is

very pure and refined, like the difference between white sugar and the type

of sugar that’s in an apple.

 

 

 

THE MILLIGRAM GAME

 

 

 

Generally speaking, if milligrams are being discussed at length, the author

has no clue about vitamins. Synthetic vitamins are refined, high potency

chemicals, and therefore may be accurately measured in milligrams, just like

drugs. This has nothing to do with vitamin activity or nutrition, except in

a negative way.

 

 

 

 

 

HALF THE STORY

 

 

 

The same type of incomplete action can be seen with any synthetic vitamin.

Let’s take beta carotene for a minute, which the body can turn into vitamin

A. Now you’ll remember that vitamin A is necessary for good eyesight, DNA

synthesis, and protects cells from free radicals. A study reported in Apr 94

in the NEJM of some 30,000 Finnish subjects showed conclusively that

synthetic vitamin A had no antioxidant effect whatsoever. A true antioxidant

helps to protect heart muscle, lungs, and artery surfaces from breaking down

prematurely. In this study, the subjects who received the synthetic beta

carotene actually had an 8% higher incidence of fatal heart attacks,

strokes, and lung cancer than those who got the placebo (sugar pill). Stands

to reason: the synthetic brought no vitamin activity to the tissues that

needed it. As a dead, purified chemical introduced into the body, the

synthetic further stressed the immune system, the liver, and the kidneys

which all had to try to break down this odd chemical and remove it from the

body. It would be bad enough if they were harmless, but synthetic vitamins

actually have a net negative effect.

 

 

 

 

 

Vitamin A

 

 

 

was first discovered in 1919. By 1924, it had been broken down and separated

from its natural whole food complex: “purified.” By 1931, LaRoche – one of

the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, even today – had

succeeded in “synthesizing” vitamin A. That means they had created a purely

chemical copy of a fraction of naturally occurring vitamin A. Naturally

occurring vitamin A is found associated with an entire group of other

components:

 

 

 

 

 

· Retinols

 

· Retinoids

 

· Retinal

 

· Carotenoids

 

· Carotenes

 

· Fatty acids

 

· Vitamin C

 

· Vitamin E

 

· Vitamin B

 

· Vitamin D

 

· Enzymes

 

· Minerals

 

Vitamins and Minerals Somer 1992

 

 

 

 

 

Isolated from these other factors, vitamin A is a fraction which cannot

perform its biological functions. Taken as a synthetic, it must then draw on

this list of resources already in the body in order to complete its make-up.

Whole food vitamin A, by contrast, is already complete and ready to go.

 

 

 

Most synthetic vitamin A consists only of retinal, retinol, or retinoic

acid. The well-publicized potential for toxicity with mega doses of vitamin

A involves one of these three. Vitamin A toxicity, known as

hypervitaminosis, always results from an excess of synthetic, “purified”

vitamin A, and never from whole food vitamin A. (DeCava, p 86) Effects of

vitamin A toxicity include:

 

 

 

· tumor enhancement

 

· joint disorders

 

· osteoporosis

 

· extreme dryness of eyes, mouth and skin,

 

· enlargement of liver and spleen

 

· immune depression

 

· birth defects

 

 

 

Beta carotene

 

 

 

is a precursor the body can convert to vitamin A. Unfortunately, as a

supplement, synthetic beta carotene is usually “stabilized” in refined

vegetable oils. In this trans fatty acid form, oxidation occurs and the

chemically “pure” beta carotene can no longer act as a nutrient, because it

was changed. Almost all synthetic beta carotene is produced by the Swiss

drug giant Hoffman-LaRoche. This form can no longer be converted to vitamin

A. The best it can be is worthless, and at the worst is toxic.

 

 

 

Natural vitamin A and beta carotene are well known as immune boosters and

cancer fighters, in their role as antioxidants. Synthetic vitamin A by

contrast has actually brought about significant increases in cancer. A study

done in Finland provided smokers with large doses of synthetic beta

carotene. Lung cancer incidence increased 18%! ( NEJM Apr 94 “ The Alpha

Tocopherol Beta Carotene Cancer Prevention Study Group”)

 

 

 

These findings were corroborated two years later in another study written up

in Lancet. Pharmacologic doses of syntheric beta carotenes were found to

block the antioxidant activity of the other 50 naturally occurring

carotenoids in the diet. Anti-cancer activity was thus blocked by the

synthetic. (Lancet 1996)

 

 

 

With the vast outpouring of wrong information about vitamins A and C, the

findings of a 1991 article in Health Counselor are no surprise: 50% of

Americans are deficient in vitamin A and 41% are deficient in vitamin C.

Synthetic vitamins cannot prevent deficiencies.

 

 

 

FAKE VITAMIN B

 

 

 

In one experiment, synthetic vitamin B (thiamine) was shown to render 100%

of a group of pigs sterile! 100% would be considered a significant finding.

(Dr. Barnett Sure, Journ Natr 1939) Perhaps the fact that synthetic vitamin

B comes from coal tar, maybe that has something to do with it, you think?

Then there’s vitamin B12, which comes from activated sewage sludge. (Frost p

60) Been shooting blanks since you started on those multi’s?

 

 

 

For the licensed dieticians and clinical nutritionists reading this in

disbelief because it is too “unscientific,” consider the way Theron Randolph

MD delineated between natural and synthetic:

 

 

 

 

 

“A synthetically derived substance may cause a reaction in a chemically

susceptible person when the same material of natural origin is tolerated,

despite the two substances having identical chemical structures. The point

is illustrated by the frequency of clinical reactions to synthetic

vitamins – especially vitamin B1 and C- when the [same] naturally occurring

vitamins are tolerated.”

 

 

 

 

 

IRRADIATION

 

 

 

According to Los Angeles naturopath, Dr. Jack Singh, all commercial

lecithins in supplements, as well as most vitamin D, comes from irradiated

vegetable oils. That’s rancid, oxidizing trans fatty acids! A birthday party

of free radicals. This is the precise mechanism for arterial wall breakdown

prior to plaque deposits, then arteriosclerosis, then heart disease. I

thought we were supposed to be taking vitamins to stay healthy!

 

 

 

LOST HORIZON

 

 

 

Why is this information so difficult to find? It’s in none of the

“alternative” health ‘zines, or any of the mainstream media.

Alternative-Lite guru Julian Whittaker, in his summer 1998 newsletter

actually had the temerity to state outright “Synthetic vitamins and whole

food vitamins are identical.” I’m sure his synthetic vitamin company and all

its retailers were reassured by this incredibly arrogant and flagrantly

inaccurate pronouncement. But who is objecting? Only those clients of the 5

companies who know enough to take whole food vitamins, because they have

become educated to realize the difference. These are the vast minority,

having no control of the media.

 

 

 

Royal Lee and Harvey Wiley lost. Nobody knows who they are today, except we

few. This is no accident. What everybody does know is Pepsi and Viagra and

Wonder Bread and prednisone and Double Whoppers with Cheese and Zantac and

Baskin-Robbins and Long’s Drug Store. And grocery store vitamins: synthetic

vitamins. That’s America, today as the product of yesterday. Control of

information in America today is one of the most sophisticated systems of

influence ever devised. The simple ideas contained in this chapter are

simply not available to the mass consciousness. The documentation is out

there, but you really gotta dig.

 

 

 

100 years ago if a medical doctor saw a case of cancer he would call all his

colleagues to come and have a look, telling them it was unlikely they would

see another case, as cancer was so rare. People rarely died of heart

attacks; in fact the term heart attack itself didn’t even exist. There was

no incidence at all of atherosclerosis. Diabetes was practically unheard of.

What did they eat? Fruits, vegetables, meat, butter, and lard. But none of

it was processed with drugs and chemicals.

 

 

 

Today one in three dies of cancer. One in two dies of heart disease.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. (Vital

Statistics) Is that progress? If you are a food manufacturer it is, and

especially if you are a drug manufacturer. In the 1980s the WHO ranked the

US as #22 in the world in overall health. Today we’re #98. Male sperm count

is less than 20% of what it was in 1929. (1981 University of Florida report,

Natural vs. Synthetic) Infant mortality is up; birth defects are up. We

spend $1.2 trillion per year for health care, most of which goes for

administration and executive salaries. Who are the largest advertisers for

TV and the printed media? Right: drug companies and food manufacturers. Do

they want to keep the ball rolling? You bet. Will they kill you to do it?

You bet. Do they want people to take charge of their own health by natural

inexpensive foods and supplements? Negative. A cure for cancer has been

“right around the corner” since Nixon. People are starting to ask questions;

they’re less inclined to believe the slick ads coming every 10 minutes on TV

and in Newsweek.

 

 

 

Perhaps Hippocrates did not envision doctors just as detail men or drug

reps. He most likely thought like Henry Bieler, MD:

 

 

 

Nature, if given the opportunity is always the greatest healer. It is the

physician’s role to assist in this healing, to play a supporting role.

 

 

 

- Finding the Right Cure for You

 

 

 

 

 

So what do you do? Well, you now have some insight that your vitamin needs

are not being met by the Safeway generics. And you want to try a whole food

vitamin. It’s simple: look on the label. After each vitamin mentioned, if it

lists a chemical, the vitamin is a synthetic. If it lists a growing plant

like peppers, orange peel, or even mushrooms, that’s a whole food vitamin.

After that, you may wish to inform yourself about the processing, if

possible. Even good sources can be rendered vitamin-less by heating or cheap

stabilization processes. After you get the hang of it you’ll soon wonder why

nobody told you about something this obvious years ago. I know just how you’

ll feel.

 

 

 

Supplementation is no longer an extra; even to the generally informed. It is

essential for optimum health. That is the first level of awareness. The next

rung on the ladder is the information contained in this chapter. It’s really

not a question of whether or not you believe me, but rather whether you know

about the existence of whole food vitamins.

 

 

 

 

 

- Tim O’Shea

 

 

 

 

 

REFERENCES

 

 

 

DeCava, Judith-- The Real Truth About Vitamins and Antioxidants 1996

 

 

 

Jensen, Bernard, DC --- Empty Harvest 1990

 

 

 

Frost, Mary--- Going Back to the Basics of Human Health 1997

 

 

 

Bieler, Henry MD--- Finding the Right Cure For You 1998

 

 

 

Lee, Royal--- “What Is a Vitamin?” Applied Trophology Aug 1956)

 

 

 

Wiley, Harvey W., MD--- The History of a Crime Against the Pure Food Law

 

 

 

Robbins, John--- Reclaiming Our Health 1996

 

 

 

Nelson, Elmer, MD --- Washington Post 26 Oct 49

 

 

 

Somer, Elizabeth--- “Vitamin C: A Lesson in Keeping An Open Mind” The

Nutrition Report

 

 

 

Lancet. 1842

 

 

 

Dana, Richard--- Two Years Before the Mast, p 444 ff. 1840.

 

 

 

Lind, James--- “A Treatise of the Scurvy in Three Parts. Containing an

inquiry into the Nature,

 

Causes and Cure of that Disease, together with a Critical and Chronological

View of what has been published on the subject.”

 

A. Millar, London, 1753.

 

 

 

Woodall, A--- Caution with b-carotene supplements Lancet 347:967, 1996

 

 

 

Heinonen O MD--- “The effect of vitamin E and beta carotene on the incidence

of lung cancer and other cancers in male smokers” The Alpha Tocopherol Beta

Carotene Cancer Prevention Study Group---

 

NEJM 14 Apr 1994 330;15:1031

 

 

 

Barnett Sure, MD--- Journ Natr 1939

 

 

 

University of Florida report--- “Natural vs. Synthetic” 1981

 

 

 

Randolph, Theron MD--- Human Ecology and Susceptibility to the Chemical

Environment 7th ed. 1980

 

 

 

Price, Weston --- Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

 

Keats Publ. 1997

 

 

 

CDC --National Vital Statistics Report

 

Vol. 47, no.19, June 1999.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

-

<joepublic

 

Saturday, September 21, 2002 9:27 AM

Whole Food Vitamins: Ascorbic Acid is not

Vitamin C

 

 

 

At the risk of flogging a dead horse, does this clarify anything for

anyone?

 

 

 

from:

http://www.thedoctorwithin.com/index_fr.html?content=/articles/index.

html

 

 

The author makes statements. I agree that there is much to

healthy eating beyond vitamins. But it does little good to

re-define " vitamin " to mean something very different that what it is

defined as -- then stating everyone is wrong in their definition.

 

Language is a grid which we place over reality to aid in

communication. Most of us feel we know what a " chair " is. If

someone came along & said that sitting upright causes too many

problems of the lower spine & one should sit in a recliner with a

foot rest -- that might be good advice. But if some people then

wanted to redifine chairs as excluding all chairs unless they were

recliners with foot rests -- that (IMHO) would just be silly &

counter-productive.

 

I feel the same way about the stupididy of modern

Astronomers re-defining " planet " to exclude the sun, moon, and

asteroids; the ignorance of first century AD astologers who " fixed "

the first day of Spring into the first degree of Aries, and those who

would redefine vitamins as something other than specific molecules by

which they are known around the world today.

 

As I said earier, I am very much aware that other molecules

are needed (citrus bioflavanoids, for example) to activate Ascorbic

Acid. But this does not mean Ascorbic Acid is not Vitamin C.

 

Alobar