Synthetic Vitamins

[Guest guest]

Someone suggested I get a B-Complex, a really expensive one that's

made from whole food (I think). Since I can be stingy I opted for a

cheaper pill version that carries all the same B vitamins, but are

more than likely synthetic.

 

Robert Marshall says this about " junk " vitamins: " In addition to

being synthetic, isolated vitamins are missing all their naturally

occurring essential synergistic co-factors and transporters. A

synthetic vitamin can stimulate a cell's metabolism - but it cannot

upgrade or replace theh cell's components with superior, better

quality elements. The result? A degraded cell... "

 

When I read this, all I could think was, " OMG, I've just

mutated/degraded all my cells with synthetic B vitamins. "

 

Should I break down and pay for the whole nutrient sources?

 

-vanessa

 

.... growing antennas

[Guest guest]

What is wrong with isolated synthetic vitamins?

They are missing all their naturally occurring essential synergistic

co-factors and transporters. A synthetic vitamin can stimulate a

cell's metabolism, but it cannot upgrade or replace the cell's

components with superior, better quality elements. The results? A

degraded cell. Nature always packages vitamins in groups. The vitamins

work together for better absorption. For this reason, the body

responds to an isolated vitamin in the same way it responds to a toxin.

 

Are certain synthetic ingredients worse than others?

Yes. Some vitamins are water soluble, so the flush out of the body

quite easily. Other vitamins are fat soluble. The fat-soluble vitamins

include vitamins A, D, E and K. Because they are soluble in fat

(lipids), these vitamins tend to build-up in the body's fat tissues,

fat deposits, and liver. This storage capability makes the fat-soluble

vitamins potentially toxic when consuming high-dose synthetic versions

of these vitamins, rather than food-based vitamins that the body knows

how to metabolize. Care should be exercised when taking the

fat-soluble vitamins, and it is recommended that you avoid the

synthetic forms of these vitamins whenever possible.

 

Also many people are allergic to the chemicals used as a base for

synthetic vitamins. Some are toxic, including nicotine, coal tars and

alloxal. Avoid toxic flowing agents, silicon dioxide (common sand used

as an expensive filler that makes the bottle weigh more with the hope

that the uneducated consumer will equate weight with higher quality),

natural flavors (a common term for toxic MSG used to disguise bland

tastes), methylcellulose, carnauba wax, and many more. If you are not

sure of what you are taking, do not take it! These toxic chemical

agents can create significant health problems when consumed over time.

 

Are all synthetic vitamins and minerals bad?

There are many negative health and environmental impacts from

synthetic ingredients in vitamins and supplements. Put simply, the

human body has evolved for millions of years to digest foods found in

nature. Most synthetically produced vitamins and supplements are

chemical compounds that cannot be found in nature, hence the human

body does not recognize these ingredients which can result in

unanticipated reactions. The body knows the difference between real

and fake and it always prefers real.

 

Your body wants only living vitamins and minerals. Almost all vitamin

supplements are synthetic these days. Best is to eat raw fruits and

vegetables and get natural organic whole food supplements that your

body can use and that won't create unknown future problems. In a short

synopsis, Man's body was never meant for inorganic minerals. That is

what worms and bacteria are for. To break these down so that plants

can take them up and utilize them in their photosynthetic process

which will change and charge these inorganic minerals into an organic

mineral by attaching the proper enzymes to the minerals that will

allow our cells to take these minerals into them. Inorganic minerals

cannot pass through to the cell as they lack the proper enzymes

needed. Our body cannot do this - only plants can do this through

photosynthesis, then and only then can our bodies use these minerals.

 

" Taking synthetic vitamins in milligram quantities is related to the

RDA's (Recommended Daily Allowance) or the more modern RDI's

(Recommended Daily Intake), but this still does not actually relate to

potency because potency of a vitamin has to do with its effectiveness

and assimilation not its weight. Weight and potency, in this case, are

two different things. Naturally occurring whole complexed vitamins

from foods created by nature are more " potent " per milligram than

synthetic fractions of those vitamins because it is the whole, " real

food " vitamin that the body requires - not a synthetic chemical

substitute of a fraction of a vitamin that has been chemically

synthesized a laboratory. "

 

(an excerpt from the book " The Vitamin Myth " by Brian Clement):

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_3900.cfm

 

Carol

[Guest guest]

I received the Dr. Bruce West newsletter for several years and finally

stopped it when I decided that I understood his point of view

thoroughly. He is an advocate of natural vitamins based on his

experience in practice. He mainly prescribes food based cures and

relies heavily on supplements from Standard Process. His claims

wonderful with eye opening cures and rates. For instance, he says that

he cures most heart disease in a month and that his experience is that

the heart is the most regenerative organ in the body. He also posted

cures for nasty problems like shingles, cancer, and fibromalgia, while

at the same time coming down negatively against such mainstream things

as Flu shots and prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

 

I became convinced that his warning that synthetic vitamins actually

upset the natural chemical balance and caused more problems than they

cured is accurate and stopped all synthetic vitamins years ago.

However, he was discussing actual " vitamins " like Vitamins A, B C, D &

E in their synthetic forms, and not Alpha Lipoic Acid or such

supplements as fish and plant based oils... or MSM which I myself have

found to work near miracles on several maladies that once plagued me.

The ultimate test is your reaction to what you are taking. Sometimes it

is difficult or impossible to separate a cure when several supplements

are taken at once, but other times the cure screams out its

effectiveness. So the bottom line is, " Go with what works for you. "

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Standard Process are far from natural, as Dr. West thinks. But for

some reason a lot of doctors, chiropractors, etc. sell these - I'm

sure they are making a lot of money selling them.

 

The company tests on animals, and their vitamins also include animal

by-products. I would certainly not use them. Also, they are just

like pretty much any other brand of mega-dose vitamin/mineral pills –

isolated and synthetic ingredients, mixed up by some scientist in a

cauldron.

 

Most people are stuck in the " more is better " idea – but I think " less

is better " , and get my nutrients first from whole foods, and then add

whole food supplements to fill in the gaps. There is more to

nutrition than just mega-doses of isolated vitamins. Get your

nutrition from food! You can do it - really!

 

Carol

 

, Jim Clark

<huuman60 wrote:

>

> I received the Dr. Bruce West newsletter for several years and

finally stopped it when I decided that I understood his point of view

thoroughly. He is an advocate of natural vitamins based on his

experience in practice. He mainly prescribes food based cures and

relies heavily on supplements from Standard Process.

[Guest guest]

There are many ways to look at this. As I said, Dr. West convinced

me. West does not sell Standard Process supplements, however, so we

can dispense with that argument entirely. In my opinion (and West's),

animal parts are essential to our well being do to the density of

certain nutrients that are very difficult to otherwise obtain,

especially certain fatty acids. The question to me is how they are

raised. For instance, dried, grass fed, raw, beef liver (which they

sell) may be essential to cure certain heart conditions as West

reports. As far as I know, they do not sell any synthetic vitamins and

I have read their list many times. While their products are all food

derived, they are oriented to health care professionals and are not very

useful to others. I might add that I do not use them for that reason.

However, I generally only take food derived supplements in agreement

with West's arguments.

 

Most certainly, I disagree that we all have access to a level of

nutrients necessary to maintain optimum health given modern farming

methods. Just as Dr. Joel Wallach so convincingly argues, we raise our

food plants typically by the pound, not by their nutritional yield. I

eat as well as I can under these trying circumstances, raising my own

vegetables when possible, and I still find the need for natural

supplements in order to maintain optimal health. Furthermore, I am

eternally grateful that they are available; otherwise, I know the pain

I would be in. I do know what has worked for me for the last sixty-six

years and I plan to stick with it, augmenting it using information

obtained here and elsewhere on the web. I currently have no health

issues and play tennis four times a week. Neither drugs nor synthetic

foods have a place in my personal formula.

 

Finally, this is not a scientific argument so much as a common sense

one. The closer our food is to what our ancestors ate for the last

million years, the more likely it is to be suited to our bodies... that

is, uncooked and unaltered. If you are inclined to believe that our

foods raised by synthetic methods are equal, that is your business.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Moderator's Note: And this is the last post on the subject for at least a

month, guys! Each side has repeatedly presented their point of view- can we

just have the sides of this debate agree to disagree? And anyone who is

undecided please do your own research and come to your own conclusion- as with

everything else.

DesertSkyNM

---------

 

Vitamins are organic compounds, which means that they are

carbon-containing. Vitamins cannot be duplicated in labs. Vitamins

sold to the public today are either synthetic vitamins or

crystalline-pure fractions of vitamin complexes. A fraction of a

vitamin whether natural or synthetic at best, is a drug and can only

have a drug like effect in the body, which is a stimulatory effect -

not a physiological or curative benefit. Taking vitamins as

supplements can seriously impair the most important of bodily

functions by contributing to biochemical imbalance. Here's why:

 

Vitamins can be effective in the body's cells only through their

combined effects as a " complex functioning mechanism " rather than a

single chemical effect. For example ascorbic acid sold today as

vitamin C, is not the true complex vitamin C as it is found in foods

and yet it is labeled in its supplement form as vitamin C. Ascorbic

acid is only one part of several parts that makes up the complex

vitamin C. Ascorbic acid can be made cheaply in labs by combining corn

syrup and sulfuric acid. It is ridiculous to remove the ascorbic acid

from the vitamin C complex and call this single component the " real

vitamin " .

 

A vitamin supplement is simply not the whole product. It is only a

fragment. A vitamin supplement leaves out many other parts which may

be tiny, percentage wise, but significant just the same. When we take

supplements, it's rather like taking statements out of context; you

might get some benefit, but more than likely what you get is distorted

and not the full picture.

 

Picking and choosing the elements you think your body needs is chancy

at best. We are designed to operate as a whole entity, and this is why

we should be getting our nutrients as whole entities too.

 

You can actually take enough supplements, in an individual nutrient

form, to cause symptoms of a deficiency of that or other nutrients.

For example, if you take a vitamin E supplement, you need to also take

the mineral zinc to maintain normal blood concentrations of vitamin E.

However, if you take too much zinc, you can block absorption of copper

and selenium. This is the same with taking too much vitamin C, you can

also block selenium absorption in your body.

 

Vitamins are dependent on minerals to function in the body. If you

start the game of picking and choosing single vitamins and single

minerals to take, you are playing a dangerous game that can cause a

terrible chemical imbalance in your body. Isolated vitamins and

minerals sold in supplement form do not have the same suitability for

human metabolism as those found in whole foods. Our bodies were not

designed to break down these inorganic supplements.

 

The best source of supplementation today is food-derived supplements

like bee pollen, wheat grass, blue-green algae, wheat sprouts, etc....

These supplements offer us all the ingredients necessary for our

bodies to function properly. Nutrients cannot work well in the body

when taken in an isolated form. All nutrients work as a team to build

and support health. Nature has always been the best manufacturer

(provider) of our foods and the best teacher if we care to learn her

lessons. The body understands " natural law. " Just give it the full

range of good foods and whole food supplements and it knows what to do

to create optimum health and vitality.

 

Carol