Truth About Vitamins & Supplements...Vitamin Myth Exposed -First Installment

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The Truth About Vitamins & Supplements

_http://www.organicconsumers.org/nutricon.cfm_

(http://www.organicconsumers.org/nutricon.cfm)

 

Below is the first installment of an eye-opening new book, **Vitamin Myth

Exposed,** by Brian Clement of the Hippocrates Health Institute, which the

OCA will be publishing over the next 60 days. This book is nothing less

than the opening salvo in a campaign that OCA believes will revolutionize the

$20 billion vitamin and supplements industry. OCA sees this effort as part

of our ongoing efforts to establish and safeguard strict organic standards

in food and farming, clothing, body care, and other important consumer

sectors.

 

We invite you to please circulate the **Vitamin Myth Exposed,** widely to

friends and family, and to talk to your local natural foods store or coop

about joining forces with the OCA in this important new campaign.

 

For Health and an Organic Future,

Ronnie Cummins

National Director, Organic Consumers Association

______

 

Vitamin Myth Exposed

By: Brian Clement, Ph.D., N.M.D.

 

Copyright © 2007 by Healthful Communications, Inc.

 

PROLOGUE

 

As far as the sciences have evolved in our incredible age of quantum

physics and our understanding of cell biology, life is still an indefinable

mystery. Only Mother Nature can make an apple. Only nature can make a cell.

While scientists and chemists continue to try in vain to duplicate in a

laboratory the molecular structure of many different isolated natural

substances.

When you analyze natural compounds with an electron microscope they can

look identical, yet in some invisible, yet significant, way they are not.

Although scientists can make seawater with exactly the same chemical structure

as natural seawater, when you put a salt-water fish in this synthetic

environment, the fish dies. What is it in natural seawater that sustains life?

This is one of life's great mysteries, and the foundation upon which this

book is inspired.

 

 

The creation of life is a divine gift that can never be duplicated by man;

it is beyond human intellect. This is why no living thing, whether a plant

or human cell, or a living being for this matter, can be created

successfully in a laboratory from chemical compounds. Animal clones have

already

proven their fallibility. Living things such as living foods and living beings

can only be created by nature.

 

 

VITA means life. Vita defines the difference between synthetic and what is

now known as naturally occurring. This book is about the consequences of

this difference in our vitamins and nutritional supplements today, and is

further dedicated to helping you understand their impact on your health and

how you can become equipped to avoid unhealthful choices and benefit from

healthy whole-food choices (N.O.S. - Naturally Occurring Standard -

varieties).

 

 

Putting the word *natural* on the vitamin label is, in most cases today,

deceptive. The word is constantly abused and, as such, its meaning has been

diluted to a point where it holds little value. Many misleading labels on

supplement products take advantage of the ambiguity of the word *natural* to

project a wholesome marketing image, even when the product does not merit

it. Whereas the term *naturally occurring* on a label usually means that a

vitamin or nutrient is completely derived of compounds from

naturally-occurring sources - the plants themselves - rather than merely

containing a

naturally-occurring ingredient mixed with synthetic ingredients.

 

 

The best vitamin supplements are those with labeled potencies derived from

naturally-occurring, full-spectrum food extracts. Naturally-occurring

vitamins are obtained by taking a nutrient-rich plant, removing the water and

the fiber in a chemical-free vacuum process, and packaging it for stability.

The entire vitamin complex is captured intact, retaining its functional and

nutritional integrity, and a full spectrum of nutritional values.

 

 

Another primary difference between real full-spectrum whole-food vitamins

and synthetic vitamins is that real vitamins contain the essential trace

minerals necessary for the vitamins' synergistic operation. Synthetic

vitamins contain no trace minerals and must utilize the body*s own mineral

reserves. Ingesting real vitamins does not require the body to deplete its own

reserves of nutrients to replace any nutrients missing from the false vitamins.

 

 

 

Mega doses of synthetic vitamins can have very serious toxic effects.

Naturally-occurring whole-food vitamins are not toxic since the vitamin is

complexed in its natural whole integral working form, and requires nothing from

the body to *build* a vitamin. When synthetic, or incomplete vitamins are

introduced into the body, the body attempts to *build* a complete vitamin

complex by adding the missing factors that it knows should be there,

specifically minerals and other vitamin co-factors. This *building* process

depletes the body*s nutritional reserves, creating an overall deficiency. The

body has a natural intelligence that is always directing its efforts toward

wholeness. When you ingest a *partial* or isolated vitamin, the body assumes

you meant to ingest a whole vitamin, and works hard to make up for an

action that it views as a mistake. Of course, the body has limitations. When it

is saturated or overwhelmed with large amounts of synthetic vitamins or

does not possess the cofactors necessary for creating fully-complexed

supplements, it cannot convert the incomplete synthetic vitamins. It will then

work to eliminate the synthetic vitamins through the kidneys, skin and the

other elimination organs. This is the reason why the majority of all synthetic

vitamins are quickly eliminated by the body and not utilized. We require

our bodies to perform a surprising amount of work when we ingest synthetic

supplements. Not only must we effort to create a usable supplement by

drawing on our own reserves, we must also labor to eliminate the substances

that

cannot be utilized. This process results in an overall negative health

effect while minimizing any gains that could have been achieved by the

supplement were it in a usable form to begin with. This is why consuming whole

foods and whole-food supplements is critical.

 

 

One of the many superior qualities about naturally-occurring whole food

vitamins is that small or even minimal quantities are required daily because

they are already whole, naturally-complexed supplements that the body does

not have to *build* to utilize. On the contrary, one would typically need to

ingest much larger doses of synthetic supplements to receive a sufficient

level of supplementation, knowing that many of the complexes will not be

*completed* and therefore eliminated.

 

 

Mainstream marketing of vitamins and minerals has created the myth that

synthetic vitamins and inorganic minerals may be isolated individually and

from one another, and that we can derive total natural benefit from taking

these fractionated chemical creations. Nothing could be further from the

truth!

 

 

Real, natural vitamins, minerals and enzymes work closely together as

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

fractionated, or is in the incorrect form or the incorrect amount, entire chains

of

metabolic processes cannot and will not proceed normally. Only nature can

provide us with naturally-occurring vitamins as found in real, wholesome

organic foods.

 

 

The overwhelming majority of vitamin products sold in grocery stores, drug

stores or mass-marketing retailers contain synthetic ingredients, and are

unfortunately accompanied by inherent deficiencies and unpleasant

ramifications.

 

 

What our bodies require are supplement products made exclusively from

naturally-occurring nutrients rather than toxic laboratory synthesized

compounds. Currently only a few highly conscious companies produce supplements

with

naturally-occurring ingredients. These companies should be commended and

supported for offering natural health-promoting products to the consumer.

(See list of " Supplement product companies that include naturally-occurring

potencies on their labels " in Appendix A).

 

 

We are grateful to the Naturally Occurring Standards Group (NOSG), Amsar

Pvt. Ltd., Treadcorp, Ltd., Hippocrates Health Institute, Healthful

Communications, Inc., Organic Consumer's Association, and others for their

efforts

in establishing " Naturally Occurring " as a specific standard of quality.

This standard should be applied for all truly natural vitamins, ingredients

and materials for the entire food, beverage, nutraceutical, and cosmetic

industry. The adoption of proposed " Naturally Occurring Standard " (NOS)

guidelines will bring clarity to all purveyors and consumers of natural

products.

The NOS is an important step and regulatory guideline that has been missing

from the product label information and literature since the beginning of

packaged food sales. The NOS symbol on products will help to eliminate the

confusion between truly natural and less than natural product ingredients.

 

 

We need more naturally-occurring vitamin supplements to counter the vast

array of harmful synthetic vitamin supplements flooding our world markets.

Consumers must request the production of more naturally-occurring supplements

by petitioning the natural foods industry to support the NOS guidelines,

which will ensure that the public is only supplied with health-promoting

products. This will mark the beginning of a movement to remove synthetic

supplements from our health foods and supplements. The natural foods industry

is

the last place that synthetics should be allowed. Unfortunately, due to

ignorance and economic inertia, even the natural foods industry has, until

now, tolerated the presence of harmful synthetic supplements. Real nutrients

are always naturally occurring, made only by nature and never by an

artificial chemical process.

 

 

Insisting that the designation *naturally-occurring* be put only on the

labels of naturally-occurring vitamin and nutrient supplements, will allow the

consumer to once and for all distinguish between what is a real vitamin

supplement and what is not. For more information on the NOS guidelines and

the proposed legislation visit _www.nosg.org_ (http://www.nosg.org) .

 

 

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PART ONE - VITAMIN MYSTERIES AND MYTHS

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

 

Nutritional Supplements - do we really benefit from them?

 

To answer this question we have to go back to our roots - our soil.

 

Soil depletion - an apple isn*t what it used to be

 

Why not?

 

Missing vitamins & trace elements

 

What are vitamins? Brief definition

 

Fat vs. water-soluble vitamins

 

Difference between vitamins and vitamin activity

 

Difference between natural vs. synthetic

 

 

Each year in North American alone people spend over $20 billion on

vitamins, minerals and other dietary supplements, believing that these products

are benefiting them. But are they? What is the real truth about vitamins? If

we eat a balanced diet, do we really need nutritional supplements? To

answer this question we have to go back to our roots - our soil.

 

 

The body is unable to manufacture most vitamins for itself, and so they

must be obtained from nutritional sources. During the early 1900s, in our

grandparents' time, the soil was rich with nutrients that produced healthy,

vigorous crops high in vitamin content. Today, due to modern factory farming

practices, our soils are sadly laced with industrial pollution, pesticides

and chemical fertilizers that not only contaminate the soil, but activate

increased soil erosion. Because of poor soil quality and nutrients, our foods

have only a fraction of the nutrient value of 70-100 years ago.

 

 

Polluted air and water systems deplete our bodies of their store of

nutrients, such as antioxidants including vitamins and minerals, that are

necessary for protecting our health. Add the stresses of modern life to this and

as a population we are left with ever-weakening genetic and immune systems.

Therefore, vitamin and nutrient supplementation is more crucial than before.

 

 

The mineral depletion of our soils and foods is not news. The U.S.

government has been issuing official warnings since 1936. The U.S. Senate

Document

#264, published by the 2nd session of the 74th Congress in 1936 stated the

following:

 

 

**Most of us today are suffering from certain dangerous diet deficiencies

which cannot be remedied until the depleted soils from which our foods come

are brought [back] into proper mineral balance. Foods, fruits, vegetables

and grains that are now being raised on millions of acres of land that no

longer contain enough of certain needed minerals, are starving us - no

matter how much of these foods we eat. Leading authorities state that 99% of the

American people are deficient in these minerals, and that a marked

deficiency in any one of the more important minerals actually results in

disease.

Any upset of the balance or any considerable lack of one or another

element, however microscopic, causes problems and we sicken, suffer, and

shorten

our lives. Lacking vitamins, the system can make some use of minerals; but

lacking minerals, vitamins are useless.**

 

 

This report was offered over 70 years ago. Just imagine how it would read

today.

 

 

Unfortunately, we all have a big job ahead to restore our soil quality -

even on organic farms - and bring back the nutrients that have been farmed

out of our food. It is urgent that we reintroduce proper organic farming as

the primary method, as well as the rotation of crops to improve the quality

of our soils, among other benefits. It has taken many decades to ruin our

soils and it will take time to revive them and bring them back to health

again. It can be and must be done for ourselves, our children and future

generations.

 

 

As world citizens we can transform our farmlands; one very simple way is

by purchasing organic foods and supporting organic farming. In the meantime,

the way to guarantee adequate nutrition is by supplementing our foods with

naturally-occurring, non-synthetic vitamin and nutrients from organic farms

that focus on soil conservation.

 

 

VITAMINS for VITALITY

 

 

What is a vitamin?

 

 

Vitamins are organic micronutrients essential to normal human metabolism.

Unlike fats, carbohydrates and some proteins, vitamins are not metabolized

to provide energy. Most are not manufactured by the body but are present in

minute quantities in natural foodstuffs. Each of these naturally-occurring

organic vitamin compounds performs a specific vital function and is

required by the body for disease prevention and good health.

 

 

The known vitamins are divided into four fat-soluble types (A, D, E and K)

and nine water-soluble types (eight B vitamins and vitamin C). The

fat-soluble vitamins can be stored in the body and do not need to be ingested

every day. The water-soluble vitamins are more easily eliminated and can be

taken in larger amounts without danger of toxicity. Vitamin C and the eight B

vitamins (except for Vitamin B-12 and Folic Acid) are water soluble. They

cannot be stored and must be consumed frequently for optimal health.

 

 

As an initial convention, vitamins were given letters to go with their

chemically defined names. Not many people know about the form of vitamin E

d-alpha tocopheryl succinate, but most people know what *Vitamin E* is and what

it can be used for. Some nutritional factors were originally given *B*

names but turned out not to act as vitamins at all. You may not have heard of

vitamins B-4, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 which were ultimately rejected as vitamin

factors.

 

 

We know that vitamins prevent disease and promote health, but what do we

know about the actual quality of the vitamins we ingest? Hundreds of millions

of people take a daily vitamin and/or herbal supplement. For more than 70

years we have been ingesting synthetic vitamins in our supplements and our

fortified foods, believing that our health is being protected and improved.

But is it?

 

 

Let*s get down to the truth about vitamin supplementation and food

fortification. There are currently two categories in the family of vitamin and

nutritional products with labeled potencies - synthetic and

naturally-occurring.

 

 

Nearly all vitamin supplements available today, more than 95%, fall into

the synthetic category. Some consist of 100% synthesized vitamins, and some

are combination formulas containing one or more naturally-occurring vitamin

ingredients combined with synthetic vitamins. Naturally-occurring vitamin

supplements are comprised only of naturally-occurring food and botanicals.

They contain no synthetic vitamins or nutrients whatsoever. Presently there

are few manufacturers of this type of vitamin supplement.

 

 

Synthetic vitamin supplements packaged as tablets, capsules, gelcaps, or

powders comprise the majority of vitamin products found in natural food

stores, grocery stores, drug stores and large retail outlets. Within this

category there are certain types and distinctions.

 

 

Type 1:

In some vitamin supplement products a natural base is used and then the

synthetic vitamins or nutrients are added to that natural base. An example of

a natural base could be Acerola cherry or Rosehip, and even a mixture of

botanicals, as a natural base with the synthetic vitamins and nutrients

added. Many Vitamin C products which claim to be from Acerola or some other

fruit or food are usually spiked with synthetic ascorbic acid or ascorbates.

Many multiple vitamin products use a natural base spiked with multiple

synthetic vitamins to get their labeled potencies.

 

 

Type 2:

Some supplements are derived from specially *grown* materials (referred to

as *food source* or *whole food* source) such as yeasts and algae. These

products typically combine the yeast or algae and create other *mixtures* as

a base to which synthetic vitamins are *spiked* or added. Manufacturers

call these supplements *natural* because they are derived from yeast or algae

- natural botanicals. However, they are not natural because synthetic

vitamins or nutrients have been added to the product. This is most often not

mentioned on the product label and is *hidden* from consumers, most of whom,

ironically, are reading labels to ensure the highest levels of nutrition.

Tragically, they fall prey to misleading and dishonest labeling information.

 

 

A manufacturer of this cultivated base which has been spiked with

synthetics nutrients will supply their own as well as other supplement companies

with this raw substance. They then use the raw substance to produce and market

their own vitamins under different product names. The fact that this raw

material contains a cultivated, so-called " natural " base enables the vitamin

producers to make the claim on their label that they are derived from

*natural sources* on their label and contain the listed potencies from the

*food source* referring to the base. But as you can now see this is a deceptive

practice that misleads consumers to believe that they have a natural

supplement.

 

 

Most vitamin companies compete for customers with identical synthetic

vitamin products made from compounds produced by the same few drug

manufacturers. The vitamin companies differentiate their products with different

names

and fancy labels, each making claims of *high potency*. But the higher the

potency of the synthetic vitamin or nutrient, the more likely it is to

exhibit drug-like, toxic effects, the stress of which can actually lead to

disease.

 

 

The majority of vitamin companies also purposely mislead the consumer by

taking advantage of loopholes in labeling laws. The truth is that the vitamin

potencies for most supplements are derived from synthetic vitamins.

 

 

Consumers are fooled by the vitamin label claims and believe that the

vitamin and nutrient potencies are derived from a natural source. You can avoid

this trap by carefully examining the label. Look for the phrase *naturally

occurring.* If the label does not say *naturally occurring* and also name

the food source of the potency, then be aware that the supplement may

contain synthetic vitamins or nutrients. Please go to our website

_www.NOSG.org_

(http://www.NOSG.org) for a list of companies that are leading the way in

NOSG certification, and to see how you can help reverse the tide of

deception and take part in this exciting shift in consciousness, which includes

mandates for truth in labeling.

 

 

The second category of vitamin supplements are derived from

naturally-occurring full-spectrum food and botanical sources. These are truly

natural

vitamin potency supplement products and can be identified by their designation

**naturally occurring** or Naturally Occurring Standard (NOS).

 

 

Although vitamins from naturally-occurring sources are relatively lower

potency, they are actually much more effective at these lower potencies than

synthetic vitamins, for the simple reason that the body can easily

assimilate their nutrients, and can do so without the toxic side-effects of

synthetic vitamins.

 

 

Over the past two decades at Hippocrates Health Institute, we have seen

the negative impact of synthetic supplements by viewing tens of thousands of

blood samples with the assistance of a high-powered microscope. What we know

is that the body perceives a synthetic supplement like it would perceive

any other foreign chemical as an invader and threat to its survival. As

such, it responds by releasing immune-preserving cells such as leukocytes

(white blood cells) to combat the enemy and preserve immunity. Unfortunately,

this extra activity detracts these cells from their most crucial role of

eliminating microbes (viruses and bacteria), spirochetes (such as those that

result in Lyme's Disease), and mutagenic cells (such as those that can result

in cancer). Consequently, when one introduces a large number of chemical

invaders, such as synthetic vitamin supplements, there are fewer

immune-preserving cells to combat more deleterious cell activity, resulting in

a

greater probability for disease.

 

 

Just as natural vitamins from food are more effective than synthetic

vitamins, so are natural vitamin supplements from whole-food sources. Low

potency vitamins from a full spectrum, naturally-occurring source of the vitamin

will produce effective nutrient activity, while positively impacting immune

function.

 

 

A MOLECULAR DIFFERENCE

 

 

Vitamins are biological complexes. They represent multi-step biochemical

interactions whose beneficial action depends upon a number of variables

within the biological terrain. Correct vitamin activity can only take place

when all co-factors and components of the vitamin complex are present and

working together synergistically. Vitamins cannot be isolated from their

complexes and still perform their specific functions within the cells. When

isolated into artificial chemical commercial forms, these purified, isolated,

crystalline synthetics act the same as toxic drugs in the body and compromise

the immune system, which can ultimately lead to illness and disease. They

are no longer actual vitamins, and to call them such is inaccurate. A

vitamin is: **a working process consisting of the nutrient, enzymes, coenzymes,

antioxidants, and trace mineral activators.** - Dr. Royal Lee

 

 

Theron Randolph, MD wrote four books and over 300 medical articles and was

a leading researcher in the fields of food and chemical allergies, as well

as general preventive care. Dr. Randolph co-founded the American Academy

of Environmental Medicine in 1965. Consider the way he has delineated the

difference between natural and synthetic nutrients:

 

 

**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 [vitamin] C when the [same] naturally-occurring

vitamins are tolerated.**

 

 

Certain studies on natural vs. synthetic vitamins have shown that synthetic

vitamins are 50 to 70% less biologically active than natural vitamins.

 

 

Synthetic vitamins are actually just fractions of naturally-occurring

vitamins synthesized in the dextro- and levo- forms (known as *right* and *left

handed* molecules) which form geometric mirror images of each other. It

may seem strange, but the geometry of nutrient compounds is crucial for the

bioavailability of the nutrient. The body uses only the levo- forms.

Synthetic vitamin compounds have little of the correct geometry (levo-forms) of

naturally-occurring vitamins present in food and botanicals.

 

 

So, can a synthesized, isolated vitamin fraction made in the laboratory be

called a real vitamin? Can it provide you with the nourishment that

naturally-occurring, whole-food supplements can? The answer is a resounding and

undeniable NO!

 

 

Throughout much of the last century, we have been programmed to believe

that synthetic chemicals are superior to natural food-source nutritional

substances, and therefore an acceptable substitute. This misleading concept is

broadcasted mainly by commercial interests who promote this fallacy through

sophisticated marketing programs to sell and profit from their inferior

**food and nutritional** supplements.

 

 

The problems we now have with these synthetic vitamins are parallel to the

overall problems we have with pharmaceutical drugs and the development of

*modern*, alopathic medicine.

 

 

In Western cultures, we have abandoned our history of traditional medicine

- medicine that has been practiced successfully for thousands of years -

and nearly categorically replaced it with new technologies. We are now

suffering the consequences of it.

 

 

Although chemistry has provided us with many benefits, when it comes to

food and nutrition, a better life through chemistry is a fallacy.

 

 

We are now in the midst of a chemical *feast* of harmful and polluting

chemical preservatives, excipients, colorings, flavorings, additives, and other

life-threatening chemicals.

 

 

A century ago when we discovered how to chemically synthesize various

isolates of natural compounds, synthetic nutrients became fashionable. Many of

the problems that we have today developed many years ago when we embraced

the chemical paradigm and rejected our time-proven traditional medicinal

practices. It is imperative now that we return to our traditional values and

ways of living before the hazardous imbalances we have created destroy us.

 

 

VITAMIN ACTIVITY & BIOAVAILABILITY

 

 

Why is it that only Nature can create a real vitamin?

The differences between vitamins extracted from food and those manufactured

by chemical processes is vast, and the distinctions are critically

important. Vitamins manufactured in the laboratory come to us without the

naturally occurring associated factors and trace substances that insure a

vitamin*s

bioavailability. If the body can easily digest and absorb nutrients from a

food, then they are said to be bioavailable. Tests on natural vs.

synthetic vitamins have revealed that synthetic vitamins are less biologically

active and bioavailable than natural vitamins. Since our bodies often do not

absorb more than 50% of the vitamins and minerals we consume, to ingest a

product that is already less active than its natural counterpart leaves very

little of the original potency available for our use.

 

 

It sounds like a simple concept: you are what you digest or, more to the

point, what you assimilate.

 

 

The digestive system of humans, similar to that of apes, grazing animals

and other herbivores, is complex. The adult alimentary canal measures up to

36 feet; it is long and convoluted. Yet it squeezes into the small space of

our abdominal cavity. Many of us assume that we have good and proper

digestion and assimilation, and that our bodies can extract nutrients no matter

what we eat. This is simply not true, which is why it is important for us to

eat wholesome and nutritious foods and maintain high levels of good

intestinal flora and other living bacteria that break down our foods completely

so that our nutrients can be absorbed.

 

 

Furthermore, the human biology has never been able to *digest* synthetic

chemicals.

 

 

Even though we may voluntarily or involuntarily ingest synthetic

chemicals, our digestive systems have not suddenly changed to recognize them as

food

or nourishment. All the synthetic nutrients in the world are useless, and

potentially even dangerous, if they are not digested. The best way to

improve digestive absorption of nutrients is to eat good nutrient-rich, living

foods and use naturally-occurring vitamins and mineral supplements.

 

 

You are what you digest also means that if your digestion is weak, then

you absorb fewer nutrients from your food than necessary, which can lead to

obesity or other imbalances. When enjoying quality foods, the health of your

body and all of its systems are strengthened.

 

Research with polarized light shows the differences in bioavailability

between synthetic and natural vitamins. The experiment involves taking a

sample of a natural vitamin and its chemically identical synthetic counterpart,

and passing a beam of polarized light through each. The beam passing

through a natural vitamin always bends to the right due to the direction of its

molecular rotation. When passing through a synthetic vitamin, the beam

splits in half. Half the light beam bends to the right, and the other half

bends

to the left. The direction of the molecular rotation makes half of the

synthetic vitamin impossible to use, which is why there is only 50% biological

activity or less in synthetic, isolated vitamins. They are lacking the

factors found in a full-spectrum real vitamin and more importantly they are

not viewed by the body as real nutrition, and are therefore counterproductive

to health.

 

 

Even if the vitamins you take are *natural* ones extracted from food, they

will not be effective if they have been extracted from their full-spectrum

matrix. Extracting a vitamin from its full-spectrum matrix eliminates the

necessary co-factors which assist in the functioning of that nutrient. When

you extract and isolate Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) from an orange, you are

also removing the bioflavonoids, which are necessary for Vitamin C*s

complete vitamin activity. It*s better to use a full-spectrum concentrate of

the

whole orange rather than to extract the ascorbic acid or other isolated

Vitamin C fractions or to take those factors separately.

 

 

For a complex matrix like Vitamin C to be effective, it has to be used as

nature created it. Always use a full-spectrum food source supplement of

Vitamin C and other supplements to insure that all the naturally-occurring

nutrient factors are available to your body.

 

 

Worldwide, there is no official government-regulated definition for the

term *natural* for use by the natural products industry. In the USA, the FDA

refers to natural ingredients as **ingredients extracted directly from

plants or animal products, as opposed to being produced synthetically.** While

it*s fine to set a legal definition for natural, the problem is that the

FDA*s system of standards for vitamins is not based on nature. This system,

known as the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) or what has now been updated

to **Daily Values** (DV's) and RDI*s (Recommended Daily Intake), relates to

the amount of vitamins we require daily for maintaining health and is

based on the assumed nutrient value of synthetic supplements.

 

The RDA*s, DV*s or other *standards* that are generally accepted by most

agencies and institutions were originally established through animal testing

using synthetic vitamins - supplements that we have already determined as

indigestible and severely lacking in nutritional value.

 

 

There is a proposal for a new standard for vitamins and nutrients called

the: **Naturally Occurring Standard** or *NOS*. This standard, which will

completely revolutionize the supplement industry, is related to verifiable

amounts of naturally-occurring vitamins, minerals or other nutrients as found

in natural foods and botanicals.

 

 

It is our strong opinion - in the interest of public health - that the NOS

should be adopted by the food industry as a consumer standard for all food

supplements or fortified foods. The NOS symbol printed on dietary

supplements or food products labels will ensure that a product contains only

naturally-occurring whole food materials, enabling consumers to make the

healthiest choices for themselves and their family. For more information on NOS

standards, see the resources section in the back of this book, or go to

_www.nosg.org_ (http://www.nosg.org) .

 

 

 

REFERENCES:

 

 

Vinson J.A., **Comparative Bioavailability of Synthetic and Natural

Vitamin C in Guinea Pigs**, Nutrition Reports International, 1983, 27, 4,

875-880. (The bio availability of the natural Vitamin C was significantly

greater than that of the synthetic Ascorbic Acid.)

 

 

Vinson J.A., **Bioavailability of Vitamin C**, 1991. (Citrus extract was

1210% more bioavailable than USP (United States Pharmacopoeia) Ascorbic

Acid.)

 

 

**What Is a Vitamin?** Applied Trophology, Aug 1956

 

 

Life Enthusiast Co-op, 2006, Article by Tim O'Shea

 

 

FDA Consumer Information & Publication No. ((FDA) 95-5012)

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