FAQ- Isolated Vitamins

Q- What is wrong with isolated 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 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.

All of our formulas have calcium, if it is just there in the soil. It is in greater amounts in some herbs than others, combined with different amounts of minerals and to the Herbalist that is the secret. Like a Chef with food the Herbalist will combine these these for a variety of results.

In the mid-1930s, multivitamins became available in grocery stores and pharmacies. These supplements were made from natural, dried and compressed vegetable and fruit concentrates, but then, in the early 1940s, certain brands began producing synthetic versions. Synthetic vitamin A comes from fish liver juices loaded with toxic PCB's and mercury. Synthetic vitamin C comes from acid blends that irritate the lining of your digestive track. It's just a chemical copy of naturally occurring ascorbic acid. This kind of fractionated, chemical acid never grew in the ground or received sunlight, but rather it's a sulfuric acid by-product. Once you swallow that pill, it's just another carcinogenic drug in your body, like MSG (monosodium glutamate) or Aspartame that is LEGAL to take but do you really want to use it?

True whole food vitamins don't leech the body of their missing co-factors and don't cause a vitamin imbalance. We are told that synthetic vitamins are the same as natural but that that is not the whole paragraph, the whole story. It is the fact that they are manufactured to a standardized specification that also gives it the inability for the body to utilize it.

Many synthetic vitamins lack the transporters and co-factors associated with naturally-occurring vitamins because they have been “isolated.” The Organic Consumers Association emphasizes that isolated vitamins cannot be used or recognized by the body in the same way as the natural version. The old boring plant has put the nutrition in a form that the body recognizes, metabolizes and uses them to make what it needs.

Isolated vitamins can’t always be used by the body, and are either stored until you obtain or create the nutrients required to use them effectively or are excreted. Synthetic vitamins are also devoid of necessary trace minerals and must use the body’s own mineral reserves which may lead to dangerous mineral deficiencies.

Did You Know?
More than 95% of all the vitamin supplements sold today fall in to the synthetic category. Fat soluble vitamins in their synthetic form are especially dangerous because they can build up in your fatty tissues and cause toxicity. The reason that the synthetic form is more dangerous is because you can get a high, concentrated dose of the vitamin rather than the amount that you would get from a food-based form. Vitamins A, D, E and K are all fat soluble

Fat soluble vitamins are found naturally in butter, fish oils, nuts, and green leafy vegetables

Excesses of fat soluble vitamins are stored in the liver and fatty tissues. Could this be why the latest data shows overweight people have highest rates of cancer?

Unfortunately, vitamins can be labeled as natural if they contain as little as 10% of the natural form of the vitamin. This means that your “natural” vitamin could contain 90% of synthetically produced chemicals! B-Vitamins and Vitamin C are also usually synthetically produced.

Common Synthetic Vitamins include:

Vitamin A: Acetate and Palmitate,Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): Thiamine Mononitrate, Thiamine Hydrochloride,Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): Riboflavin, Pantothenic Acid: Calcium D-Pantothenate, Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine): Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12: Cobalamin, PABA (Para-aminobenzoic Acid): Aminobenzoic Acid, Folic Acid: Pteroylglutamic Acid, Choline: Choline Chloride, Choline Bitartrate, , Biotin: d-Biotin, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid): Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin D: Irradiated Ergosteral, Calciferol, Vitamin E: dl-alpha tocopherol, dl-alpha tocopherol acetate or succinate. The “dl” form of any vitamin is synthetic.

Even in the field of "alternative health" we find this same sort of reductionism going on. Herbal compounds are isolated, extracted and ingested in inappropriate quantities, without the synergy that the whole plant provides. I don't know of any other company that has a 3 step process, most all are 1 stage high heat liquid extraction, unless they are using alcohol and that sure puts stress on the system.