Gale Maleskey
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 Although some people think "natural" means "better," there's a practical reason for synthetic vitamins: The laboratory process is much more efficient and less expensive than isolating these nutrients from foods. Also keep in mind that even vitamins labeled "natural" undergo several steps in processing before they arrive in the final product form.
In some cases, the chemical structure of so-called synthetic vitamins is slightly different from what's found in nature, but manufacturers can change concentrations or quantities to compensate for the differences. |
Nontoxic, Natural and EarthwiseDebra Lynn Dadd
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| Most "natural" vitamins on the market today either are fortified (a very small amount of low-potency natural vitamins mixed with high-potency synthetic vitamins) or are synthetic vitamins in a very small amount of natural base (the label will say something like "in a natural base contain-ing . . .").
The only truly natural vitamins are those that come from foods. |
Paul Pitchford
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 Another manufacturing approach is to incorporate synthetic vitamins and non-organic* minerals into a living yeast base through a process of fermentation. In this way the vitamins and minerals become part of a living food and therefore metabolize more completely. According to our observations, these approaches to supplements are more effective, especially for deficient or relatively balanced people.
In the case of excess conditions that result from a very rich diet coupled with a strong constitution, synthetic vitamins may be temporarily helpful as a means of reducing the excess. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Highlighting the dangers of synthetic vitamins is a favorite scare tactic of the conventional medical community. By scaring consumers away from vitamin E, they can convince people to take high-profit pharmaceuticals instead of more affordable nutritional supplements. And while nutritional supplements like ephedra get banned for being associated with a few dozen overdose deaths, blockbuster prescription drugs like Vioxx, which are suspected of contributing to more than 27,000 heart attacks, remain perfectly legal and FDA-approved. There's little hope that the trend will reverse, either. |
Dianne Onstad
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 When whole wheat is milled into white flour, 83 percent of the nutrients are removed, leaving a product that is so useless as a food that it must be fortified with synthetic vitamins. As Henry A. Schroeder, M.D., points out in his book Trace Elements and Man, "The milling of wheat into refined white flour removes 40 percent of the chromium, 86 percent of the manganese, 76 percent of the iron, 89 percent of the cobalt, 68 percent of the copper, 78 percent of the zinc, and 48 percent of the molybdenum, all trace elements essential for life or health. |
Kevin Trudeau
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 Whole food supplements are not synthetic vitamins and minerals. They are "concentrated real food". They contain nutrients, living enzymes, life force energy, in the exact proportion that nature intended. Whole food supplements include chorella, blue-green algae, spirulina, royal jelly, and other types of concentrated whole herbs, plants, dehydrated juices, and/or sprouts. Remember your body is deficient in nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and various cofactors. This is the fact. There is no way that you can get all the nutrients you need by eating food. |
Dianne Onstad
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| The "natural" B vitamins proclaimed in yeast are in fact from synthetic vitamins fed the culture during its growth stage; the end product is then further fortified. This process allows a yeast of any B vitamin potency desired to be produced and used to formulate vitamin pills with "B vitamins derived from yeast." Ammonia also is generally added to the growth medium of the yeast, just as it is used in chemical farming—as a nitrogen fertilizer to increase protein content in the finished product. |
Kevin Trudeau
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| It is also the reason why studies and research done on synthetic vitamins do not necessarily show favorable results. When studies are conducted with whole food concentrates, whole food concentrates that include not only the vitamin in question, but all the cofactors and parts and elements that defy analysis, the results are always better. Remember, science is not better than nature.
• Fingerprints are believed to be infallible and an accurate way of identifying a person; however, you have been misled. |
Ronald Klatz and Robert Goldman
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 Synthetic fitaii
Is there really a difference between natural and synthetic vitamins? Maybe not. Critics claim that at the very best, a synthetic vitamin interacts with the human body as a mere drug or a pharmaceutical agent—not a supporting nutrient. At worst, synthetic vitamins can damage the functioning of the human body through biochemical imbalances. A basic guideline to follow when vitamin shopping is that cheaper is not better; if it's cheap it's usually synthetic, which means it was manufactured by poor quality control standards. |
Dr Bernard Jenson and Mark Anderson
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 The modern western diet has relied upon the process of "enrichment" of foods with synthetic vitamins, after they had been denuded of all or most naturally occurring nutrients through processing and refinement. As in the case of all enriched flour and enriched rice products, it is assumed that all you have to do to make these staple foods healthful is to spray a few synthetic vitamins back in. But, white bleached wheat flour has more than thirty known nutrients removed with four synthetically added back in. Enrichment of flour began in 1939 with a federal law. |
| As such, vitamins are given single chemical names and single chemical structures for the purpose of selling synthetic vitamins. When you have found the shed skin of a snake, you have not found a snake.
This issue remains a thorn in the side of the synthetic vitamin producer. Lending credence to the "vitamin complex" theory is current research of C. Regnault Roger, chairman of biochemistry at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers in Paris. |
| As in the case of all enriched flour and enriched rice products, it is assumed that all you have to do to make these staple foods healthful is to spray a few synthetic vitamins back in. But, white bleached wheat flour has more than thirty known nutrients removed with four synthetically added back in. Enrichment of flour began in 1939 with a federal law.
It is more than interesting to observe that the first mention of "heart failure" by that name appeared in medical literature in 1912. |
| It is usually not mentioned that unrealistic pharmacological dosages are needed to induce toxicity, and that natural food source supplements never come close to approaching those levels in recommended doses. Only synthetic vitamins approach these mega-levels in the name of "high potency". What is ironic about such expressed fears of toxic levels of nutrients by medical people is that toxicology itself is the cornerstone of their approach. This is no secret to anyone who understands modern medicine. |
James F. Balch, M.D.
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 They were scoffed at by the scientific community, who looked only at the chemicals in vitamins and told us that synthetic vitamins were just as good as natural ones. But in the last few years, these "associated food factors" have been identified and researched, and their importance is now clearly recognized. Named phytochemicals as a group, they consist of thousands of chemicals such as flavonoids, carotenoids, tocopherols, and phenolic acids, each of which has antioxidant properties. |
Paul Pitchford
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| Supplements: synthetic vitamins and inorganic minerals seem to work best for individuals with strong, robust signs (see "Excess" in following chapter), although they may benefit others also. Whole food supplements such as wheat- or barley-grass concentrates, sea vegetables, chlorella, and spirulina may be more beneficial for long-term use. Sprouts are a superb source of nutrients and can adequately supplement most grain and vegetable diets; however, they should be lightly cooked and used sparingly by individuals who are cold, weak, or frail.
5. |
Gabriel Cousens, M.D.
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 In addition, the body may become less able to assimilate nutrients from food when, and if, the synthetic vitamins and minerals are withdrawn for some unexpected reason.
In some of my clients, I have discovered that during withdrawal from fast foods, sugars, and drugs, these people first sometimes feel weaker before they become stronger. In addition, paradoxically, if they backslide and eat the energetically disruptive junk food of their old diet, they may get a false sense of feeling stronger. Let me explain. |
| These work to some extent but are usually synthetic vitamins, and thus they lack a wholeness and integrity that is only found in whole foods and whole-food supplements. These wheat sprouts are genetically selected and grown in a way that produces a high concentration of antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutases, methionine reductases, glutathione peroxidases, and catalases.
The two main enzyme companies that produce these wheat sprout antioxidants are Bioguard and Biotech. According to Dr. |
| Other foods that have some acidifying effect are the yin acid foods such as white sugar, white flour, synthetic vitamins, saccharin, chemical additives, colorings, preservatives, refined and heavily processed foods, prescription and psychedelic drugs, soft drinks, and other synthetic drugs. These products are acid-forming because they either never contained alkaline-forming minerals or the minerals were leached out during chemical processing and refining. Compounding the acidity is the fact that most of these foods have a slight acidifying effect of their own. |
| Supplements Affect Powers of Assimilation
Understanding the dynamics between the body's energies and the external energy of foods gives us a knowledge of how the body might be affected by vitamin and mineral supplements, specifically the chronic use of high-potency, synthetic vitamins, minerals, free amino acids, and other supplements. For example, for vitamin Bs, a high-potency, synthetic nutrient is anything over 5 to 10 milligrams. B vitamins less than these potency levels are usually obtained from natural food sources and are not synthetically made. |
| Less research has been done in this area in terms of how the different constitutions respond to medicines. Most synthetic vitamins are acidifying. One of the most acidifying of all is ascorbic acid. Its very name reveals that it is acid by nature. People who are acid and taking ascorbic acid (the synthetic form of vitamin C separated from its natural components) should consider switching to another, more balanced form of vitamin C if their urine pH is less than 6.3. This is because this form of vitamin C will tend to make them even more acidic. |
Henry Pasternak, D.V.M., C.V.A.
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 In fact, the body is no more adapted to synthetic vitamins than it is to any other drug (antibiotics, tranquilizers, etc.) The liver has an impressive restorative capability, and is the only organ that will regenerate itself when part of it is damaged. This regeneration capacity is one of the intriguing survival mechanisms of the body.
Our health to a large extent depends on a well-functioning liver. |
| I do not recommend synthetic vitamins in any form as a supplement. They will only add an un-needed burden on your pet to detoxify. Only natural nutrients from foods should be given.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
Remember, natural nutrients from food sources go a long way toward optimum health. Experimenting to see what is palatable is a natural occurrence when providing raw diets. Pets must get acclimated slowly to any diet. Many pets find beef and chicken broth palatable; both can be added to the diet. |
Ralph Golan, M.D.
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 One advantage to synthetic vitamins is that some brands are entirely free of the major allergenic foods.
Other Important Aspects of Supplements
Chelated Minerals Minerals are best absorbed from the digestive tract into your circulation in their chelated form (in which they are "bound" to amino acids or other substances). There are many chelation vehicles on the market with a wide variation in absorption. How do you know whether to buy calcium carbonate or calcium malate; magnesium oxide or magnesium fuma-rate? |
Henry Pasternak, D.V.M., C.V.A.
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| One must be careful when taking synthetic vitamins because high doses can be toxic. For example, high doses of ascorbic acid (synthetic vitamin C) can cause kidney stones, while high doses of kiwi fruit (a source of natural vitamin C) will not. Ingestion of high doses of synthetic vitamin A can be dangerous, while ingestion of natural vitamin A in the form of egg yolk, butter, or cod liver oil is safe. Synthetic vitamin A has had temporary positive results in severe vitamin A deficiency in children with measles; however, these are partial results, only masking the symptoms temporarily. |
Paul Pitchford
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| Thus, vitamins in whole food are often immeasurably more effective than the synthetic variety; furthermore, the life force in whole foods is absent in synthetic vitamins.
Those attributes which are measurable tell us that nutrients in food may be far more active. For example, 70 mg. of vitamin C ingested in the form of parsley or broccoli (one cupful) may strengthen immunity more effectively than 700 mg. of synthetic vitamin C. |
Henry Pasternak, D.V.M., C.V.A.
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| It has been shown, however, that these synthetic vitamins are not absorbed by the body as well as vitamins that occur through a natural diet.41 have always favored a wholesome raw diet over synthetic pills and concoctions. Science has not been able to duplicate what nature has perfected over millions of years, and I don't believe we ever will.
Unfortunately, harmful chemical preservatives and other artificial additives are the norm in most pet foods. |
Paul Pitchford
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| Note: before the advent of synthetic vitamins, wheat grass tablets were considered a superior supplement based on hundreds of scientific studies and were carried by virtually every pharmacy in America by the year 1945.) Other sources include bee pollen and flower pollen (available straight from flowers and in products), and micro-algae such as spirulina, wild blue-green (Aphanizomenon), and chlorella. These micro-algae and the above cereal grasses are important sources of one of the most overlooked nutritional deficiencies—the omega-3 and gamma-linolenic (GLA) fatty acids.
5. |
Henry Pasternak, D.V.M., C.V.A.
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| The body treats natural and synthetic vitamins differently. When defining carbohydrates, vitamins, fats, or any other food element, each must be considered as a complex, made up of many forms, and the best philosophy is to get as many forms as possible.
Years ago, a Cuban study found that fish liver oil (vitamin A) had antihypertensive effects. However, when American doctors tried to duplicate the study, they failed. Later, it was discovered that the vitamin A concentrate used in the U.S. was refined and had eliminated key nutrients that affected high blood pressure. |
Dr. John Heinerman
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 Even with the addition of synthetic vitamins, they don't provide well-balanced nutrition.
Animals, like humans, require a frequent diet of raw food teeming with life and vitality. Cooked food doesn't give this. The animal body (as its human counterpart) requires natural vitamins, strengthening minerals, activating enzymes, power-building amino acids, and stimulating fiber to give energy and stamina. It is virtually impossible to promote vigorous activity in any biological system for long without the benefit of wholesome, uncooked food. |
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