The Vitamins We Take

For nearly 70 years we have been overwhelmed with information about the need for supplemental vitamins and minerals. Health food stores, grocery stores and even some doctor’s offices have shelves loaded with bottles and boxes of vitamin and mineral supplements in the form of tablets, capsules and canisters of powders that are mixed into “delicious” shakes. Look at the number of network marketing companies that offer “nutritious” supplements to their distributors. There are literally hundreds of companies promoting their products! Using exquisitely designed marketing materials and well laid out websites, each of these companies proclaim one basic theme “Ours is the Best”! A month does not go by that you don’t get something in the mail about a revolutionary doctor endorsed, new nutritional formula or a catalog featuring a wide variety of vitamins and minerals that will, “quite possibly”, cure any ailment.

With the above in mind, take a look at the health condition of the U.S. population. All anyone needs to do is refer to health and mortality statistics reported by the Center of Disease Control (CDC) to learn that cancer rates are at all time highs and growing. Cardiovascular disease and stroke are at all time highs. Diabetes in both children and adults is at an all time high and rapidly growing. Arthritis and joint pain are at all time highs. Depression and anxiety are at all time highs. Internal organ disorders and disease are at all time highs. With all of the health products being marketed to us.......why are major diseases on the increase? If we are regularly ingesting all of our fortified and enriched foods that contain the necessary vitamin and mineral nutrients and we are dutifully taking our daily vitamin & mineral supplements, shouldn’t we all be healthier? The answer is “of course, we should all be healthier....much healthier”!

Why aren’t we healthier? Why do so many continue to suffer form bouts with the cold, flu, sore throats, allergies and pneumonia? How and why has our immune system become so compromised? With all of the nutritional supplements that are available, including all of the vitamin and mineral enriched and fortified foods…….we as a society should all be reeling with optimum health and boundless energy! Instead, just the opposite is true! Fatigue for many, seems to be the order of the day.

In the name of “good health”, consider this:

• Milk is fortified and enriched with Vitamins A and D

• Most all cereals are fortified and enriched with all of the major vitamin and mineral groups….in many cases with 100% of RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance).

• Breads, cake mixes, biscuit mixes, pancake and cornbread mixes, frostings, muffins, pies, cookies and crackers are all fortified and enriched with Vitamin A and most of the B vitamins as well as several minerals.

• Packaged pastas are fortified and enriched with most of the B vitamins as well as Iron and Zinc.

• Unless naturally squeezed or pressed, most all fruit and vegetable juices are fortified and enriched with at least vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin A (palmitate) and calcium (calcium citrate, carbonate, ascorbate or phosphate).

• Many canned foods such as soups, fruits, vegetables, pastas, beans, etc. are fortified and enriched with various vitamins and minerals.

• The list of foods goes on and on……all one needs to do is read the labels. MOST EVERYTHING WE INGEST IS EITHER ENRICHED/FORTIFIED WITH ADDED VITAMIN AND MINERAL NUTRIENTS……all in synthetic form! Depending upon our personal susceptibility to chemicals, we are overloading our bodies with potentially dangerous laboratory made ingredients.

And, if the fortification and enrichment weren’t enough, much of our food is loaded with high fructose corn syrup (a leading contributor to obesity and diabetes). “The Effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup on Blood Lipid Levels”: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 37:5, 1983, 740-748.) and partially hydrogenated oils (a known contributor to diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease).....The New England Journal of Medicine, June 24, 1999 Vol. 340, No. 25).

With all of the vitamin enrichment and fortification in our foods and with the billions of dollars spent annually for nutritional supplements, WHY ARE AMERICANS SUFFERING MORE FROM SERIOUS DISEASES THAN AT ANY OTHER TIME IN OUR HISTORY? Could it be possible that we as Americans are the most over fed and yet undernourished people in the world?

Take a look at this….what do these words mean to you?
Pryidoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Thiamine Chloride, Cobalamin, Cyanocobalamin, Palmitate, Acetate, Menadione, Phytonadione, Cholecalciferol, Niacin, Niacinamide, Ascorbic Acid, Buffered Ascorbic Acid, , Riboflavin, d-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate, Tocopheryl Acetate, dl-alpha Tocopherol, Alpha-tocopherol, Succinate, Choline Bitartrate, Pteroylglutamic Acid. Each one of these words refers to vitamins….vitamins that are in a synthetic fractionated form. They are made from dead chemicals in a laboratory…not from living whole food like fruits, berries, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains. A list of these words looks more like a chemistry class text book than something good and nutritious to eat!

Now look at these words….what do they mean to you?
Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Citrate, Calcium Ascorbate, Calcium Pantothenate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Potassium Iodide, Ferrous Gluconate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Gluconate, Copper Citrate, Magnesium Phosphate, Magnesium Citrate, Magnesium Oxide, Potassium Borate, Manganese Citrate, Manganese Glycerophosphate, Potassium Borate, Chromium Polynicotinate, Molybdenum Trioxide, L-Selenomethionine, Sodium Selenite, Vanadyl Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, and Zinc Acetate. These words all refer to synthetic inorganic mineral salts. Each one of these substances are also made in a laboratory…..they are chemical based. Again, it looks more like the readings from your chemistry class than actually eating something nutritious!

Is it possible that in the name of “good health and nutrition”, we are literally over-dosing on synthetic, fractionated and inorganic laboratory produced ingredients? These chemical substances may quite possibly be building up unnecessary amounts of toxins in our liver and thus may possibly be contributing to a wide variety of physical ailments.

Let’s look at some additional facts:

• Look at your cereal box, look at your bread, look at your milk…..now go read the label on your vitamin/mineral/antioxidant supplement that is sitting in your cupboard. Except for some possible added “food derived” antioxidants and some possible herbal additives, they are IDENTICAL! Could it be that we are over dosing on synthetic chemicals that just might be contributing to a build up of liver toxins?

• We have been told for years that we can get all the vitamins and minerals we need if we eat a balanced diet. Not true! More than 90% of Americans don't eat the recommended daily servings of fruit and vegetables. And even if we try our best to eat more vegetables, the ones we purchase in the produce department don't have the vitamins and minerals that they had 40 or 50 years ago….over the years soils have become severely depleted of these life sustaining nutrients.

• In Department of Agriculture studies of 50,000 persons performed in the 1980's, not one person was getting the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of the 10 essential vitamins found in whole foods….specifically fruits and vegetables. In many cases the RDA of vitamins and minerals from whole food sources as produced today, is insufficient for optimum health. Therefore, is a multi vitamin/mineral nutritional supplement advisable? Yes, highly advisable, but the right kind!

We do need to be taking nutritional supplements but how can we be sure we are making the right choices when choosing nutritional supplements? As mentioned above, companies spend millions in advertising trying to convince us that their vitamins are the best on the market. What can we believe and to whom can we go to for advice? Can we go to our doctor? Most medical schools provide less than 3 hours of education in nutrition.

Some Vitamins Are Hazardous To Your Health
As posted in the Monday, March 20, 2006 Wall Street Journal article by Tara Parker-Pope, some vitamins can be hazardous to your health. Most people are not aware that many of the synthetic vitamins, including some of the highly advertised “name brands” are processed in a laboratory at high temperatures, contain petroleum derived chemical solvents, such as ethyl cellulose, coal tar and acetone and are coated with methylene chloride, a carcinogenic material. Rather than being whole food natural vitamin complexes they are fractionated chemicals.....only fractional portions of the whole.

According to Dr. Zoltan P. Rona, M.D., “Although most healthy people will have no obvious side effects from ingesting small amounts of toxins found in cheap (fractionated/synthetic) vitamins, the long term consequences of continuous, daily intakes are potentially dangerous. Over 7% of the population displays sensitivity to these chemicals.” Dr. Rona continues to say, “That allergic reactions include fatigue, memory loss, depression and insomnia”.

What is a fractionated (synthetic) vitamin?
The following information was taken form an article written by Dr. Ben Kim of Health & Beyond:

“A good example is vitamin C. If you take a look at a variety of vitamin C supplements, you will find that the majority of them contain only ascorbic acid or a compound called Ascorbate, which is a less acidic form of ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid is NOT vitamin C. It represents the outer ring that serves as a protective shell for the entire vitamin C complex, much like an egg shell that serves as a protective covering for the content of an egg."

Real vitamin C found in whole foods like fruits and vegetables contain the 8 following components of which ascorbic acid is just one:

• Rutin
• Bioflavonoids (vitamin P)
• Factor K
• Factor J
• Factor P
• Tyrosinase
• Ascorbinogen
• Ascorbic Acid

As you can see, Ascorbic Acid is 1/8 of the whole complex! Hence, vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is “fractionated”. Let's be real clear on this. Ascorbic Acid is not Vitamin C. Ascorbic Acid is Ascorbic Acid which is a fraction of the biologically utilizable Vitamin C complex! Common sense should tell us that when you take a "fraction" of something it is not the same as the whole substance. When the "fraction" by itself is obtained from an altogether different source than the original substance simply because "it’s the same thing" (translates into –cheaper to produce) and the body can tell the difference! You cannot put into a live organism a dead substance and expect long-term positive results.”

However, it must be noted that although one may change their diet and begin eating more fruits, vegetables and other whole food nutrients if a good consistent cardiovascular and exercise program in not incorporated into the plan, overall long-term good health is still compromised. If you are not exercising then start doing so…..get help. Personal trainers are available at most fitness center locations. If budget is a problem, at least get some consultation as to how to begin…..it could just very well save your life not to mention vastly improving your mental and physical vitality and quality of life.