Why you should stop taking vitamins!

What is a vitamin? And what are your vitamins made of?

vi·ta·min

NOUN

vitamins (plural noun)

any of a group of organic compounds that are essential for normal growth and nutrition and are required in small quantities in the diet because they cannot be synthesized by the body.

There are several different types of vitamins.

Natural Source vitamins contain nutrients from vegetable, animal or mineral sources. These “natural” vitamins require a significant amount of processing and refining. Some examples would be vitamin D from fish liver oils or vitamin E from vegetable oils. To be considered a “natural” vitamin, it only has to include 10% of actual natural plant or animal-derived ingredients – the other 90% could be synthetic.

Synthetic vitamins fall into two different categories. The first, Nature-Identical Synthetic vitamins, are nutrients completely manufactured in a lab with the molecular structure identical to the same nutrients occurring in nature. Most vitamins supplements (an estimated 95% or more) on the market are synthetic because they are cheaper to manufacture than natural vitamin supplements. Vitamin C, for example, is mostly sold in the synthetic form, ascorbic acid. It is mostly manufactured in China and often derived from corn starch, corn sugar, or rice starch combined with volatile acids. Naturally occurring vitamin C is structurally the same molecule as synthetic ascorbic acid. When vitamin C occurs in nature, however, ascorbic acid is found within the vitamin C complex among other compounds.

The other type of synthetic vitamins are Strictly Synthetic vitamins. These vitamins are manufactured in a lab and are different than the same nutrients found in nature. They can have the same chemical constituents, but still have a different molecular shape. Some enzymes in the human body only work properly with a vitamin of the correct shape, so concentrated doses of the wrong form of the body cannot be assimilated and are toxic to the body! Strictly synthetic vitamins are manufactured with ingredients that range from petroleum products, including coal tar, to acetylene gas. Synthetic vitamin B1, for example, is made from coal tar combined with hydrochloric acid. An example of a strictly synthetic vitamin brand is Centrum, one of the top selling vitamin brands, owned by the drug company Pfizer.

Sadly, the majority of US population taking vitamin supplements to improve their health are at best taking substances that cannot be assimilated by the body, and are thus a waste, and more often actually taking substances that are toxic to the body and a threat to their health!

So how can you still get the essential vitamins and nutrients that your body needs without taking synthetic vitamins made from ingredients like coal tar?

From food!

Whole Food Philosophy

The health-giving properties of a whole food far exceed those of isolated vitamins and minerals. Nutrients as they appear in nature never function as single chemicals but rather as groups of interdependent compounds, such as phytochemicals, coenzymes, and trace minerals. Together they form a “nutrient complex” so intricate that only a living cell can create it.

What is a Whole Food Supplement?

There is no regulatory definition of a whole food supplement. Therefore companies can make up their own definition to suit their needs, leading to confusion. For example, “Food Based Supplements”, which are growing in popularity, are grown in a lab in a way that delivers natural nutrients without growing whole foods and extracting the nutrients from the food. As the world’s first company to make whole food supplements, Standard Process_® brings authority and leadership to the whole food supplement category, and sets forth the following standards and definitions:

The goal of all whole food supplementation is to provide nutrients for the body that are as close as possible to how they are found in nature. Whole food supplements supply our bodies with nutrients we are not getting from our diet—all the vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, and phytonutrients that foods possess in a way that nature intended, in a whole food form.

Whole Food Supplement

A complex formula that includes plant and animal extracts, desiccates, or other ingredients as required to create the best dietary supplement for each health indication.

Whole Food Ingredients

Whole food supplements include foods that are prepared in a way that safeguards their nutritional value.

Dr. Royal Lee, the founder of Standard Process_® began his work on creating nutritional supplements in 1929, when he produced the first whole food supplement, Catalyn_®. Dr. Lee was a dentist and as the American diet was changing and beginning to rely on processed foods and sugar, he saw firsthand what lack of proper nutrition could do to dental and physical health. Catalyn_® was designed to help bridge nutritional gaps in the diet. Dr. Lee’s goal was to develop processes that helped retain vital factors found in food. He discovered new techniques to help prepare vitamin and mineral concentrates.

Catalyn_® is a complex supplement made from natural whole food sources. It supplies multiple vitamins and naturally occurring minerals for complete, complex nutritional supplementation, and is still one of core products offered at Standard Process_® today.

In a perfect world, the foods you eat would supply all of the vitamins and nutrients your body needed and there would be no reason to take dietary supplements. In the world of pesticides, genetically modified foods, depleted soil, and diets high in processed foods and sugars that we live in, I believe that everyone can benefit from the addition of whole food supplementation to their diet.

Whether you are interested in a customized program of whole food supplements designed to address your specific health needs, or a general program that everyone can benefit from, I would be happy to help you find the whole food supplements that are right for you.

Yours In Health,

Dr. Amber

“Just as the chemist cannot

create life, neither can he create a

complex vitamin, the life element

in foods and nutrition. This is a

mystery the chemist has not solved

and probably never will.”

—DR. ROYAL LEE