While health-conscious consumers usually choose to avoid synthetic chemicals in food, often unknowingly they consume these in the form of supplements. Mostly, due to misleading information on supplement labels, which is the most common reason for confusion.
High dose isolated dietary supplements (HDIDS) make up 98% of the products available to consumers and show both ineffectiveness in preventing disease and increased danger to health:
1) isolated forms of vitamins come without the rest of the naturally-occurring co-factors that are as important, as the vitamin itself
2) synthetic supplements are usually very high, unnatural doses, some high-dose minerals can produce very dangerous free radicals.
Truly natural dietary supplements are made from freeze-dried real food, or otherwise are not heated, and the nutrients they contain are natural doses without added synthetics.
Unfortunately, most even natural supplements are dried with very high heat, destroying majority of nutrients. These so-called ‘whole food’ supplements have to be ‘spiked’ with synthetic vitamins in order to list any appreciable amounts of nutrients.
Some companies even claim their products are made from real food with real vitamins when, in fact, they feed synthetic vitamins to yeast, then harvest the yeast to use in supplements.
Beware of word ‘natural’, as its use has reached the level of abuse. With no adequate legal definition, any company can use this word almost as it pleases. Basically, a bottle of 100% synthetic vitamin C may be labeled ‘natural’.
Knowing how to read a label to avoid these common synthetic nutrients is the key for truly health-conscious consumers who wish to avoid them.
Further I have brought the extended list of key words and natural forms of various vitamins to look for on the label.
The most common synthetic compounds used in dietary supplement are the vitamins themselves. In fact, almost all vitamins on store shelves, and those used to fortify foods (even ‘natural’), are synthetic.
One common exception is vitamin E, which is found in supplements as either synthetic or natural. But the so-called natural vitamin E is actually quite unnatural.
Vitamin E
Synthetic vitamin E products are used in cheaper supplements as dl-alpha tocopherol. So-called ‘natural’ vitamin E, or d-alpha tocopherol, is common in many other supplements. However, even though this vitamin E is a natural form, it is very unnatural for two reasons. First, it’s in an isolated form without the rest of the naturally-occurring vitamin E complex. In nature, alpha tocopherol exists with seven other vitamin E compounds: three other tocopherols and four tocotrienols.
Second, supplements of alpha tocopherol are usually very high, unnatural doses. Normally, consuming a full days worth of high vitamin E-rich foods would yield about 30-40 IU of alpha tocopherol, yet the typical dose in supplements is 10 times that, sometimes much more.
Vitamin C
Almost all vitamin C in dietary supplements is synthetic, and as such is listed on the label as ‘ascorbic acid’. The dose also helps identify it as synthetic — it’s almost impossible to get much more than 100-150 mg of vitamin C from food into a tablet or capsule. The amount of vitamin C in a natural supplement, therefore, may be listed in the supplement facts panel as ‘vitamin C 100 mg’ and will not list “‘ascorbic acid’ (or any other of the many types of synthetic vitamin C).
A new study on vitamin C (Am J Clin Nutr; Jan 2008) showed adults taking the synthetic version had serious side effects. Doses of 1,000 mg of vitamin C a day impaired their energy systems, specifically by weakening the mitochondria of the cell (which burns fat and sugar). It also had significant adverse effects on the antioxidant system (a key immune regulator). Those who take vitamin C often take this amount or more, and it’s almost always synthetic. Children may be even more vulnerable.
B – group vitamins
Almost all the B vitamins on the market are synthetic. In this case, the dose is not such a good indicator. The common synthetic B vitamins are usually listed by one of various synthetic names (i.e., folic acid). The truly natural ones, on the other hand, are referred to as active B vitamins. Some common names of such natural B vitamins:
Thiamine (B1): Thiamine pyrophosphate; Thiamine triphosphate
Riboflavin (B2): Riboflavin-5-phosphate; Flavin mononucleotide (FMN)
Niacin (B3): Nicotinamide (adenine dinucleotide)
Pantothenic acid (B5): Pantethine
Pyridoxine (B6): Pyridoxal-5-phosphate
Folic acid: Folinic acid; 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate
Cobalamin (B12): Methylcobalamin; Adenosylcobalamin
Choline: Phosphatydlcholine
If you read the label and don’t find these active names for the B vitamins, most likely they’re synthetic. Some synthetic vitamins may convert to their active forms once in the body, but they require additional nutrients. For example, in order for the body to utilize synthetic folic acid additional vitamin C, niacin and vitamin B12 are required.
Vitamin A
in its natural form is actually a large group of natural compounds. Natural vitamin A only comes from animal sources, and the truly natural dietary supplement forms usually are from fish oils. Synthetic forms, which don’t contain any natural vitamin A compounds, are significantly more toxic than the natural form. The most commonly used synthetic form is vitamin A palmitate.
Beta carotene is not vitamin A, but is a phytonutrient, some of which converts to vitamin A compounds in the body. However, this conversion is not very efficient. Most supplements that list vitamin A will also state, in parentheses, beta carotene. Those listing vitamin A without noting beta carotene are probably synthetic, unless some type of fish liver oil is listed somewhere on the label.
Vitamin D
comes in two natural forms: Vitamin D2, called ergocalciferol, comes from plants. Vitamin D3, called cholecalciferol, is from animal sources, and is the active form, like the vitamin D obtained from sunlight. A variety of synthetic vitamin D compounds have been developed, the most common being calcitriol, doxercalciferol and calcipotriene. All vitamin D supplements can be toxic in high amounts, although one could not overdose on vitamin D from the sun.
Minerals
There are two kinds of minerals: macrominerals and trace minerals. You need larger amounts of macrominerals. They include calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride and sulfur. You only need small amounts of trace minerals. They include iron, manganese, copper, iodine, zinc, cobalt, fluoride and selenium.
All minerals are natural – they came from the sun in the early formation of the earth. What could make them unnatural as a supplement is their high dose. There have been numerous studies showing that high-dose minerals can be dangerous.
For example, iron and copper can produce very dangerous free radicals. Beware of unnatural doses of minerals such as those that are five or 10 times above daily values. Also avoid minerals with the lowest bioavailability such the oxides and
the chlorides.
When applied to nutrients (like vitamins and minerals), an agonist is actually something that enhances either nutrient absorption or metabolic function inside your body.
On the other hand, antagonist means that something either decreases or blocks the absorption or metabolic function of the nutrient.
In other words, certain vitamins and minerals can either inhibit or enhance the absorption or function of other vitamins and minerals.
Some nutrients are great buddies when the right amounts of each are taken, but they can fall out with each other when one massively out numbers the other. An example of this is calcium and magnesium. They are best taken in a ratio of 2:1 (calcium to magnesium), but if the ratio is 8:1 then the calcium inhibits the absorption of the magnesium and you may become deficient.
In summary, most isolated dietary supplements contain synthetic vitamins and can be both ineffective and potentially dangerous to our health. Knowing how to read a label to avoid these common unnatural nutrients is the key for truly health-conscious life.
Instead, I would suggest eating nutritious foods every day such as: meats, especially organ meats, seafood, especially oysters, raw milk and dairy products, free range eggs and poultry which will provide most of the needed vitamins and minerals (with all needed co-factors for maximum absorption).
If you don’t like some or all of the food groups mentioned above, this could be a sign of deficiencies. In this case, you can try taking them in freeze-dried form in capsules.
