Our bodies are naturally built to fight off disease. All things being healthy, they do it very well. But when things are out of balance, the body has to work harder in some of its systems to help others do what they're supposed to do. Pollution, in its many forms, and toxins from unnatural food sources deplete our bodies of their nutrients and vitamins and cause that imbalance. There are more free radicals and less antioxidants, for example, and the immune system is forced to work harder to try to keep us healthy. Over time, with less natural source nutrients in our diets and more toxins in our bodies, our immune systems have been genetically weakening. But fortunate for us, science has once again come forward with a solution. Synthetic vitamins and nutritional supplements have been developed in labs and mass produced for several decades now. We don't need rich, organic soil any more. We can use lots of fertilizers to grow enough food for everybody, and we can get our nutrients off the store shelf...or can we? What exactly is it we're getting off the store shelves these days?
Vitamins are organic micro-nutrients that the body needs to metabolize fats, carbohydrates and some proteins to create energy. Vitamins assist this process but they are not metabolized to provide energy nor are they manufactured by the body for the most part. They play a specific and critical role in the body's disease prevention, which has evolved from natural diets containing many nutrients. Vitamins are generally classified into one of 4 fat soluble types (A, D, E & K) or 9 water soluble types (C & 8 B's). The fat soluble types can be stored in the body for a period of time, whereas most of the water soluble types cannot and must be consumed frequently. In its natural form, a vitamin is a working process that made up of nutrients, enzymes, coenzymes, antioxidants, and trace minerals. Clearly, the body's utilization of vitamins and nutrients is highly complex so how is it that the body can process synthetic vitamins? Or perhaps a more pertinent question is...can the body process synthetic vitamins the same way as those from natural food sources?
Vitamins are a complex biological process that only works when all of the parts of that process are present and working together the way they are supposed to be in concert with several other complex processes within the body. Vitamins will not work as they are intended if they are isolated from those processes. In fact, when they are isolated into their synthetic commercial forms they can act as toxins in the body and challenge the immune system. Large doses of synthetic vitamins can have very serious toxic effects, which can lead to illness or disease. Why is it that synthetic vitamins can be toxic to the body and natural source vitamins are not?
Naturally occurring food source vitamins function within a group of complex processes that the body is designed to depend on. If the process is incomplete, the body will attempt to build or repair that incompleteness, whereas in the natural complex it does not have to. This defence mechanism is genetically programmed into the body at the cellular level. When a synthetic incomplete compound is introduced into the system, the body views this as a mistake and assumes that there is supposed to be the complete process and attempts to add the missing pieces that it knows should be there. It works hard to convert the incomplete synthetic vitamins through the kidneys, skin and other organs. So the body doesn't receive what it needs in the first place, which is a form of stressor, and it has to work harder to repair which is yet another stressor. The end result from taking synthetic vitamins can be some form of negative health effect. So it makes sense that you should be taking natural source vitamins.
It is estimated that nearly 95% of all vitamin products in the stores today are synthetically manufactured. Some are fully synthetic and others are a mix of synthetic and naturally occurring. Note the term "naturally occurring" and not "natural". The term "natural" is a fairly loose word that is used extensively throughout a wide range of product marketing. You see it in food, hygiene, and household products. Because there is no exact definition of what natural is, many marketers have used it to try to position the product as being healthy the but the reality is a little more shocking than that. For example, food manufacturers are allowed to use the word natural, as in "natural fruit flavours", but they are not legally required to have any component of real fruit in it. Many processed food manufacturers are using chemical compositions to create the flavour. Same thing goes with the synthetic vitamins.
Most, if not all, synthetic vitamin manufacturers will use the term "natural" as part of the healthy marketing scheme. The only natural part of it might be some yeast or algae by-product that has been blended with synthetics. Because the yeast or algae by-product is derived from natural botanicals, the manufacturers can legally call them "natural". In fact, those few that use the term "naturally occurring", where they also identify the food source, have a product that has actual food source vitamin content in its composition. Given huge competition in the health supplements marketplace, it should come as no surprise that the large chain stores would buy their vitamin products in huge volumes so as to be competitive in price. Mass produced synthetics are definitely cheaper than the naturally occurring vitamins which are more expensive to produce. So now that you're all concerned about all those synthetic vitamins you've been taking all these years, you can rest assured that there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon.
The inspiration for this article come from an excerpt of a book that is published on the Organic Consumers Association website. The book is titled "The Vitamin Myth Exposed" by Brian Clement and from my perspective, if you're at all concerned about nutrition, vitamins and/or what's going on in the vitamin industry this is a must read. There is a movement afoot that is charged with the implementation of a new set of Naturally Occurring Standards (NOS), certification procedures, and labels which are truly "organic and beyond," and to expose the fact that 90% or more of the vitamins and supplements now on the market labeled as "natural" or "food based" actually are spiked with synthetic chemicals. There's more information on the website.
So, the next time you go to buy some vitamins, take a look at the label for the term "naturally occurring". If it's not there, you're probably looking at a product that is loaded with synthetically manufactured ingredients. For any alternative cancer treatment or cancer prevention plan, consider naturally occurring vitamins.
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