The Disturbing Truth about Synthetic Vitamins

The Truth about Most Supplements

While there are supplements that can be helpful to your well being, others can pose great dangers when taken wrongly, inaccurate measurements or in blend with different prescriptions you are already taking. You must dependably talk about which supplement to take with your specialist if unsure, before beginning a supplement regimen.

One thing appears to be clear, that is many supplements aren’t helping all that much. I’m not saying there are no useful supplements out there. There absolutely are.

What is turning out to be more obvious is supplements won’t help much if one does not first address the essentials of health and wellbeing (proper diet and lifestyle).

Additionally, it is clear that not all supplements are created equal.

A strong majority of supplements sold on the market contain harmful active ingredients that can cause biological effects in the body. Examples of life threatening consequences are:

1. Danger when supplements are taken alongside a contraindicating medication.

2. Making supplements a substitute for prescribed medicines.

3. Taking too much of a supplement (more than the recommended daily amount) can also be harmful to the body, supplements such as vitamin A, D and iron.

The Disturbing Truth about Synthetic Vitamins?

I have no doubt that synthetic nutrition has its place in the world but it makes more sense to obtain nutrition from whole foods and whole food supplementation first. There are not doubt instances though where synthetic nutrition must be administered.

There are many issues to consider when it comes to synthetic vitamins (and minerals). They are as follows:

1. They are made in a lab by humans as opposed to in nature by the earth
2. They can be made from GMO corn (often ascorbic acid/vitamin C supplements are). Read our vitamin C blog here.
3. They can be made from chemicals and coal tar derivatives (a known carcinogen!)
4. Most synthetic supplements are made from petroleum derivatives or hydrogenated sugars as well.
5. They are difficult for your body to assimilate/absorb and utilise, thus making not that effective and essentially, a waste of your hard-earned money!
6. Not recognised by your body as actual nourishment but rather as 'junk nutrition' (as I like to call it).
7. They often contain fillers and cheap ingredients that may cause more harm than good. See more on fillers and other ingredients below.
8. Synthetic nutrition (like ascorbic acid for example), do not contain all the necessary cofactors that a whole food such as acerola cherry does. Using acerola as this example, contains all the cofactors such as bioflanonoids (vitamin P), to make the vitamin do its job.
9. When you separate the whole, you are left with an isolate and it is well-known that an isolate is incomplete and therefore unable to perform the same task as a whole, complex nutrient.
10. In a whole food source (such as acerola cherry powder, liver supplements, baobab powder, organ supplements, matchinga or spirulina etc. See our recommendations at the bottom of this article.

Have a look at the table below (borrowed from this article) that shows the composition of food and non-food vitamins. It's quite disturbing when you see where some of the "natural" synthetic vitamins are being sourced from:

Here is another diagram borrowed from the same article. This one shows the Chemical Form of Food and Non-food Vitamins. Please see their full article here.

Harmful Ingredients found in Synthetic Supplements

Fillers are added to supplements to bulk them out so that they are cheaper to produce thus more profits for the supplement company.

Today I will reveal to you fillers found in synthetic supplements that most supplement companies are adding to the supplements. These are fillers can sometimes do your body more harm than good.

Filler #1 Hydrogenated Oils

These are fillers found in bakery products, in highly processed, nutritionally devoid foods. But are one of the major fillers found in the majority of vitamin supplements sold on the market. These oils can increase heart problems, stroke, nervous system problems and can block the absorption of essential fatty acids.

Filler #2 Artificial Colours

Artificial colour sounds fun. NOT! It has been linked to problems relating to hyperactivity especially in children. Artificial colours are added to vitamins to make it appealing to the consumer and to encourage them to buy it.

Filler # 3 Magnesium Stearate

The most controversial filler in most supplements. It is added to bulk out the product but it’s also an Anti-adherent (an ingredient used to prevent the product from sticking together). It is highly toxic and can create serious health consequence. One study links this compound to promote a suppressed immune system..

Filler # 4 Titanium Dioxide

This is a naturally occurring oxide of the element titanium and is widely used in vitamins as a pigment, the same is used in many cosmetics. Exposure to this metal along with other metals can lead to problems with the immune system of the body. This is clearly an unhealthy and unnecessary filler in a vitamin supplement, why should you take one when you can have a whole food supplement that is clean and healthy.

Why do they add fillers?

Majority of supplement companies add things to fill up their product, to bulk it up (known as a filler) to make it cheaper for them to produce. This is often why certain brands of the exact same product you see are cheaper; they are able to pass these savings onto their unsuspecting customers and what is most sad is that often these cheaper, inferior supplements are much less effective, if at all.

When compared to a premium wholefood supplement such as the Perfect Supplements they are not a pure, unadulterated product but rather an inferior substitute that will be costing you money without delivery best results.

List of Common Synthetic Vitamins to Avoid:

• Vitamin A: Acetate and Palmitate
  
• Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): Thiamine Mononitrate, Thiamine Hydrochloride
  
• Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): Riboflavin
  
• Pantothenic Acid: Calcium D-Pantothenate
  
• Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine): Pyridoxine Hydrochloride
  
• Vitamin B12: Cobalamin
  
• PABA (Para-aminobenzoic Acid): Aminobenzoic Acid
  
• Folic Acid: Pteroylglutamic Acid
  
• Choline: Choline Chloride, Choline Bitartrate
  
• Biotin: d-Biotin
  
• Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid): Ascorbic Acid
  
• Vitamin D: Irradiated Ergosteral, Calciferol
  
• Vitamin E: dl-alpha tocopherol, dl-alpha tocopherol acetate or succinate
  

NOTE: The “dl” form of any vitamin is synthetic.

(the above list was taken from: http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/synthetic-vs-natural-vitamins/)

What about GMOs?

If your supplement does not state to be free from GMOs (genetically Modified Ingredients), there’s a good chance that its ingredients have come from a GMO source.

I’m talking about ingredients such as citric acid, ascorbic acid, dextrose, maltodextrin, veggie-based fillers, and sugars of any type.

People with Deficiencies

Supplements such as the following are beneficial for those with deficiencies:

1. Vitamin D. This is especially beneficial for the heart. It strengthens the immune system and reduces the risk of colon and breast cancer. It also enhances calcium absorption.

2. Vitamin B12. Supplements for this vitamin deficiency can boost the energy level.

3. Magnesium. This is an essential mineral needed in over 300 enzymatic reactions. Magnesium is usually not seen much in our food supply, unlike 50 years ago due to farming practices. When there is low magnesium in the body, it can be easily supplemented along with a quality supplement. Hence, can have great improvement in quality of life.

4. Potassium. Consider taking up to 4,700 milligrams daily.

5. Iron. People who have an iron deficiency or anaemia, often don't do well on iron supplements (as most of them are synthetic) but may do really well on liver supplements or eating grass-fed liver regularly.

Note: make sure that the above supplements are not synthetic.

Choose whole food nutritional supplements that promote 100% natural ingredients without any harmful ingredients and produced without chemicals.

There is in fact a supplement that is made with all natural and whole food ingredients that can boost your health and wellness naturally.

Try Perfect Supplements today to help fill in the nutritional gaps in your diet.

Our Top Recommended Multi-vitamins and Other Vitamins/Minerals are:

• Acerola Cherry Powder (organic) - pictured below.
• Acai Powder or capsules (organic)
• Aquatic Greens Powder or capsules (organic)
• Baobab powder (organic)
• Chlorella Powder or capsules (organic)
• Desiccated Liver Powder or capsules (grass-fed, GMO + Glyphosate-free)
• D3 vitamin Drops (whole food)
• Magnesium Powder or capsules
• Multi organ capsules (grass-fed, GMO + Glyphosate-free)

We hope you enjoyed today's blog and it added some kind of value to your life. If you found it useful, we'd appreciate it that you could please share it with those you know. Knowledge is power and we all have the ability to effect change.

Together we can get Australians healthier. 😊

Tam x

*Disclaimer: the information in this article is intended purely as information and not health advice. It is not intended to treat, diagnose, prevent or cure and one should always seek expert advice from their trusted health practitioner.