| About Organic Vitamins...
Nutritional Supplements,
There is a Difference
From the January Issue of: To
Your Health Magazine
If
you think there’s no difference between one
vitamin supplement and the next, think again.
By Dr. Richard Drucker
There
is nothing more valuable than your health and wellness –
nothing. No matter how much you love your spouse, house, car, career,
hobbies,
leisure activities, etc., your health and wellness are the most
priceless
commodities you have. Without your health, nothing else matters.
So, why do so many people simply buy whatever
vitamin is on the shelf at the grocery or drug store, without
determining which
is the best? If your health is the top priority, why would you settle
for
whatever is cheapest, easiest or fastest? You wouldn’t consider using
inferior
oil in your car. Then why buy a multivitamin with unknown effectiveness?
Eating “right” isn’t enough
anymore.
You try to eat pretty healthy. You exercise.
You take a daily vitamin purchased from the grocery store. All your
bases are
covered, right? Wrong.
Eating healthy falls short of “covering your
bases” when it comes to nutrition. Minerals are responsible for more
than 300
biochemical, life-sustaining reactions in the human body. However,
minerals are
not found in the same abundance today as they used to be, due to the
agricultural procedures practiced over the past several decades. Thus,
just
eating a well-balanced diet no longer adequately supplies
life-sustaining
minerals. Your health and wellness are at risk unless you replace the
minerals
that have been diminished in our foods.
According to two-time Nobel Prize winner Linus
Pauling, “Every ailment, every sickness and every disease can be traced
to an
organic mineral deficiency.” You must ingest the appropriate amount and
quality
of minerals or you will be vulnerable to illness and disease. People
are not
getting the proper organically complexed (carbon bound) trace minerals
and
nutrients to provide homeostasis (body balance) as nature intended.
According
to the latest research, the body is imbalanced when it is deficient in
organically bound trace minerals. This causes disease, which can then
manifest
in the body with disastrous results.
Dr. Donald Davis, biochemist at the University
of Texas
at Austin,
discovered that
of the 13 major nutrients found in fruits and vegetables, six have
declined
substantially over the years. He used 2006 data from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture
to determine there are dramatically lower (as much as 38 percent lower)
levels
of protein, calcium, vitamin C, phosphorus, iron and riboflavin in
current
produce as compared with produce from past decades.
The reason became apparent to Dr. Davis when he
discovered that farmers had to drive up profits by using the latest
techniques
to increase crop production. Faster-grown produce does not have as much
time to
develop vital nutrients.
Farmers are paid by the weight of a crop, not
by the amount of nutrients. Dr. Davis calls this the “dilution effect”
– as
fruits and vegetables grown in the U.S.
become larger and more plentiful, they provide fewer essential
vitamins and life-giving minerals. It’s a simple inverse relationship:
The
higher the yield, the lower the nutrients. Slower-growing crops have
more time
to absorb nutrients from the sun and the soil. When carbon-bound,
organically
complexed nutrients, including minerals and trace minerals, in our
plants are
lacking, everyone’s health suffers. Minerals
are responsible
for more than 300 biochemical,
life-sustaining reactions in the human
body. However, minerals are not found in
the same abundance today as they
used to be.
Jeff
Cronin, at the Center for Science in the Public Interest,
concluded that scientists and the USDA often overlook farming
practices:
“Breeding plants to improve crop yield at the expense of all other
things seems
to be the problem, as well as depleting the soil and not rotating crops
properly.” Researchers have discovered that since the mid-1930s, our
soils have
become progressively depleted of critical organic complexes,
polysaccharides
and muco-polysaccharides, and other naturally occurring microbes and
soil-based
organisms. Moreover, the steady addition of toxic chemicals,
herbicides,
pesticides, etc., has triggered long-term soil imbalances, leading to
an
inability to neutralize the toxic chemicals and re-create new organic
complexes
and other critical minerals and nutrients. Thus, our foods have become
interlaced
with inorganic, toxic chemicals in place of naturally occurring,
organically
complexed minerals and nutrients. Again, who suffers? We all do.
For example, research clearly shows that the
larger the yield of wheat, the lower the nutrients. According to
Cronin, “Even
though amounts of nutrients have declined, fruits and vegetables are
still the
richest source of protective nutrients, much better than eating highly
refined
foods such as white flour, sugars, and fatty foods.”
So, we need to supplement.
What’s wrong with an off-the-shelf
vitamin?
We have been eating junk foods and highly
processed produce that is grossly deficient in organically complexed
nutrients,
especially organic minerals. It’s no wonder we are a nation of
overweight, sick
people with the highest health costs on the planet. While we spend more
than
any nation on earth on health care, we are among the least healthy
people among
modern nations. Why? It’s not for lack of spending money on our health
care.
In her book Tired or Toxic?, Sherry A. Rogers,
MD, states: “So food processing has a seriously silent and epidemic
effect on
our lives. For example, vitamin E has been removed from most grocery
store oils
and flours. Exposures to various pesticides and chemicals can cause
brain
symptoms, which actually mimic Alzheimer’s. The brain is more
vulnerable to
attack by these when vitamin E is not standing guard at the cell
membrane.
Vitamin E is necessary to prevent Alzheimer’s.”
Dr. Rogers goes on to say, “To compound our
problem of declining nutrient status in this century, nutritional
depletion is
not readily recognized because of many reasons: (1) there is not
interest in it
because it is a non-prescription item, so the physician has no power
over its
use; and (2) pharmaceutical companies cannot patent the products to
make a
profit. Therefore, there is little interest in nutritional therapies,
nor is
there money for research. In reality, a single deficiency (because it’s
important
in a variety of enzymes) can manifest as a variety of symptoms.”
THE HIGH COST
OF GOOD HEALTH
While
organic supplements may cost more than their generic
counterparts, they are
ultimately a better investment for your health.
According to Dr. Rogers, if the body is
deficient in some nutrient or substance in an area of the body, it will
“rob
Peter to pay Paul.” In other words, it will steal whatever it needs
from one
place to put it somewhere else. She calls this “auto-cannibalism.” And
the
results are disastrous.
Our soils are depleted and depleted soils do
not produce healthy, nutrient-rich plants. It’s also a fact that crops
produced
in depleted soils are more prone to the invasion of insects, viruses,
fungi,
etc. It’s important to recognize that insects and infectious organisms
were
designed to get rid of unhealthy vegetation, and they typically do not
attack
truly healthy plants. Our industrialized (high-tech) methods of farming
have
not only depleted our soils, but also have created a vicious cycle,
which
requires pesticides to protect the unhealthy crops grown in depleted
soils. And
who suffers? We all do!
Since we are not consistently receiving
life-giving, life-sustaining, organically bound carbon in either our
food
sources or in our nutritional supplements, what are we to do?
Go organic as much as possible.
First, as much as possible, we must be diligent
in purchasing foods that are certified organically grown. However, that
is not
always feasible for the consumer and, in fact, is not enough.
Second, we must eliminate from our diet the
processed and synthetic foods that are so prevalent. Even then, there
always is
a lack of nutritional completeness – hence the need for proper
supplementation.
We must be certain that the ingredients in the
nutritional supplement we choose are of the highest quality and are
ultra-hypoallergenic (non-allergenic). They must not contain
synthetics,
inorganic and inert (dead/synthetic/toxic) substances, as well as the
following: colloids, fat, cholesterol, wheat (gluten), corn, yeast,
soy, dairy,
eggs, nuts, caffeine, shellfish, animal products, artificial colors,
flavors or
additives, preservatives, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides,
antibiotics,
chemicals, binders, fillers, coatings, excipients, flow agents,
starches, or
salicylates.
So, what kind of a multivitamin should it be?
And how much should you expect to spend to get a good-quality
supplement?
Let’s start with the different types of
vitamins on the market. Just look at the myriad of choices at your
local
grocery store, pharmacy, vitamin or health food store. How do you sort
through
all the marketing and packaging to be sure you are putting the right
products
in your system? Four basic kinds of vitamins are sold today: natural,
synthetic,
organic and carbon-bond organic.
Synthetic
Vitamins: Scientists
have developed synthetic vitamins that are cheap to manufacture. They
appear
the same in their atomic structure when compared to vitamins derived
from
plants and other sources. However, they can be distinguished in the
laboratory.
Similar to looking at your hand in a mirror, you see what looks like
your hand,
but in reality, it’s not your hand. In fact, it’s the exact opposite!
Millions
of Americans are taking vitamins that are synthetically manufactured.
As a
result, they unknowingly might be auto-intoxicating themselves because
the body
does not process synthetics well, if at all. These synthetic elements
end up in
extracellular spaces, interstitial fluids and fatty tissue, where they
reside,
potentially causing toxicity and chronic disease.
Synthetic vitamins are known to be less
bioavailable (therefore, less effective) than naturally occurring
vitamins. It
is significantly easier for the body to utilize natural vitamins. For
example,
natural vitamin E (i.e., d-alpha-tocopherol) is retained by a 2:1 ratio
over
the synthetic form (i.e., dl-alpha-tocopherol). Natural vitamin E might
cost
two to three times more, but it’s twice as effective.
Since synthetic vitamins and chemical nutrients
are designed for cost purposes, they are created from plentiful and
inexpensive
sources, not from whole foods or plant matter. They are the cheapest
supplements to be found. Therefore, you should avoid the lowest-cost
supplements on the shelf.
Natural
Vitamins: When
comparing two supplements, it’s often difficult to determine the
difference
between synthetic and natural vitamins. However, some define a
“natural”
vitamin as a concentrated nutrient derived from a quality natural
source, with
maximum retention of the natural material; no artificial colors,
sweeteners or
preservatives should be used.
A vitamin derived from a natural source often
contains co-factors that come with the nutrient in nature. For
instance,
co-factors often associated with vitamin C are bio-flavonoids. These
are
important to health, as they are present in the vitamin C you derive
from
eating an orange. Supplements should mimic good nutrition from natural
whole
foods. That’s why it’s important to read labels and determine the
sources of
the vitamins.
Natural supplements cost more
than synthetic,
but they’re worth it.
Organic
Vitamins:
There are
two types of organic supplements found in the market. The “grocery
store”
definition of organic is whole-food-derived nutrients minus the
insecticides,
pesticides and herbicides; manufactured from ingredients that are
certified organic. These supplements, if in tablet form, also
might
suffer less-than-optimal absorption due to the technology used to press
them
into tablets. The “scientific” definition of “organic” is
related or
belonging to the class of chemical compounds having a living carbon
basis. A
carbon-based organic supplement has living carbon wrapped around its
nutrients.
These supplements must be cold-processed to preserve the living matter
in the
product. These nutritional supplements take the longest to manufacture
and may
derive the maximum nutritional benefit, with no known risks or side
effects.
Both types of organic supplements carry
significantly higher prices due to higher costs of production and
source
ingredients. However, according to Randy Miles, CN, co-owner of three
health
food stores in Texas,
it’s worth the cost. “Organically bound supplements with living
carbon often cost 50% more, but customers who are knowledgeable about
nutrition
and health are definitely willing to pay.”
You can find the best source of minerals and
supplements. Ask your health care professional. Look for organically
complexed
(carbon bound) supplements derived from whole foods, minimally
processed and
made from the highest quality ingredients. Avoid preservatives,
synthetics and
binders, as they are potentially harmful to the body. It’s better to
take no
supplement at all than to take a poor one.
Good health ultimately is worth the price.
There is no more important investment you can make.
Questions To Ask Your
Supplement Supplier
So,
how do you sort through all the noise to select the best
products? Here’s a simple list of questions you can ask:
1. Does the product contain any binders, fillers,
coatings, excipients or flow agents? These are synthetic and possibly
harmful.
2. Does the product contain preservatives?
Potassium sorbate and
sodium benzoate are potentially harmful/toxic.
3. Is this product heat-processed? Heat can kill
important
enzymes, co-factors and nutrients.
4. Are there minerals present? Minerals are
required to catalyze
the vitamins. You need more than 70 different minerals daily. Stay away
from
colloidal minerals (inorganic/toxic minerals). Carbon-based organic
minerals
appear to be the safest and most effective.
5. Does the product contain ascorbic acid? This is
synthetic
vitamin C.
6. Does the product contain synthetic vitamin E?
This sometimes is
called dl-alpha-tocopherol, as opposed to d-alpha-tocopherol, which
might be
natural.
7. Are there any artificial flavors, colors,
additives,
preservatives, synthetics, etc., in the product? Does it
contain any
wheat (gluten), corn, yeast, soy, dairy, nuts, animal products, etc.?
8. Is the product ultra-hypoallergenic
(non-allergenic)?
Dr.
Richard Drucker has
performed concentrated research and work in the natural health and
nutraceutical fields for more than 15 years. He is CEO and chief
technologist
of a manufacturer/distributor of nutritional supplements
Click here to learn about intraMax Organic Nutritional Supplement Products
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