West Valley Family Clinic Blog

What is the difference between food based supplements and synthetic supplements? Most supplements that you can buy in the grocery store are synthetic vitamins. What that means is that they have been made in a laboratory. They have been able to look at the chemical structure of a nutrient like vitamin C, and then they mix those chemicals together in a lab and call it “Vitamin C”. In fact, it is not a complete vitamin C, but is only ascorbic acid.

The complete vitamin C complex has many more factors to it such as bioflavinoids, quercitin, rutin, K and J factors as well as other substances, which we are unable to replicate in a laboratory. So what is wrong with taking supplements which are made in a laboratory?

The problem is that our bodies are the ultimate laboratories. If we take into our body a “partial” supplement, then the body will recognize the deficiency, and it will add the missing substances to make the vitamin whole and usable. This will lead to a deficiency in the body. Whole food based supplements are not made in a laboratory, but are concentrated from whole foods known to have a high concentration of the needed nutrient.

For instance, Optimal 2 vitamin mineral antioxidant formula from Optimal Health Systems contains acerola cherry, which is a rich source of vitamin C. Remember that these are concentrated, so for you to get the same amount of vitamin C by eating the cherries, you would be eating constantly. Because whole food based supplements are complete, they require a lower dose to be even more effective than the higher doses of synthetic vitamins.

Now a word about enzymes. Enzymes are the body’s chemists. They re the guys that make all of the essential chemical reactions in the body happen. Our bodies have a store of enzymes. Most of our diets are deficient in enzymes, and therefore the body’s store of enzymes is many times drained, and we are unable to utilize the nutrients that we take into our bodies. Whole food based supplements are complete with enzymes that not only help to utilize the supplement, but also other nutrients that we take in in the way of food. The more processed our foods are the more that we need to supplement our enzymes.

If you are wondering if you have a vitamin deficiency, take a free online nutritional assessment at http://sfhc.optimalhealthsystems.com. You can listen to this blog as a podcast at www.westvalleyfamilyclinic.com/audio/nutrition1.mp3. My Odeo Channel Just claiming my podcast on odeo. Until next time, here’s to your health, thank you.