Lilly Why Vitamin Quality is Critical
Contrary to the view espoused by government health agencies, vitamins are very good for our health and wellbeing. As we’ve covered in this article, there are many peer-reviewed studies that show strong correlations between regular consumption of multivitamin supplements and reduced risk of various cancers.
No, we’re not claiming that any single multivitamin supplement will cure cancer. Let’s be clear: supplements do not cure cancer. Food does not cure cancer. But clean, organic, non-GMO food can provide the body the raw materials (i.e. fuel) that it needs to heal itself. That is the where true healing/ curing takes place. It’s the body that heals!
In the words of my good buddy, Robert Scott Bell, “the power to heal is yours!” And much in the same manner that food can provide fuel to the body to facilitate healing, so can properly manufactured supplements.
That being said, not all supplements are created equally. Believe it or not, many vitamins that are marketed as “natural” in your local grocery store are actually synthetic, and to call a synthesized vitamin “natural” is an oxymoron. Natural vitamins are made by God. They’re not “created”(synthesized) from something by experts in laboratories, with various components being isolated from other essential components. The fact of the matter is that isolated, synthetic nutrients are not found anywhere in nature.
We all know that whole foods (like fresh vegetables, raw honey, and brown rice) are more nutritious than refined foods (like vegetable chips, white sugar, and white rice). I think everyone would agree on that fact. I mean, that’s a “no brainer.” So why should it be any different for vitamins and minerals and supplements? The reality is that synthesized supplements are not nearly as beneficial for the body as whole-food-based supplements.
Much like refined foods, synthesized supplements have oftentimes been robbed of nutrients, act more like “drugs” or “xenobiotics” (foreign substances) in your body than supplements (because they are isolated), and can actually create imbalances if taken for long periods of time.
Whereas whole-food-based supplements are exactly what their name suggests: supplements made from concentrated whole foods. The vitamins are not isolated, but actually a synergy of enzymes, coenzymes, trace elements, antioxidants, and other factors all working in harmony to provide your body with the fuel that it needs to stay healthy.
If you go to a junkyard, you can certainly find all the “parts” that are needed to build an automobile (tires, a steering wheel, an engine, shock absorbers, an axle, windshield wipers, seats, headlights, etc). However, if you throw all these isolated parts into a big pile, you can’t expect a BMW to emerge, can you? I mean, we all know that an automobile, in its original form, will perform better than a heaping pile of individual parts.
The same analogy applies to vitamins and minerals that have been isolated. We cannot isolate nutrients from the whole complex and then expect them to do the same job as the whole complex is designed to do. In other words, they are parts of an entire synergistic complex that serve a good purpose when they are part of the whole. But they will not provide the fuel that your body needs unless they are part of a well-orchestrated “nutritional symphony.”
calcium pills in a wooden spoon held above a glass of milkA perfect example of this is calcium. It’s generally accepted that we need calcium to build and maintain strong bones and teeth and joints. But supplementing with calcium alone does more harm than good. Without magnesium, vitamin D, zinc, boron and high quality, bio-available protein, our bodies do not know what to do with the calcium.
Without these “cofactors,” the body’s tissue literally chokes on the calcium, sort of like filling an engine with gasoline but forgetting to give it oxygen. Gag! Choke! Flooded engine. In the case of calcium, without the co-factors, it gets deposited in tissue (known as “calcification”) and is one of the signs of aging. Eventually it can cause premature death. Quite literally, we turn to stone.
But what happens if we mix a little air with the gasoline? Boom!… The engine ignites! Similarly, if we mix in zinc, vitamin D, magnesium, silicon, boron, and protein with the calcium, then the body understands what’s going on, the cells turn on, and the body begins to function at optimal levels.
Although many supplement makers try to cram as many isolated components as possible into a capsule, telling us that “the more the better,” the reality is that synthesized components can actually create imbalances in the body. What we need is bioavailable, synergistic, nutrient complexes only found in whole-food-based supplements.
This article first appeared in the August 2016 edition of TTAC’s Heroes Against Cancer newsletter. Each month in Heroes Against Cancer we share the best ways you can use to get and stay healthy – including delicious recipes and the best in supplements, herbs and spices. Find out more about our member newsletter here.
