I took some time last week to go to my local health store and the two pharmacies to check what kind of supplements loiter on their shelves. Then I visited all the supermarkets. I have to say that I was left a little perplexed by the non quality of most supplements I've found. Most vitamin products (particularly those sold in health food stores & supermarkets) contain synthetic vitamin powders, also known as junk vitamins.
Digging a little further and checking what's available online it is worth noting at least 90% of all vitamins sold in the U.S. are synthetic. There are only a few manufacturers of vitamin powders, and they are almost always large pharmaceutical companies. Many of today's vitamin and mineral supplements are made synthetically through chemical processes, rather than derived directly from plants or other materials. Some manufacturers do make supplements directly from natural sources, and claim that these vitamins are superior in quality to their synthetic cousins.
Americans are now spending more than $20 billion a year on supplements for health and wellness.
Here are my findings, for what it's worth: 90% or more of the vitamins and supplements now on the market labeled as "natural" or "food based" actually are spiked with synthetic chemicals.
It is rather difficult to make the distinction between "synthetic" and "natural" vitamins. Some define a natural vitamin as a concentrated nutrient derived from a quality natural source. The idea is maximum retention of the natural material; no artificial colors, sweeteners, or preservatives should be used.
Nearly 90% of all supplements are now made in China. Most Big Pharma players have factories operating there.
The difference between synthetic and natural vitamins becomes apparent when viewing their response to a beam of polarized light. The light when passing through a natural vitamin will always bend to the right due to it's molecular rotation. Thus the letter "d" (representing "dextro" which means "right") often appears on labels. However, the same light ray when passing through a synthetic vitamin will split into two parts, one part bending to the right and the other to the left. Because the synthetic vitamin is half "dextro" (right) and half "levo" (left), the letters "dl" often appear on labels at the beginning of the synthetic name. Always read the labels!
The new RDA for vitamin E is 15 mg. Most surveys I've read indicate that the majority of American adults get only 8 to 10 mg. Vitamin E is found in whole grains, nuts, seeds, and fats and oils, such as real olive oil. But, modern diets are lacking in vitamin E because of cooking and processing. While even 8 mg appears to be enough to prevent obvious deficiency symptoms such as peripheral neuropathy, research indicates that many times this amount is needed for optimal health.
The Vitamin C Foundation recommends that every man, woman and child over the age of 3 consume at least 3 g (3000 mg) vitamin C daily in order to enjoy optimum health. Vitamin C found and isolated from oranges is identical to vitamin C derived from other plant sources, largely because plants containing vitamin C biosynthesize the substance in the same manner.
Other known facts gleaned from teh internets::
* Possibly 95% of all diseases are degenerative.
* Scientific evidence links nutrition to disease prevention.
* Likely 80% of all cancer comes from environmental pollution (the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the chemically tainted foods we eat.)
* The average American consumes 6 pounds of artificial chemicals a year.
* The housewife is the person most at risk from these dangers.
* Maybe 15% of all Americans are in vital good health.
* The foods you eat are stripped of nutrients through refining and processing.
* The foods you eat are laden with fats, sugars, and salts, and devoid of other essential nutrients.
* A USDA government survey of 21,500 people found that not one single person consumed 100% of the U.S. RDA, from the foods they ate.
* Due to the time it takes fresh foods to get from the farm to your table, 57% or more of the nutritional value can be lost.
* The foods you eat can be harmful from the use of pesticides, fungicides, sulfites, and preservatives.
We should all eat fresh, live food and that our digestive process is of decisive importance in allowing us to absorb what we eat. I am generally against supplying "synthetic" nutrients in the form of supplements, I would prefer to radically change our ways to be healthy. And that means a diet containing less meat, but more vegetables, fruits and grains. And some exercise. Walking is good, and affordable.
Many people are allergic to the chemicals used as a base for synthetic vitamins. Some are toxic, including nicotine and coal tars. If the product is in a natural state then man-made toxins will not be present. Many synthetics are made from coal tar. Coal tar contains benzoapyrene, a yellow crystalline carcinogenic.
Background Info on Synthetic vs. Natural Vitamins here.