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VITAMIN and MINERAL SUPPLEMENTS - FRIENDS OR FOES?
Many of you will be as
surprised as I was twenty years ago, to learn that 99% of all
vitamin and mineral supplements (VMS) are pure chemicals! They
are made in huge vats by chemical companies.
In fact, some of the more popular ones - such as vitamin C -
have become 'commodity' items; they are sold by the ton, much
like sugar.
I had thought that to obtain vitamin C, the manufacturers got
loads of oranges, squashed them down, and took out the vitamin
C from them. Ha ha! No - there are only a few manufacturers of
vitamin C in the world; people like La Roche, the drug
giant.
DOES IT MATTER if our VMS (Vitamin and Mineral
Supplements) are Chemicals?
That must depend on how chemical VMS are dealt with by the
body...
FOOD ABSORBTION When
food enters the blood stream, the body obviously has to do
something with it. With food particles this is quite simple.
The chemically active 'ions' which food separates into are
easily transported, via the body fluids, to where they are
needed.
VMS ABSORBTION Chemical
VMS, however, are not as easily absorbed. The VMS industry is
on a constant quest to make them more 'bio-available' -
in other words, absorbed as easily as food.
Every now and then
the industry comes up with a new 'more bio-available' form of a
vitamin or mineral. That is why the 'chelated' versions of some
VMS have been developed, for example. And it is why VMS
minerals are never pure, but are always combined with
something. For example, iron is often combined into iron
gluconate, rather than being taken as pure iron filings or iron
powder.
Nature cannot be beaten, however! Which is why a high dose of a
VMS is often necessary (compared to food) to yield the required
amount of a nutrient. It is even possible to end up taking more
than is good for you.
BE CAREFUL WITH VMS
So you do have to be careful with VMS. Don't just believe
something you read in the newspaper or are told by a friend. It
is always best to check it out with a qualified nutritional
therapist.
And remember that nutritional therapy is a science - and
science is always learning. The perceived 'best solution' this
week may have been superseded next week. So it pays to keep up
to date. Another reason to check with a nutritional
therapist.
[Next: 'Food state' vs. VMS...]
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