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2005.
Awaiting revision 2008
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been superseded next week.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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