Is there a difference between synthetic nutritional supplements and natural ones – apart from price? For that matter, do we really need to supplement our nutrition at all?
Nutrition is the science of providing the materials necessary to support the life of the body through food. Many common health problems can be prevented or reduced with healthy nutrition. Nutritional supplements are helpful when food nutrition is inadequate.
Why do we need nutritional supplements?
Our bodies are marvellous chemical factories. They perform an incredibly complex web of chemical reactions every moment of every day. Medical science is only beginning to understand the body’s beauty and complexity.
Yet today’s processed food, over-worked agricultural land, and high-fat diets do not allow the body to absorb the right balance of nutrition from food alone.
Nutritional supplements are no longer an option, they’re a necessity.
Is there a difference between natural and synthetic nutritional supplements?
The body absorbs the nutrients in food as part of the digestion process, mostly in the small intestine.
Many nature-purists claim natural substances can be absorbed better by the body than synthetic. Yet clinical studies have shown there is little or no difference in absorption rate.
But – that’s not the whole story.
The real difference is what happens after the nutrients are absorbed.
Each chemical reaction in our body leads to another. A complex chain of many reactions happens each time we take a mouthful of food. But if that substance is synthetic, the natural chain of events breaks down somewhere along the line. The natural sequence of creating new healthy cells is disrupted. And the full benefit of the nutritional supplement you intended is lost.
Problems with most nutritional supplements:
Marketers have led us to believe a one-a-day vitamin tablet alone will “do the job”. What they want us to ignore is….
- Our bodies evolved to consume whole-food, using the natural balance of vitamins and minerals working in synergy.
- Pills are hard to digest. Pills are largely manufactured as a compressed powder. Often that compression is so strong that the pill doesn’t break down in the digestion process and passes straight through.
- Synthetic substances do not behave in our bodies the same way natural ones do. As a result, your body tends to simply flush away much of the ingredients in the synthetic nutrition supplement.
- Studies are now uncovering harmful consequences of consuming some synthetic vitamins.
Whole-food broad-spectrum is best.
Every person is bio-chemically unique. Individual nutritional imbalances and weaknesses vary. For a nutritional supplement to be effective it must be broad spectrum. This is almost impossible to achieve by manufactured, synthetic products. Instead, it is best to use a natural whole-food, “the way nature intended”.
Natural broad-spectrum nutritional supplements provide your body with a wide range of vitamins and minerals in balance with each other. This enables your body to use what is most needed at the time.
Remember, no nutritional supplement can fix poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle. A healthy diet, regular exercise and a good nutritional supplement together provide the best foundation for a long and healthy life.
We acknowledge synthetic vitamins can serve a role where natural vitamins and minerals are not readily available. But the big vitamins companies are about their own financial rewards, not in making up for deficiencies in our diets.
There is a growing body of evidence showing the artificial daily vitamin supplements may actually cause more harm than good.