Sunday, December 8, 2013

Whole Food Supplements: Fact or Fiction

Almost all of the vitamins on the market, even those claiming to be "whole food supplements" are not natural or from food at all.Conventional vitamins are isolated or synthetic forms of very specific components which are standardized and incomplete sources of nutrients. The dosages found in conventional vitamins are much higher, often thousands of times higher than what you would find in food. Synthetics and isolates are very cheap to make, take up little space in a capsule or tablet, are standardized and have stable shelf lives. For these reasons, they are convenient for vitamin manufacturers to use and they are anything but natural.Another reason these synthetics and isolates are so widely used is that FDA labeling requirements are drastically skewed to be in favor of them, making it very difficult for anyone to try to produce a supplement using natural ingredients. In some cases, a label claim cannot be made based on whole food ingredients unless there is a standardized source added. These labeling requirements are very crippling for most companies making a truly natural supplement where the whole foods are actually the source of nutrition in the product. Vitamin C is an exception to this law and as a result there are several supplements on the market where the vitamin C content is naturally occurring, but only for a select few whole food supplements.The laws governing supplements in the United States are not only skewed away from natural vitamin sources they are also quite arbitrary. This is most problematic for consumers who take it upon themselves to actually read a label. Labeling requirements make it very difficult to distinguish between natural and unnatural sources of vitamins. Some sneaky companies use this to their advantage and will spike yeast with synthetics, in their "fermentation or culturing process" then sprinkle foods in too. They can then legally call themselves whole food supplements.Believe it or not, laws governing vitamins in this country are some of the most lax in the world. In fact many ingredients commonly used in American supplements are outlawed in Asian countries. There are pros and cons to this situation. On one hand a lack of regulation allows for people access to alternative medicines and protocols that might not be available find if one is depending on the FDA and the big drug companies for ultimate access. At the same time, a lack of regulation makes it very easy for manufacturers to put anything they want to on the shelves regardless of integrity or consequences.A good example of this is the use of the words "proprietary blend," on the label. It's perfectly legal for a supplement company to use this term rather than list their actual ingredients. For all you know the proprietary blend could be saw dust and Kool-aid mix.There was a movement started less than 10 years ago by the few truly natural whole food supplement companies out there pushing for the FDA to implement a Naturally Occurring Standard. The hope was that additional standards would allow nutrient claims to me made from naturally occurring sources of vitamins and also that there would be Daily Recommended Values established that are based on food not just standardized vitamins as they are now. This movement apparently never caught on but there are a couple of things you can do as a consumer to find truly whole food supplements.Keep in mind the following label alerts when shopping for whole food supplements:1) If a company brags that they are "whole food created, cultured or fermented" it means they spike their food with standardized vitamins.2) If the label claims give you higher than 100% DV the sources are probably not from food. (The exception to this could be vitamin C which can be found naturally occurring in relatively high amounts.)3) If any of the ingredients are listed as "Proprietary blends," you don't really know what is in there.4) If a product lists dozed of vitamins and dozens of foods they are probably using standardized vitamins with a tiny sprinkling of fruits and veggies to make the product look like it's packed with nutritious food. Think about it. There is only so much space in a tablet, how much food could you actually be getting?The nutrients are naturally occurring which means you get the whole-complex of vitamins that comes in the whole foods and at dosage levels found in food. There is no culturing process necessary. In reality, if a whole food supplement contains whole food sourced vitamins (peels and all) there are actually hundred of nutrients naturally occurring in them... even if the FDA does not allow them to be claimed on the label.

Nature's Dose is just the right amount of "Natural" in your everyday life.All the contradictory information out there about what is good for you and what isn't can really seem overwhelming. We are here to help make sense of it. Nature's Dose is all about a natural approach to life. We give you everyday tips, advice and information on how to stay healthy. Take to heart the things that apply to your life and don't worry about the rest.Nature's Dose is your home base for living a well-rounded healthy life while having a realistic appro

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