Source: Cordite Country

[Hayden's Note: While I love Cordi, this is a loooong read but one that is extremely informative!  Don't rush to read it and skip over parts!  Bookmark this page and read it when you can... you won't regret it!]

The Vitamin Myth Exposed

Only Mother Nature can make an apple. Only nature can make a cell.

Scientists and chemists continue to try in vain to duplicate in a laboratory the molecular structure of many different isolated natural substances. When you analyze them with an electron microscope they can look identical, yet in some invisible, yet significant way they are not. Although scientists can make seawater with exactly the same chemical structure as natural seawater, when you put a salt-water fish in this synthetic environment, the fish dies. What is it in natural seawater that sustains life?

VITA means life. Vita defines the difference between synthetic and what is now known as naturally-occurring.

Putting the word “Natural” on the vitamin label is deceptive. The word is constantly abused and as such its meaning has been diluted to a point where it holds little value. Many misleading labels on supplement products take advantage of the ambiguity of the word “natural” to project a wholesome marketing image – most often when the product does not merit it.

1. Naturally-occurring vitamins are obtained by taking a nutrient-rich plant, removing the water and the fiber in a chemical-free vacuum process, and packaging it for stability. The entire vitamin complex is captured intact, retaining its full-spectrum functional and nutritional integrity.

Another primary difference between real full-spectrum whole-food vitamins and synthetic vitamins is that real vitamins contain the essential trace minerals necessary for the vitamins’ synergistic operation. Synthetic vitamins contain no trace minerals and must utilize the body’s own mineral reserves. Ingesting real vitamins does not require the body to deplete its own reserves of nutrients to replace any nutrients missing from the false vitamin complex.
Mega doses of synthetic vitamins can have very serious toxic effects. Naturally-occurring whole-food vitamins are not toxic since the vitamin is complexed in its natural whole integral working form, and requires nothing from the body to “build” a vitamin. Naturally-occurring whole food vitamins are only necessary in small quantities on a daily basis.
Mainstream marketing of vitamins and minerals has created the myth that vitamins and minerals may be isolated individually and from one other, and that we can derive total benefit from taking these fractionated chemical creations. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Vitamins, minerals and enzymes work closely together as co-factors for each other’s efficacy. If one part is missing, or is fractionated, or in the incorrect form or the incorrect amount, entire chains of metabolic processes cannot and will not proceed normally. Only nature can provide us with naturally-occurring vitamins as found in real, wholesome organic foods.
The overwhelming majority of vitamin products sold in groceries, drug stores or mass-marketing retailers contain synthetic ingredients. What our bodies require are supplement products made exclusively from naturally-occurring nutrients rather than toxic laboratory synthesized ones. Currently only conscious companies produce supplements with naturally-occurring ingredients. These companies should be commended and supported for offering natural health-promoting products to the consumer.
Difference between natural vs. synthetic
Each year in North American alone, people spend over $20 billion on vitamins, minerals and other dietary supplements, believing that these products are benefiting us. But are they? What is the real truth about vitamins? If we eat a balanced diet, do we really need nutritional supplements? To answer this question we have to go back to our roots – our soil.
The body is unable to manufacture most vitamins for itself, and so they must be obtained from nutritional sources. In our grandparents’ time the soil was rich with nutrients that produced healthy, vigorous crops rich in vitamin content. Today our soils are laced with industrial pollution, pesticides and chemical fertilizers that not only pollute our soils, but also activate further soil erosion. Our foods have only a fraction of the nutrient value of 70-100 years ago.
Our polluted air and water systems deplete our bodies of their store of nutrients, and the stresses of modern life are weakening our genetic and immune systems. The answer is that today we do need vitamin and nutrient supplementation, whereas 100 years ago we did not.
The mineral depletion of our soils and foods is not news. The U.S. government has been issuing official warnings since 1936. The U.S. Senate Document #264, published by the 2nd session of the 74th Congress in 1936 stated the following:
“Most of us today are suffering from certain dangerous diet deficiencies which cannot be remedied until the depleted soils from which our foods come are brought into proper mineral balance. Foods, fruits, vegetables and grains that are now being raised on millions of acres of land that no longer contain enough of certain needed minerals, are starving us – no matter how much of these foods we eat. Leading authorities state that 99% of the American people are deficient in these minerals, and that a marked deficiency in any one of the more important minerals actually results in disease. Any upset of the balance or any considerable lack of one or another element, however microscopic, causes problems and we sicken, suffer, and shorten our lives. Lacking vitamins, the system can make some use of minerals; but lacking minerals, vitamins are useless.” That was over 70 years ago. Just imagine how the report would read today.
Unfortunately, we all have a big job ahead to restore our soil quality – even on organic farms – and bring back the nutrients that have been farmed out of our food. It is urgent that we reintroduce proper organic farming as the primary method, as well as the rotation of crops to improve the quality of our soils, among other benefits. It has taken many decades to ruin our soils and it will take time to revive them and bring them back to health again; but, it can be done. As world citizens we can transform our farmlands; one way is by purchasing organic foods. In the meantime, the only way we can guarantee getting adequate nutrients then, is through food supplementation with naturally-occurring, non-synthetic vitamin and nutrients, preferably from organic farms that focus on soil conservation.
Vitamins are organic micronutrients essential to normal human metabolism. Unlike fats, carbohydrates and some proteins, vitamins are not metabolized to provide energy. Most are not manufactured by the body but are present in minute quantities in natural foodstuffs. Each of these naturally-occurring organic compounds performs a specific vital function and is required by the body for disease prevention and good health.
The known vitamins are divided into four fat-soluble types (A, D, E and K) and nine water-soluble types (eight B vitamins and vitamin C). The fat-soluble vitamins can be stored in the body and do not need to be ingested every day. Because the fat-soluble vitamins are not eliminated from the body through the urine, ingesting too many of them creates toxicity. The water-soluble vitamins are more easily eliminated and can be taken in larger amounts without danger of toxicity. Vitamin C and the eight B vitamins (except for Vitamin B-12 and Folic Acid) are water soluble. They cannot be stored and must be consumed frequently for optimal health.

As an initial convention, vitamins were given letters to go with their chemically defined names. Not many people know about the form of vitamin E d-alpha tocopheryl succinate, but most people know what “Vitamin E” is and what it can be used for. Some nutritional factors were originally given “B” names but turned out not to act as vitamins at all. You may not have heard of vitamins B-4, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 which were ultimately rejected as vitamin factors.
We know that vitamins prevent disease and promote health, but what do we know about the actual quality of the vitamins we ingest?   Hundreds of millions of people take a daily vitamin and/or herbal supplement. For more than 70 years we have been ingesting synthetic vitamins in our supplements and our fortified foods, believing that our health is being protected and improved. But is it? What is the truth about vitamin supplementation and food fortification?
There are two categories in the family of vitamin and nutritional products with labeled potencies – synthetic and naturally-occurring. Nearly all vitamin supplements available today fall into the synthetic category. Some consist of 100% synthesized vitamins, and some are combination formulas containing one or more naturally-occurring vitamin ingredients combined with synthetic vitamins. Naturally-occurring vitamin supplements are comprised of naturally-occurring food and botanicals. They contain no synthetic vitamins or nutrients whatsoever. Presently there are few manufacturers of this type of vitamin supplement.
Synthetic vitamin supplements packaged as tablets, capsules, gelcaps, or powders comprise the majority of vitamin products found in natural food stores, grocery stores, drug stores and large retail outlets. Within this category there are certain types and distinctions.
Type 1: In some vitamin supplement products a natural base is used and then the synthetic vitamins or nutrients are added to that natural base. An example of a natural base could be Acerola cherry or Rosehip, and even a mixture of botanicals, as a natural base with the synthetic vitamins and nutrients added. Many Vitamin C products which claim to be from Acerola or some other fruit or food are usually spiked with synthetic ascorbic acid or ascorbates. Many multiple vitamin products use a natural base spiked with multiple synthetic vitamins to get their labeled potencies.
Type 2: Some supplements are derived from specially “grown” materials (referred to as “food source” or “whole food” source) such as yeasts and algae. These products typically then combine the yeast or algae and create other “mixtures” as a base to which synthetic vitamins are added. Manufacturers call these supplements “natural” because they are derived from yeast or algae – natural botanicals. However, they are not because synthetic vitamins or nutrients have been added to the product. This is most often not mentioned on the product label and is “hidden” from consumers, most of whom, ironically, are reading labels to ensure the highest levels of nutrition. Tragically, they fall prey to misleading and dishonest information.
A manufacturer of this cultivated base which has been spiked with synthetics nutrients will supply  their own as well as other supplement companies with this raw substance. They will then use the raw substance to produce and market their own vitamins under different product names. The fact that this raw material contains a cultivated, so-called “natural” base enables the vitamin producers to make the claim on their label that they are derived from natural sources and contain the listed potencies from the “food source” referring to the base. But as you can now see this is deceptive.
Most vitamin companies compete for customers with identical synthetic vitamin products made from compounds produced by the same few drug companies. The vitamin companies differentiate their products with different names and fancy labels, each making claims of “high potency”. But the higher the potency of the synthetic vitamin or nutrient, the more likely it is to exhibit drug-like, toxic effects, the stress of which can actually lead to disease.
Most vitamin companies take advantage of loopholes in labeling laws to mislead the consumer. The truth is that the vitamin potencies for most supplements are derived from synthetic vitamins. Consumers are fooled by the label claims and believe that the vitamin and nutrient potencies are derived from a natural source. Avoid this trap by examining the label. Look for the phrase “Naturally Occurring.” If the label does not say “Naturally Occurring” and also name the food source of the potency, then be aware that the supplement probably contains synthetic vitamins or nutrients.
The second category of naturally-occurring vitamin supplements are derived from full-spectrum food and botanical sources. These are truly natural vitamin potency supplement products and can be identified by their designation “Naturally Occurring” or Naturally Occurring Standard (NOS).
Although vitamins from naturally-occurring sources are relatively lower potency, they are actually much more effective at these potencies than synthetic vitamins, for the simple reason that the body can easily assimilate their nutrients without toxic side-effects.
Over the past two decades, we have seen the negative impact of synthetic supplements by viewing tens of thousands of blood samples with the assistance of a high-powered microscope. What we know is that the body perceives a synthetic supplement, like it would perceive any other foreign chemical, as an invader and threat to its survival. As such, it responds by releasing immune-preserving cells such as leukocytes (white blood cells) to combat the enemy and preserve immunity. Unfortunately, this activity detracts these cells from their other crucial role of eliminating microbes (viruses and bacteria), spirochetes (such as those that result in Lyme’s Disease), and mutagenic cells (such as those that can result in cancer). Consequently, when one introduces a large number of chemical invaders, such as non-N.O.S. supplements, into the body, there are fewer immune-preserving cells to combat more deleterious cell activity, and there is a greater probability for disease.
Just as natural vitamins from food are more effective than synthetic vitamins, so are natural vitamin supplements from whole-food sources. Low potency from a full spectrum, naturally-occurring source of the vitamin will produce effective nutrient activity, while positively impacting immune function.
Vitamins are biological complexes. They represent multi-step biochemical interactions whose beneficial action depends upon a number of variables within the biological terrain. Vitamin activity only takes place when all co-factors and components of the vitamin complex are present and working together. Vitamins cannot be isolated from their complexes and still perform their specific functions within the cells. When isolated into artificial chemicalized commercial forms, these purified crystalline synthetics act as toxic drugs in the body that compromise the immune system, which can ultimately lead to disease. They are no longer actual vitamins, and to call them such is inaccurate. A vitamin is: “a working process consisting of the nutrient, enzymes, coenzymes, antioxidants, and trace mineral activators.” – Dr. Royal Lee (“What Is a Vitamin?” Applied Trophology August 1956.)
Several studies on natural vs. synthetic vitamins have shown that synthetic vitamins are 50 to 70% less biologically active than natural vitamins.
Synthetic vitamins are actually just fractions of naturally-occurring vitamins synthesized in the dextro- and levo- forms (known as “right” and “left handed” molecules) which form geometric mirror images of each other. It may seem strange, but the geometry of the nutrient compounds is crucial for the bioavailability of the nutrient. The body uses only the levo-forms. Synthetic vitamin compounds have little of the correct geometry (levo-forms) of naturally-occurring vitamins present in food and botanicals. Furthermore, the levo-forms of synthetic nutrients or vitamins are of little use without the associated factors (enzymes, minerals and other co-factors) present in a natural source of the nutrient or vitamin.
So, can a synthesized, isolated vitamin fraction made in the laboratory be called a real vitamin? Can it provide you with the nourishment that naturally-occurring, whole-food supplements can? The answer is a resounding and undeniable NO.
Throughout much of the last century, we have been programmed to believe that synthetic chemicals are an acceptable substitute for natural food-source nutritional substances. This bizarre concept is broadcasted mainly by commercial interests who promote this fallacy through sophisticated marketing programs to sell inferior “food” and nutritional supplements.
The problems we now have with synthetic vitamins are parallel to the overall problems we have with pharmaceutical drugs and the development of modern medicine. We have abandoned our history of traditional medicine and are suffering the consequences because of it.
Although chemistry has provided us with many benefits, when it comes to food and nutrition, a better life through chemistry is a fallacy. We are now in the midst of a chemical “feast” of harmful and polluting chemical preservatives, excipients, colorings, flavorings and other killer chemicals. A century ago when we discovered how to chemically synthesize various isolates of natural compounds, synthetic nutrients became fashionable.

Many of the problems that we have today developed when we embraced the chemical paradigm and rejected our time-proven traditional medicinal practices. It is imperative that we return to our traditional values and ways of living for healing before the hazardous imbalances we have created destroy us.
Only Nature can create a real vitamin. The differences between vitamins extracted from food and those manufactured by chemical processes is vast; there are very important distinctions. Vitamins manufactured in the laboratory come to us without the naturally occurring associated factors and trace substances that insure a vitamin’s bioavailability. If the body can easily digest and absorb nutrients from a food, then they are said to be bio-available. Tests on natural vs. synthetic vitamins have revealed that synthetic vitamins are less biologically active and bio-available than natural vitamins.  Since our bodies often do not absorb more than 50% of the vitamins and minerals we consume, to ingest a product that is already less active than its natural counterpart leaves virtually little of the original potency available for our use.
It sounds like a simple concept: you are what you digest or more accurately what you assimilate. The digestive system of humans, similar to that of apes, grazing animals and other herbivores, is complex. The adult alimentary canal measures up to 36-feet; it is long and convoluted. Yet it squeezes into the small space of our abdominal cavity. Many of us assume that we have good and proper digestion and assimilation, and that our bodies can extract nutrients no matter what we eat. This couldn’t be farther from the truth, which is why it is important to eat wholesome and nutritious foods and maintain high levels of good intestinal flora and other living bacteria that break down our foods completely so that nutrients can be absorbed.
Furthermore, the human biology has never been able to “digest” synthetic chemicals. Even though we may ingest synthetic chemicals, our digestive systems have not suddenly changed to recognize them as food or nourishment. All the synthetic nutrients in the world are useless, and potentially even dangerous, if they are not digested. The best way to improve digestive absorption of nutrients is to eat good nutrient-rich, living foods and use naturally-occurring vitamins and mineral supplements. You are what you digest also means that if your digestion is weak, then you absorb fewer nutrients from your food than necessary, which can lead to obesity or other imbalances.  When enjoying quality foods, the health of your body and all of its systems are strengthened.
Research with polarized light shows the differences in bioavailability between synthetic and natural vitamins. The experiment involves taking a sample of a natural vitamin and its chemically identical synthetic counterpart, and passing a beam of polarized light through each. The beam passing through a natural vitamin always bends to the right due to the direction of its molecular rotation. When passing through a synthetic vitamin, the beam splits in half. Half the light beam bends to the right, and the other half bends to the left. The direction of the molecular rotation makes half of the synthetic vitamin impossible to use, which is why there is only 50% biological activity in synthetic, isolated vitamins. They are lacking the factors found in a full-spectrum real vitamin and more importantly they are not viewed by the body as real nutrition, and are therefore counterproductive to health.
Furthermore, synthetic vitamin supplements cannot work properly in the body. Molecules in the body always rotate to the right.
Even if the vitamins you take are “natural” ones extracted from food, they will not be effective if they have been extracted from their full-spectrum matrix. Extracting a vitamin from its full-spectrum matrix eliminates the necessary co-factors which assist in the functioning of that nutrient. When you extract and isolate Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) from an orange, you remove the bio-flavonoids which are necessary for Vitamin C’s activity. It’s better to use a full-spectrum concentrate of the whole orange rather than to extract the ascorbic acid or other isolated Vitamin C fractions.
For a complex matrix like Vitamin C to be effective, it has to be used as nature created it. Always use a full-spectrum food source supplement of Vitamin C and other supplements to insure that all the factors are available to your body.
Worldwide, there is no official government-regulated definition for the term “natural” for the natural products industry. Here in the U.S., the FDA refers to natural ingredients as “ingredients extracted directly from plants or animal products, as opposed to being produced synthetically.” (Ref: FDA Consumer Information & Publication No. (FDA) 95-5012).

While it’s fine to set a legal definition for natural, the problem is that the FDA’s entire system of standards for vitamins is not based on nature. This system, known as the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) or what has now been updated to “Daily Values” (DV’s) and RDI’s (Recommended Daily Intake), pertains to the amount of vitamins we require daily for maintaining our health and is based on the assumed nutrient value of synthetic supplements.
The RDA’s, DV’s or other “standards” that the FDA has proposed are based mainly on animal testing using synthetic vitamins – supplements that we have already determined not only lack nutritional value but also are indigestible.

There is a proposal for a new standard for vitamins and nutrients called the: “Naturally Occurring Standard” or “NOS”. This standard is related to verifiable amounts of naturally-occurring vitamins, minerals or other nutrients as found in vegetables and botanicals. It is our strong opinion – in the interest of public health – that the NOS should be adopted by the food industry as a consumer standard for all food supplements or fortified foods. The NOS symbol printed on dietary supplements or food products labels will ensure that a product contains only naturally-occurring whole food materials, enabling consumers to make the healthiest choices for themselves and their family.

Toxic Ingredients Widespread in Vitamins & Nutritional Supplements Today

Check the labels on your vitamins and nutritional supplements – do they list magnesium stearate or stearic acid as ingredients?  “Natural” flavors?  Sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate?  Gelatin?

1. “Natural” flavors are found in lots of protein supplement drinks.

It is also common to find ingredients in vitamins and nutritional supplements that have been irradiated, fumigated or contaminated with pesticide residues.  In fact, up to 70% of raw materials that are imported into the US today are irradiated.  This irradiation process creates toxic radiation by products, that remain in the ingredients that you ingest from your vitamin or other nutritional supplement. Other common additives to avoid include silicon dioxide, titanium dioxide, cellulose, palmitate (usually synthetic Vitamin A) and starch.

Toxic Fillers Often Used to Reduce the Cost of Nutritional Supplements, including Vitamins

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an excipient as:   a usually inert substance (such as gum arabic or starch) that forms a vehicle (as for a drug).  The International Pharmaceutical Council of the Americas states that “excipients are substances other than the pharmacologically active ingredients which are included in the manufacturing process or are contained in a finished product.  (In many drugs as well as vitamins and other nutritional supplements), excipients make up the bulk of the total dosage form.”  Excipients are used in nutritional supplements and vitamins for many reasons, as fillers, lubricants, colors that liven up the product, preservatives, sweeteners, and coatings and glazes that make it easier to swallow.  Many of the excipients, especially the lubricants, are used to make it easier and cheaper for the company to manufacture.  One example is talc, a suspected carcinogen, that is used in many capsules for vitamins and other nutritional supplements today when they are manufactured with a high-speed encapsulator.

Magnesium Stearate Used in 90% of Vitamins & Nutritional Supplements

Magnesium stearate is also known as stearic acid, and is used as a lubricant in over 90% of the vitamins and other nutritional supplements consumed today.  This enables the manufacturers to run their machines more efficiently and save them money, but it can create many problems for the consumer:

Stearic Acid Found in Nutritional Supplements like Vitamins is Harmful to Liver, Causes Cell Death and Depresses Immune System

So stearic acid, also called magnesium stearate appears to inhibit absorption, be harmful to the liver, cause cell death in your body and suppress your immune system.  If you take nutritional supplements to boost your immune system and liver function and for your overall good health, does it really make sense to be taking vitamins or other nutritional supplements with these ingredients in them?  IT only makes sense to Big Pharma and the boys. Sell you a product that is supposed to help you become a healthier being and what it really does is make you more ill, they win. When this happens they are able to sell you even MORE products to combat the NEW ailment that you have acquired due to the toxin that they sold to you to make you healthy.

Most Supplements Labeled 100% Natural Actually Contain Stearates

Most retailers do not know about the health problems created with the consumption of magnesium stearate, and mistakenly claim 100% purity or 100% natural for their so-called “nutritional” supplements and vitamins that do in fact contain these toxins.  This is particularly important for products you take on a daily basis or if your immune system is already not functioning up to par, as is usually the case with any chronic illness.

Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate Found in Many Vitamins and Nutritional Supplements

Sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate are often used as preservatives in foods as well as in vitamins and nutritional supplements.  They show up most often in liquid vitamins and mineral drinks, as well as in juice drinks.  You can find these preservatives in nutritional supplements on your regular grocery shelf, in “health” food stores and also in many drinks sold in multi-level marketing programs.  Many of these juice companies tell you about how people living out in the tropics consumed these fruits and/or their juices and lived to be very old.  Please note these long-lived peoples undoubtedly did NOT drink juices in nutritional supplement form with sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate in them!

This poisoning of the people is not something new.

Way back in the 1920’s, around the time when the Food & Drug Act was passed, Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, M.D. tried to get sodium benzoate outlawed.  He called it a “monstrosity” and thought it was harmful to health and should not be used in foods.  Dr. Wiley taught at Harvard and also worked for the US Department of Agriculture assisting Congress in answering questions about chemical preservatives in foods.  Sodium benzoate was, however, a boon to food manufacturers, since it greatly extended the shelf life of many processed foods, including vitamins and nutritional supplements.  That is why it can still be found in many products today, especially in processed foods and nutritional supplements, including vitamins.

The Chemical Analysis Data Sheet on sodium benzoate tells you to “Store away from food and beverages.”  Can you believe that?  They tell you to store sodium benzoate away from food and beverages, yet it is an additive in many of them, including various nutritional supplements, especially liquid vitamins, minerals and juice drinks!

Stay Away From Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate, whether in your foods, your vitamins, or other nutritional supplements!

Even if your vitamins and nutritional supplements do not list any of the toxic ingredients we mentioned, like magnesium stearate, THEY MAY STILL BE PRESENT.

1. They even found vitamins and nutritional supplements that contained less than 5% of the amount of nutrients claimed on the label!   Even the US Department of Agriculture reported in a May, 1999 study, that “a number of nutritional preparations claiming to contain certain doses of product have significantly less, or none, of the dosages described.”

And yet, even though those ‘watch dog’ agencies who are supposed to be there to make sure the American people receive the best quality of food, meds, etc., know that this is going on, we still have the products stamped with a USDA or an FDA stamp of approval and sitting on the shelves waiting for us to purchase them.

Consumer Beware – Not All Ingredients Are Listed on Labels of Nutritional Supplements, Such As with Vitamins and Herbal Products
With regard to toxic manufacturing excipients, many nutritional supplement manufacturers simply skirt the issue by not listing them on their label.  In this way, they avoid alarming consumers about their use of these toxins.  If you don’t see it on the label or on their website, ask your vitamin or nutritional supplement manufacturer to provide you with a written statement that guarantees their supplements are free of stearates, palmitates, stearic acid, FD&C food colors, “natural flavors”, polyethylene glycol, acetate, titanium dioxide, sucrose and other toxic excipients and potentially harmful manufacturing additives.
It is also common today to find the wrong herbal species and ingredients that are out of date, fumigated, irradiated or contaminated with pesticide residues.  So, even if the vitamins and nutritional supplements you are taking are toxic excipient-free, you need to find out if it they are also free of heavy metals and pesticide residues, as well as if they contain the potency and ingredients promised by the supplier.
When you use nutritional supplements, including vitamins, you are taking them to enhance your health – it’s imperative that you ask these questions and find supplements that are free of harmful additives and are filled with the promised ingredients.
Most Manufacturers of Vitamins and Nutritional Supplements Do Not Test Raw Materials
You may not know this, but those who produce vitamins and nutritional supplements do not have to prove the safety or effectiveness of their products before selling them in the marketplace!  Most vitamin manufacturers do not test the raw materials used to make their vitamins and nutritional supplements.  They accept what is called a “Certificate of Analysis” (C of A) from the suppliers.  But the C of A usually tests only for harmful bacteria, not toxic contaminants like pesticides or harmful radiation by-products.  So unless a company performs their own testing, you don’t know if the ingredients they use for their nutritional supplements like vitamins are really pure and free of contaminants.
If you want vitamins and nutritional supplements that are free of pesticides and have not been irradiated or fumigated, you must test every incoming batch today, as pesticides, irradiation, and fumigation are all widespread.  Tom Brokaw did a report in the 1980’s about how there is no more uncontaminated fresh water left in the United States.  That means that all irrigated crops in the US are given contaminated water that then makes its way into the plant.  So if your whole food vitamins or nutritional supplements are made in the US, they probably contain some of those contaminants.  If the company goes outside the United States to source ingredients, you need to know that up to 70% of raw materials coming into the United States today for vitamins and nutritional supplements are irradiated, creating extremely toxic radiolytic byproducts.
Many vitamins and other nutritional supplements use plant sources that do not have a high nutritional content.  As you probably could guess, the nutrient content and phyto-chemical properties of any plant including medicinal herbs can vary drastically, depending on the growing and harvesting methods, and the mineral content of the soil it was grown in.  Just because an herb or a plant is supposed to offer certain benefits (as quoted in scientific literature), does not mean that it actually does!  Many herbs grown commercially today are too weak, too toxic, or both, to offer all the typically quoted benefits when actually used in vitamins or other nutritional supplements.
For example, a plant’s mineral content can vary by over 900%, depending on how it was grown!  Likewise, its phyto-chemical nutrients can range from very potent, with terrific nutritional properties, to almost inactive.  If an herb is poorly grown, or grown in mineral-deficient soil, it cannot offer the same results as a plant that is grown under optimal conditions.  If you want to find truly effective nutritional supplements, including vitamins and minerals and other herbal supplements, you need to find ones that have used potent ingredients.
Many, if not most, of the vitamins and nutritional supplements you find in the stores today are isolated nutrients that come from synthetic sources.  This is generally because these supplements cost much less to manufacture than vitamins whose ingredients come from living food sources.  These synthetic nutritional supplements are most often either made or processed with hydrogenated sugars or with petroleum derivatives like coal tar (Ugh!).
Sales for synthetic vitamins and drugs involve up to a 3500% profit margin while whole food nutritional supplements are only marked up 20% to 50%.
Myth:  Synthetic Vitamins Enhance Long-Term Health & Longevity
The nutritional industry has successfully created the myth that synthetic vitamins and inorganic minerals in precise milligram amounts can be utilized by the cells of the body to enhance long-term health and longevity.  Synthetic means “man-made” and nothing synthetic is ever found in nature.  Yet, products are labeled “Natural” when they are full of USP synthetic ingredients.
Nobel Prize laureate, Dr. Albert Szent-Georgie, who discovered vitamin C, found that he could never cure scurvy with synthetic ascorbic acid.  Yet, he reported always curing scurvy with vitamin C found in foods and concluded cell utilzation requires a food matrix that includes nature’s co-factors. Our bodies are created to be a part of nature. They are designed to use natural product, they are not designed to use synthetic product. That is why the rate of disease has increased over the years. Our lifestyles have really messed with our way of eating, we eat processed food, junk food and we don’t eat healthy anymore.
Synthetic forms of the fat soluble vitamins such as A, D and E are especially dangerous.  I recommend that you avoid synthetic fat soluble vitamins in any and all nutritional supplements that you take.
There have been more articles in the media lately regarding the dangers of vitamin supplements.  This seems to stem in large part from studies that showed adverse affects of consuming high amounts of synthetic vitamins, especially the fat soluble ones.  It is unfortunate that the media and even the medical establishment are not for the large part distinguishing between synthetic and natural forms of these vitamins.  It has actually been decades ago that researchers discovered the numerous benefits of vitamins A, D & E, and they used to recommend the consumption of rather high amounts, not in the form of manufactured, synthetic, nutritional supplements, but in natural forms like cod liver oil, butter and liver.
Traditional diets of healthy peoples were very high compared to today’s standards in fat soluble vitamins, especially A & D.  However, these populations were extremely healthy – no cancer, no heart disease, no arthritis, etc.  They especially recommended high amounts of the fat soluble vitamins to their women of child bearing age and to those who were pregnant or nursing, with no adverse health effects.  In fact, they saw the adverse effects when they didn’t consume enough of these vitamins!  They found that high levels of A & D found in butterfat, liver, shellfish and cod liver oil gave their children strong teeth and bones and good health all around.
In fact, traditional native peoples that were studied had more than ten times the amount of vitamins A & D than we have in our diets today.  10 Times!  So once again, emphasize natural sources in all your vitamins, whether in whole foods or nutritional supplements, especially with the fat soluble vitamins A, D and E.
Research done by Dr. Agnes Faye Morgan (University of California) reported that taking synthetic vitamins is worse than starvation.
Animals fed synthetic vitamins had toxic reactions or died quickly of degenerative diseases compared to those fed whole foods.  She reported in Science that animals on a synthetic vitamin enriched diet died long before the animals on an unprocessed diet.  She stated that the enrichment of processed foods with synthetic vitamins may “precipitate conditions worse than the original deficiency.”  Other animal studies reveal untimely deaths, sterility, and serious health deficits with the use of synthetic nutritional supplements versus once-living source whole foods in animal feeds (Scandinavian Veterinary; Journal of Natural Agriculture).
Many Studies Show No Health Benefits From Synthetic Vitamins
A Harvard study of 22,000 physicians reported no health benefits from synthetic vitamins.
A 1994 study in the New England Journal of Medicine on elderly Americans, designed to improve muscle weakness and physical frailty, demonstrated no benefits whatsover.
In a study, published in the 1945 American Journal of Digestive Diseases, Vitamin E-deficient laboratory animals that were fed synthetic tocopherols died before the control group that did not receive any nutritional supplements at all.
Researchers at Dartmouth Medical School ran a four-year study to see if antioxidant nutritional supplements could prevent the recurrence of adenomas of the colon after surgical removal in 864 patients.  After four years of giving 25 mg of beta-carotene, 1000 mg of ascorbic acid, and 400 mg of alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), all in synthetic forms, there were no positive effects noted and the researchers concluded that:  “Current data do not support the use of antioxidant (synthetic) vitamin supplements for purposes of cancer prevention.” (July 22, 1994 New England Journal of Medicine).
Medical Research Shows Synthetic Vitamins and Nutritional Supplements Can Increase Cancer Risk
In a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study, 18,000 American men and women at risk of lung cancer took either a placebo or supplements of synthetic vitamin A.  The researchers, led by Dr. Gilbert Omen, stopped the study in January, 1996, because the group on nutritional supplements had a 28% higher incidence of lung cancer.  Regarding these troublesome findings, Dr. Susan Taylor Mayne of Yale University told New Scientist “I’m concerned about all of these nutrients that people go out and take in massive doses.  These nutrients have adverse effects.”  She was, of course, talking about synthetic vitamins.
Other studies show that synthetic beta carotene can block antioxidant activity and the anti-cancer activity of antioxidants (carotenoids) in the diet.
A study of 29,000 Finnish smokers proved that synthetic vitamins increased death rates significantly enough to stop a 10-year study prematurely.  To the researchers’ horror the risk of cancer increased by 16% and there were more heart attacks, more strokes, and an 8% higher increase in the overall death rate of those smokers taking the synthetic nutritional supplements.
A New England Journal of Medicine (Nov, 1995) study at Boston University School of Medicine found that synthetic vitamin A given to pregnant women, in medium to high doses, increased the risk of birth defects by 240% at the lower dosage and 400% at the higher dosage.  Serious genetic damage that caused cleft lip, cleft palette, heart malformations, and nervous system damage were linked to synthetic vitamins.  This comprehensive study of 22,748 women over a period of four years reported that there was no birth defect risk noted from foods containing Vitamin A.
Synthetic vitamins are made in a lab, often from toxic substances, and only “mimick” the real vitamins found in nature.  These artificial forms of vitamins might help in the short run, but they can age you faster in the long run, and give you even more symptoms.  A good example is that of the B complex.  Did you know that most B vitamins are made from petrochemicals?  Yes, that’s right, they are mostly coal tar derivatives!
Research shows that even a small amount of a naturally occurring vitamin can out perform the same synthetic one in much larger amounts.  For example, synthetic A (palmitate) is far less effective than the natural vitamin A from butter and cod liver oil and pro-vitamin A that is contained in young grasses.  In addition to natural pro-vitamin A, young grasses contain every nutrient known to sustain life; vitamin A palmitate does not.  Cod liver oil also contains vitamin D and essential fatty acids; vitamin A palmitate does not.  The list could go on and on.
Natural vitamin C, for example, contains bioflavonoids and many other co-factors that help your body absorb the ascorbic acid.  Many manufacturers will tell you that ascorbic acid IS vitamin C, but that is just not the case.
It is really just the outer protective ring for the entire C complex of nutrients.
So even if you think you got a “bargain” on your nutritional supplements, your body probably did not.
Start taking 100% whole nutrient vitamins and nutritional supplements today!  Even vitamins that say “food-based” are usually synthetic with small amounts of food mixed in, so the manufacturer can say “food-based.”  In fact, if you type “whole food vitamins” or “whole food supplements” into any search engine, and then closely study the websites that come up, you will see that most of them have some whole foods in the nutritional supplements, but lots of synthetic vitamins and toxic fillers as well!
Look for nutritional supplements that use only 100% living plant concentrates – NO synthetic ingredients.
Vitamin RDA’s
RDA’s or Recommended Daily Allowances were set up as guidelines to make sure people don’t get some of the most severe deficiency diseases.  They were never designed to represent optimal vitamin and mineral levels.  In spite of these low levels, a recent survey by the US Department of Agriculture showed that out of 21,500 surveyed, not even one person got 100% of the RDA for all the nutrients in the survey over a period of three days!
Although that study showed that almost everyone needs to either increase the level of vitamins and minerals in their diet or take nutritional supplements, there are certain population groups who are the most affected.  These include people with diseases or on medication that interfere with digestion or absorption of nutrients, the elderly and pregnant or nursing women, those who recently were injured or burned, or recently had surgery, and vegetarians and dieters.
In addition, if you are still eating processed foods like white sugar and flour and hydrogenated oils, or using tobacco, alcohol or drugs, including many prescription drugs, you are depleting your body of many micro nutrients.  If you are under stress of any type or exposed to chemicals in our environment (who isn’t?), you will also have higher requirements for many nutrients, especially the antioxidant vitamins like B, C & E, and may want to consider whole food nutritional supplements.
Many people have a hard time these days finding and eating only truly superior, nutrient-dense foods.  Even back in the 1930’s it was recognized that our soils and consequently our foods were depleted of essential minerals.  This is even more of a problem today, and even amongst many organic farmers, not all have corrected this problem with their soil.  In addition to the mineral deficiency, since 1980 there has been a 50% reduction in antioxidants in our foods, including vitamin B, C, and E complexes, and unless acquired  fresh from the farm or from your own organic garden, and consumed shortly within picking, your food will be lacking these vitamins and other antioxidants.  At the same time, our world is now filled with chemicals that bombard us on all sides.  This increases our body’s need for nutrients, especially for antioxidants like the B, C, and E vitamin complexes, DHLA and green tea.
So even if you are getting the RDA of all the vitamins, you are probably not getting enough micronutrients for optimal health.
When you go shopping for a natural vitamin or other nutritional supplement, it is important that you look for one that is made of highly potent ingredients.  Depending on the richness of the soil in which it was grown, and how it was harvested and preserved, the nutrient content of various plants can vary by over 900%!  This means you can get something that runs from barely containing the nutrient that you are looking for to something that is spectacularly potent.  Always ask about how the ingredients were grown and harvested.  Organic produce tends to have higher concentrations of nutrients in it:
Organic Means More Minerals
Not only do organic foods have fewer chemicals like pesticides in them, but they have been shown in many studies to have higher levels of various nutrients, including vitamins and minerals.  This would of course apply to organic vitamins & nutritional supplements as well.  An article in the Journal of Applied Nutrition studied the mineral content of organic vs conventionally grown apples, pears, wheat, potatoes and corn.  In general, the organic foods in this study had much higher levels of minerals.
In addition, this study showed that organic produce had much lower levels of toxic metals:
Mercury – 25% less
Lead – 29% less
Aluminum – 40% less
Mercury, lead and aluminum are all toxic heavy metals with various dangers.  Mercury can cause neurological problems, lead lowers IQ levels in children, and aluminum has been implicated in Alzheimer’s and autism.  It is important to reduce heavy metal intake, especially in vitamins or nutritional supplements that you are taking for your health!
Organic Means More Vitamins
Other studies have compared vitamin levels of organic vs conventional foods.  These studies showed that when certain pesticides are applied, it lowers some vitamin levels – especially the B and C vitamins and beta carotene.  These are all known as antioxidants and are necessary for our bodies to properly deal with all the chemicals that we are exposed to in our environment today.  (hmm, perhaps the plants used up some of the vitamin B and vitamin C and beta carotene in order for them to deal with the onslaught of the pesticides…)  In any case, eating organic foods or taking organic nutritional supplements means getting higher levels of vitamins.
Organic Means Fewer Pesticide Residues
It goes without saying that there are fewer pesticide residues on organic foods, since pesticides are not being used on them.  It is sad to say, however, that some pesticides are found even on organic foods because of pesticides in the water used for irrigation and from drift from adjacent fields.  However, the amounts of pesticides are much lower if the crop is grown organically, and this will apply to vitamins and nutritional supplements as well.
Although it has been difficult to prove the adverse health benefits of consuming small amounts of pesticide residues on our foods, and some people don’t need a study to tell them that chemicals that kill living things are not good for them.  Recent studies have shown a clear relationship between pesticides in women’s fat cells and an increased risk of breast cancer.  Although we cannot always control our breathing in chemicals or what is in our water, we can choose to eat more organic food and use organic whole food based nutritional supplements so as to reduce our risk.
Most whole food supplements are concentrated – they are usually dried out and converted to a powder form and either put into a tablet or a capsule.  This concentrates the nutrients, but will also concentrate any toxins like pesticides or heavy metals.  So besides having a higher vitamin and mineral content, organic whole food nutritional supplements will be lower in toxins like heavy metals and pesticide residues.  It is worth seeking out organic vitamins and minerals for your best health.
You can easily grow and make your own supplements. The caplets are readily available at most herb and natural stores. They come in different sizes too. If you grow your own herbs, spices, plants, etc., you will be better able to control their nutrient factor and you will be able to take advantage of this via making your own supplements.
Vitamin Deficiencies
It is difficult to know when you have certain vitamin deficiencies, as they can take weeks or months or even years to develop.  Often your body will slowly function less and less well when it does not get proper nourishment, before finally succumbing to disease.
The reverse is also true – adding vitamins and other nutritional supplements and/or changing your diet for the better will not make you feel better or cure diseases overnight.  This is because it takes time to rebuild your supply of vitamins and other nutrients in the body, and it takes time to rebuild the degenerative changes that got you sick in the first place.  This is also the reason why those who supplement with high quality, food based vitamins and super foods often get better faster than those who simply make positive changes in their diets.
Some health care professionals believe that using higher amounts of nutritional supplements for a short period of time followed by lower amounts for a longer period of time brings better results than simply supplementing with the amounts you need on a daily basis.
Those who start from a position of great lack often need more to begin with to make up for that huge deficiency.  If you don’t see any results from adding vitamins or nutritional supplements to your diet, you need to ask yourself
1) Are you taking potent, high quality, 100% food-based nutritional supplements?
2) Is your body absorbing these supplements, and
3) Are you taking high enough levels to get your body to overcome the long-term short-fall?
Benefits of Vitamin A
Vitamin A’s scientific name is retinol, because of its presence in the retina of the eye, where it is essential for good eyesight.  However it is used in far more functions that just that of the eye.  Vitamin A in crucial for strong bone and tooth development, proper reproduction, cell differentiation and immune system function. This vital nutrient is also needed for the growth and repair of body tissues and is a major factor in the health of the skin, hair, teeth and gums.  It also helps protect mucous membranes of the throat, mouth, nose, and lungs and it helps in the proper digestion of protein.  Last but not least, it seems to lower the risk of many different types of cancers, and it aids in the production of RNA.
(RNA  stands for ribonucleic acid. RNA belongs to the same class of molecules as DNA ~ deoxyribonucleic acid. While DNA stores the genetic information of the cell, the RNA is a copy of that information that is used by the cell to make proteins).
There has been much vitamin A research on its role in cancer prevention.  Dr Max Gerson, for example, successfully treated many “terminal” cancer patients with raw liver juice, which is a concentrated source of natural vitamin A.  Other researchers have also had success treating cancer with vitamin A, but these findings have been largely ignored by the medical community.
According to Weston A. Price, the diets of healthy traditional peoples that he studied contained at least ten times as much vitamin A as the American diet of his day, which was back in the 1930’s.  We undoubtedly get even less vitamin A today in our diets. Dr. Price’s work showed that vitamin A, along with several other fat-soluble activators, are present only in animal fats, but are necessary for the assimilation of minerals in the diet, amongst other things. So this means that if you don’t get enough A, no matter what you do to try to get enough minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, your body will not be able to use the minerals properly!
In addition, because of our “factory farms” and the consequent way we feed our animals with vegetable oils, there are drastically reduced amounts of vitamin A in most of our dairy products and eggs today.  Research has shown that animal fats will contain lots of vitamin A if the animals have a high amount of carotenes in their diet, like cows get from green pasture, and chickens from insects.  However this is not the case for most of our dairy cows or chickens – they are in confinement and being fed a very unnatural diet.  It is worth it to search out sources of pastured animals.
Weston Price thought that all basic biological processes depended on getting enough of the fat-soluble vitamins, and especially vitamin A, in the diet.  His research showed that in order for the body to use the water-soluble vitamins, like B and C, and also minerals, people needed to have enough vitamin A in their diets.  He found that primitive peoples especially valued vitamin A rich foods for pregnant mothers and children.
It was a physician named Bloch who found out that a diet with whole milk, real butter, cod liver oil and eggs can cure night blindness. He conducted an experiment where he fed one group of children margarine as the only fat and the other group got whole milk, eggs, butter and cod liver oil.  Those receiving the whole milk, butter, eggs and the cod liver oil stayed healthy while half of those fed the margarine got corneal eye problems.   Now, of course, we know that those in the healthy group were receiving lots of vitamin A, which only occurs in animal foods full of saturated animal fat, and in natural nutritional supplements like high vitamin cod liver oil.
Still wanna turn your nose up when I tell you to make your homemade soaps and lotions
Using a lard base?
Beta Carotene is NOT Vitamin A
There is a lot of misinformation out there about vitamins, including beta carotene.  Many health professionals say that we can get vitamin A from various vegetables and fruits, like carrots, yams and watermelon.  However, this is really not correct information.  We can get beta carotene from them, and the beta carotene can be converted to vitamin A, but beta carotene is NOT vitamin A!  The FDA even allows labels for foods with beta carotene to label the carotenes as vitamin A, even though this is very misleading.  In addition, the food pyramid has demonized most of the foods that provide us with the most vitamin A:  egg yolks, liver, organ meats, butter, cream, whole fat dairy products and shellfish.
Beta carotene is of course a powerful antioxidant in and of itself that seems to protect against cancer, heart attack, environmental pollutants, allergies and more.  However, if you are taking beta carotene or eating beta carotene-rich foods thinking you are getting vitamin A, this may not be the case. If we were truly healthy, humans could indeed convert carotenes to vitamin A.
But of course you only get the conversion to take place if you have enough bile salts and fat enzymes to make it happen.
Many People Don’t Covert Beta Carotene Easily To Vitamin A
The problem is that there are huge portions of the population, children and infants, diabetics and those with thyroid or pancreatic problems, or with celiac or sprue disease, who either have a hard time making this conversion or can’t do it at all.
Other things can also get in the way of the body making this conversion, such as use of certain Rx drugs, too high of a consumption of polyunsaturated oils or a low fat diet.
The reason that a low fat diet can cause a problem with converting carotene to A is because you need bile salts and certain enzymes in order for this conversion to take place, but most of us try to follow the mistaken advice of eating low fat.  When we eat a meal low in fat, not enough bile is released to do the conversion.  This is why putting butter on your vegetables or eating cream with your vegetable soup is a wise tradition! But we are brainwashed to believe that cream and butter are bad for us.
Last, but not least, even people whose bodies do a good job of converting carotenes like beta carotene  to A do not seem to be able to quickly or adequately replenish their vitamin A stores from plant foods.  So if you are under a lot of stress, like most of us are in today’s modern world, you really need to get some of your A from animal foods, not just from beta carotene in plant foods like carrots.
Lately we have been reading a lot in the popular press that vitamin A may be toxic if we consume it in more than the rather low RDA amounts.
This warning is actually quite ridiculous, considering that just a couple decades ago, pregnant women were told to take cod liver oil every day as well as eat liver several times per week.  They often did just that, without causing birth defects.    Liver can contain up to 40,000 IU of vitamin A, and 1 tablespoon of high vitamin cod liver oil can have more than 15,000 IU!  This means that pregnant women were getting easily 25 to 30,000 IU’s of natural vitamin A per day with no side effects. And the number of miscarriages and birth defects were LOWER than they are today.
Once again, that fear comes from studies done with synthetic vitamin A, not natural A. .  Some of the confusion also stems from poorly conducted studies that did not even take blood measurements of vitamin A levels.
Toxicity from synthetic A has been reported by people who took 100,000 IUs per day for a period of several months.  However, think about this, in order to get 100,000 IU of A in your diet naturally, you would need to consume 3 tablespoons of high vitamin cod liver oil, 7 pounds of butter, 3 – 100 gram portions of beef liver or 309 egg yolks!!!  Every day, you would need to consume these amounts – can you imagine anyone doing that?  So we think it is actually quite safe, in fact, quite healthy for you to add butter, cream and egg yolks back into your diet, especially if they came from pastured animals.
Some of the symptoms of A deficiency include dry eyes and the inability to tear, rough itchy skin, night blindness, weak eyesight, poor bone growth, chronic diarrhea, weak tooth enamel and frequent respiratory infections.  In pregnant mothers, all sorts of birth defects can occur if there is a deficiency of vitamin A, such as cleft palate and harelip, abnormalities of the heart and blood vessels, eye defects and displaced kidneys.
Humans are able to store large quantities of vitamin A in the liver, as well as in other organs.   We are made this way because A is so important to our bodies!  So if we have a well-stocked supply, we can get by for quite a while on a low-fat diet before deficiency symptoms appear.  However, when we are under a lot of stress, even good stress like being pregnant or exercising, our A stores can become rapidly depleted, and some of the above symptoms can start appearing.  Traditional peoples left spaces between children, like 3 years, so as to give our bodies a chance to replenish our Vit A stores.
Food Sources of Vitamin A and Recommended Amounts
Food sources of vitamin A are all animal sources, although much of what you read in books and magazine and newspaper articles will lead you to believe otherwise:  Butter, cream and full-fat dairy products from grass-fed cows, liver, especially duck, beef and goose liver, high vitamin cod liver oil and eggs from pastured chickens are some of the best sources.  It is very important to note that the amounts of vitamin A can vary greatly depending on what the animal was fed, as well as the season.
Due to much scientific research showing the value of vitamin A, especially for growing children, many children were routinely given high vitamin cod liver oil up until sometime after the Second World War.  Even now, there are very successful programs to administer vitamin A to children in Africa in order to prevent blindness and infectious diseases, although it is in a synthetic form.  Baby books used to routinely recommend cod liver oil and liver to pregnant women and to give cod liver oil to babies once they reached the age of three months.

Vitamin B

The B vitamins really function as a complex and most health professions agree that they should be taken together, as they are found together in foods such as nutritional yeast, whole grains, milk and eggs, nuts, fish, fruits and leafy green vegetables.  They are vital to many processes in the body, including energy production as well as metabolism of amino acids, fats and carbohydrates.  They are also essential for a healthy liver, skin, eyes, hair, mouth and nervous system.  The B Complex includes vitamins B1 (Thiamine), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin), B5 (Pantothenic Acid), B6 (pyridoxine), B12 (Cyano Cobalamin), Biotin, Choline, Folic Acid, Inositol and PABA.

Our modern day life contributes to B deficiencies in many ways:  Refined sugar consumption is now estimated to be at 150 pounds per person per year! Every time you eat white sugar, which is devoid of all vitamins and minerals, your body has to use up B vitamins from somewhere else in the body simply to process that sugar.  Over time, eating refined sugar can cause a major depletion of B vitamins in your body.

Many recreational and even prescription drugs including painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs, anti-acids, blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering drugs, anti-depressants, tranquilizers, antibiotics and more also deplete the body of various B vitamins.  So do all the toxins and chemicals we are exposed to today, in our community’s air, in our home building and furnishing materials, in our cleaning and body care products and in our foods.  Furthermore, our diets, full of refined, processed foods contribute to our B vitamin deficiency.  Stress is another major factor in B depletion.

Symptoms of Vitamin B Deficiencies
There are many and various symptoms of B deficiency, including mental problems like depression and anxiety, chronic fatigue and exhaustion, ADD and its symptoms, like inability to concentrate and irritability, insomnia, heart palpitations and arrhythmias and more.  If you suspect you have symptoms of B deficiency, stop eating refined, processed foods like white sugar and flour, and eat more foods with high B content.  You might also want to supplement with a high quality natural food source of B vitamins.

Don’t forget if you decide to supplement, it took you a while to become deficient in B vitamins, and it will take a while for you to correct the deficiency.  In severe cases it can take up to a year to replenish your vitamin B supplies.  Even in moderate cases it can take months of supplementation with food-based B vitamins before you start feeling better.

Vitamin B1 – Thiamine
B Complex Vitamin

Vitamin B1 is known as the “morale” vitamin because of its dramatic effect on our nervous system and our mood.  Besides supporting the nervous system, it aids in carbohydrate metabolism, enhances our immune system, wards off mosquitoes, helps develop red blood cells, maintains muscle tissue, promotes growth in children and helps control motion sickness.  A synthetic version is added to white flour in America in order to ward off beriberi, but it is better to consume the natural form in whole grains.  Because thiamin helps with carbohydrate metabolism, it makes energy available for the body, including the brain.  So if you are not getting enough thiamine, you may not be feeding your brain enough glucose for it to think well.

Extra Thiamine Requirements

If you are pregnant or nursing, use oral contraceptives, cigarettes or diuretics, you will need more vitamin B1.  Those with diets high in refined foods, too much sugar and junk foods and/or alcohol will also have higher requirements for thiamine.  Last, but not least, heavy metal pollutants like mercury and stress also use up thiamine in the body and will increase your need for it.

Deficiency Symptoms of Vitamin B1

Fatigue and insomnia, poor memory, brain function and muscle coordination, headaches, weakness and confusion.  Insufficient thiamin has also been linked to mood changes, disorderly thinking, fear and feelings of uneasiness – all signs of mental depression that can often affect memory as well.  Beriberi is a disease that can develop from a severe deficiency of B1, and is characterized by weakness, limb swelling and heart enlargement.  It affects the nervous, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems.

Food Sources of Vitamin B1

Nutritional yeast, whole grains like whole wheat, brown rice and oatmeal, rice bran, watermelon, asparagus and fresh peas, pork, including ham and beef, legumes, nuts and seeds like sesame seeds.

Vitamin B2 – Riboflavin
B Complex Vitamin

You may not hear about it as often as vitamin C or E, but vitamin B2 is often deficient in the American diet, and you may be hearing more about it in the years to come.  Along with B1, it aids in carbohydrate and fat metabolism, and helps give us energy.  It is very good for the eyes and can help prevent corneal ulcers and cataracts.  It also helps protect the body from toxicity from drugs as well as chemicals in our environment, promotes healthy skin and helps with psoriasis.

Research also shows that B2 can help neutralize harmful free radicals because of its antioxidant properties.  Free radicals are unbalanced molecules in your body that try to balance themselves by stealing electrons from elsewhere in your body.  This taking of other electrons can cause damage, and antioxidants quench free radicals by offering an electron of their own.  This helps protect other cells in your body and keep them healthier.  This may help your body to reduce cholesterol buildup and prevent cancer.

1. Riboflavin also helps the body to make red blood cells.

Deficiency Symptoms of Riboflavin

Some of the diseases associated with a deficiency in vitamin B2 are:  hypothyroidism, severe dermatitis (skin rash), anxiety, diabetes, cataracts, drug abuse, anemia, congenital heart disease and ulcers.  Riboflavin deficiency can also cause other vision problems, like blurred vision and light sensitivity, and cracks and redness in the corners of the mouth as well as on the tongue.  A deficiency of B2 is often seen at the same time as other B vitamin deficiencies, another reason to not just add more B2 to your diet, but all the B Complex vitamins.

Food Sources of Vitamin B2

Synthetic vitamin B2 is added to white flour and cereals, but synthetic vitamins cannot hope to have the same effects on the body as the whole food nutrient complex.  Food sources of B2 include nutritional yeast, whole grains like whole wheat and wild rice, asparagus and broccoli, leafy greens like spinach and turnip greens, yogurt and milk (especially fresh, raw milk), cheeses, liver and kidney, mushrooms and eggs.

Vitamin B3 – Niacin
B Complex Vitamin

Niacin performs many functions in the body, including helping with proper digestion, producing sex hormones, promoting healthy nerves and skin, metabolizing cholesterol and producing energy.

Nicotinic acid has been shown to significantly lower the risk of heart disease and lower the bad cholesterol and raise the good cholesterol, according to James McKenney, professor in the School of Pharmacy at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical College of Virginia.  However, some slow-release synthetic niacin has caused liver damage and other severe side effects, so as with all vitamins and minerals, we recommend only whole food based supplements.

Deficiency Symptoms of Niacin

Deficiency of niacin can result in depression, dermatitis and headaches, like with Vitamin B1 and B2 deficiencies.  It can also cause gum disease, high blood pressure, and other negative personality behaviors.  Those with low levels of niacin are more likely to have bronchitis or wheezing with asthma than those with more niacin.

Severe deficiencies can cause pellagra, that causes diarrhea, depression and skin inflammation.  Other symptoms include: mental confusion and weakness, inflamed and swollen tongue, irritability and loss of appetite.  Pellagra can actually end in death.  Very few people now get pellagra because of the fortification of white flour, however, this is once again a synthetic variety of B3 and we recommend that you use whole grains instead to get the real thing!

Food Sources of Vitamin B3

Some good food sources of Niacin include nutritional yeast, brown rice and other whole grains, poultry like chicken and turkey, eggs, milk nuts organ meats, yams and broccoli, legumes and veal.

Supplementation of Vitamin B3

1. Once again, I don’t recommend any synthetic vitamins.

Vitamin B5 – Pantothenic Acid
B Complex Vitamin

Vitamin B5 is an antioxidant that is very important for good adrenal function because it helps produce cortisone.  Once again, antioxidants provide an extra electron to free radicals so they don’t have to steal one from somewhere else in the body.  This seems to provide protection from all sorts of degenerative diseases like heart disease, cancer and just general aging.  It also protects the body from the side effects of stress, and helps to prevent fatigue and nervous disorders.  It can help you fight infection by building antibodies, and also inhibits loss of hair color.  It is also important in overcoming the side effects of drugs, especially after surgery.  Like many other B vitamins, pantothenic acid is also needed in the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

Deficiency Symptoms of Pantothenic Acid

Tiredness, fatigue, insomnia and muscle cramping, as well as anemia and lack of coordination can result from a deficiency of pantothenic acid.  Further symptoms include gastrointestinal distress like constipation and vomiting.

Food Sources:

Nutritional yeast, whole grains including brown rice, poultry and organ meats, broccoli and yams, mushrooms, salmon , eggs, peanuts and other legumes.  When you cook, can or process foods containing pantothenic acid, up to 50 percent of it can be destroyed.

Vitamin B6 is as important to your body as oxygen and water.”  Like many other B Complex vitamins, Pyridoxine is very important in fat, protein, carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism.  It also supports many aspects of nerve health, including nerve problems with those with epilepsy, carpal tunnel syndrome and psychiatric disorders.

B6 is also a major factor in helping red blood cells to regenerate, and seems to be a primary immune system stimulating factor, which has been shown in particular to help defend the body against liver cancer.

Vitamin B6 is vital in helping the body produce various neurotransmitters, and hence is important for memory.  It also seems to help avoid or reduce glucose intolerance, which is when your blood sugar spikes abnormally high after eating.  Dr. Ellis’ research also shows that it may help reduce asthma attacks since it seems to lower the body’ histamine levels.  It also seems to help protect the body from artheriosclerosis because it reduces a chemical in the bloodstream that damages the walls of the arteries.

It can also help promote healthy skin, reduce acne and morning sickness.  B6 inhibits histamine production, and hence may help with allergies and asthma.  In addition it seems to be helpful in cases of PMS, acting as a natural diuretic.
It also seems to be needed in higher amounts by smokers, those under a lot of stress, and those exposed to high levels of environmental chemicals (that would be most of us today!).

Deficiency Symptoms of Pyridoxine

Depression and anxiety, as well as anemia and lethargy and have been linked to Pyridoxine deficiency.  Carpal tunnel syndrome and numbness and tingling in the knees, shoulders and hands can also be a sign of a deficiency of vitamin B6.  Some additional symptoms include extreme PMS, insomnia and kidney stones.

Food Sources of Vitamin B6

Nutritional yeast, whole grains like whole wheat and brown rice, bananas, eggs, poultry and organ meats, avocados, nuts and legumes like peanuts and walnuts.

Vitamin B6 – Pyridoxine
B Complex Vitamin

B6 or Pyridoxine is a powerhouse of a vitamin! Vitamin B12.

Vitamin B12, like all the B vitamins, plays many key roles in the body.  It is required for energy production and red blood cell formation, as well as for proper nervous system development and maintenance.  B12 has been shown to improve memory and promote a healthy heart, as well as to prevent infertility in men.  It also works as a natural anti-inflammatory and analgesic, and is involved in immune function.

New research shows success with B12 and managing cancer, especially in blocking development of tumors.  It also helps to relieve fatigue, depression and poor concentration.  It is associated with lower levels of homocysteine in the blood, which has been shown to be good for lowering the risk of heart disease and perhaps also that of Alzheimer’s.

B12 is also important in the production of myelin, the covering that insulates nerve fibers and keeps electrical impulses moving in your body.  Which means that it is also very helpful to prevent multiple sclerosis and to combat it once it has been diagnosed.

Deficiency Symptoms of B12

1. It has also been linked to multiple sclerosis symptoms.

Food Sources of Vitamin B12

The best food sources of Vitamin B12 are all animal sources, which is why vegans need to supplement.  Some of the best sources include seafood like cooked oysters, king crab, herring, salmon, and clams.  It’s also found in cheese, poultry, yogurt, eggs, organ meats and nutritional yeast.

Folic Acid
B Complex Vitamin
Folic acid, also called folate, like many of the B vitamins, plays many key roles in the body, including blood formation.   It is essential during pregnancy to prevent spinal bifida, as well as other neural tube defects in the embryo, because it is needed for division and growth of new cells and for the synthesis of DNA. It helps make enzymes work better, prevents anemia, seems to help control pernicious anemia and leukemia.  It also seems to be useful in cases of alcoholism.

Folic acid seems to work well against some pre-cancerous lesions, and also helps to strengthen the immune system during or after chemotherapy.  In addition, research from a study at the University of Alabama in Birmingham found that women with high folate levels had 2 to 5 times less likely to develop cervical dysplasia (a condition where abnormal cells develop in the cervix, which has been shown to lead to cancer in some women).

Extra Folic Acid Requirements

1. Women who are pregnant or even thinking about getting pregnant need to make sure that they get enough folic acid so as not to cause birth defects in their babies.

Deficiency Symptoms of Folic Acid

Food Sources of Folic Acid

The best food sources of Folic Acid are legumes like pinto and navy beans, liver, poultry, eggs, nutritional yeast, citrus fruits like oranges, leafy green vegetables like spinach, asparagus, broccoli, peas and Brussel sprouts.  Note that up to 50 percent of folate can be destroyed while storing, processing or preparing the food, especially when exposed to heat and light.

Folate is usually considered non-toxic, although large intakes, such as above 1,000 mg per day over a period of time have been shown to cause intestinal dysfunction, general malaise, nausea, bloating, irritability and problems sleeping.  You do want to be very careful, however, that you don’t take too much folate, because it can mask a vitamin B12 deficiency.  Once again, consuming these vitamins in their natural state is much safer and more effective than using synthetic versions.

Vitamin B – Biotin
B Complex Vitamin

Biotin is another piece of the B complex of vitamins that is necessary in the formation of anti-bodies for a strong immune system, and also for the body’s utilization of essential fatty acids (EFA’s) and amino acids (these come from fats and proteins).   This means that even if you eat enough EFA’s and protein, your body might not be breaking them down into a usable form if you don’t get enough biotin.

As stated before, all the B vitamins really work in combination with each other, and biotin is no exception.  You need biotin in order for your body to properly use B5 and B12, for example.

Since biotin is necessary for using EFA’s and proteins, it is also important in order for you to have strong, healthy nails.  Biotin vitamin supplementation has also helped dandruff and other scalp problems, as well as dermatitis and eczema.

Furthermore, when scientists studied blood sugar and biotin levels of Type II diabetics, they found that the higher their blood sugar, the lower their level of biotin.  They also found that people who don’t have diabetes had higher levels of biotin.  This is a significant finding!  Further, when they gave 9 mg of biotin every day to their sample group of Type II diabetics (18 people), the participants’ blood sugar levels dropped almost in half in 1 month!  That’s amazing!  If this was a drug it would be making front page headlines!

Research also shows an enhanced immune system occurs when biotin is given to those with candida albicans overgrowth problems and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).

Extra Biotin Requirements
Those taking antibiotics long term seem to need higher amounts of the vitamin biotin.  Those with Type II diabetes need to increase their biotin levels to help reduce their blood sugar levels.

Deficiency Symptoms of Biotin – One of the B Vitamins

Muscle pains and skin disorders.
Food Sources of Biotin

Nutritional yeast, poultry, organ meats, salmon, raspberries, tomatoes, eggs, corn, cauliflower, walnuts, molasses, peanuts, and milk, especially raw milk.

Like all the B vitamins, folate is reduced in cooking and processing.

Vitamin B Complex
PABA

PABA – Para-Amino-benzoic Acid is also a member of the B Complex family, and a component of folic acid.  It is effective against sun and other burns, and has sun-screening properties.  It is often used in natural sunscreens.  Along with pantothenic and folic acid, it has been reported successful in some cases in restoring lost hair color.  It is found in nutritional yeast, eggs, liver, kidney, mushroom, spinach, wheat germ and molasses.

Vitamin B Complex
Choline
Choline is another one of the not so well known B Vitamin Complex members.  It helps to emulsify fats, and is a strong brain nutrient that aids learning ability and memory.  It also seems to be effective against Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders.  It has been used in cancer management and also as part of a program to beat liver and kidney diseases as well as alcoholism.  It supports cell membrane structure and integrity.  It also helps lower cholesterol, perhaps by its ability to support proper liver function.  It’s found in organ meats like beef liver, egg yolks, cauliflower, sunflower seeds, soy and beans.

Vitamin B Complex
Inositol

Although inositol is not really a vitamin, it is classified as a member of the B Complex, and it works very closely with the B vitamins biotin and choline to breakdown fats and to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood, thereby helping control hypertension and arteriosclerosis.  It also seems to lower cholesterol and control fatty deposits on the liver by metabilzing serum blood fats.  It helps modulate serotonin activity in the brain and hence has something to do with your mood.  It also helps reduce breast and ovarian cancer risk.  It also seems to help control many side-effects with diabetes.  Found in almonds, onions, oranges, peanuts, oats, peas, tomatoes, zucchini, Dandelion root and almonds.

Vitamin C:  Nutrient Extraordinaire
Vitamin C is truly an extraordinary nutrient.  Research abounds to show that this vitamin is a vital substance required for many fundamental processes in the body, including some of the well-known ones like strengthening the immune system and maintaining healthy gums, eyes and skin.  C is a water soluble vitamin that is also a powerful antioxidant.  Since it is water-soluble, like the B Complex, it is not stored as much in the body like the fat soluble vitamins are; however, both the B and C complexes are stored to some extent in the liver.  The C complex vitamin travels through your bloodstream, and any excess your body doesn’t need comes out in your urine.  So, because the human body cannot manufacture this vitamin, and not too much of it is stored in the body, we do need to consume vitamin C-containing foods on a regular basis.

Functions of Vitamin C in the Body
Vitamin C has many functions in the body, including:

Aids in tissue growth and repair, and is hence helpful in healing, for example, after surgery

Protects against heart disease and arthritis

Acts as a natural antihistimine and can hence protect against the development of allergies

Aids in the manufacture of the hormones adrenaline and cortisone

Promotes healthy gums

Helps regulate cholesterol levels

Detoxifies free radicals

Boosts immune system function

Helps the adrenal glands function properly

Increases the absorption of iron

Studies have shown that vitamin C can help to reduce asthma symptoms

Vitamin C has shown promise protecting against infection, pollution, radiation and cancer

It can also combine with toxins in the body like heavy metals and turn them into harmless substances so they can be eliminated from the body

It is essential in the production of collagen, which are fibers, especially found in the skin and mucous membranes, that provide a firm yet flexible structure

Aids in the formation of bile

Huge amounts of vitamin C are found in the adrenal, pituitary and thymus glands, as well as in the retina in your eyes

Many other organs, like the brain, lungs, liver, spleen, thyroid and the pancreas also contain much higher amounts of C than your blood does

Needed to make carnitine, which is used to help transfer energy to the cells.

Lack of Vitamin C:

While an acute vitamin C deficiency causes scurvy and is not common in America today, many health care professionals feel that most people are not consuming optimal amounts.  Early signs of possible vitamin C deficiency include:

easy bruising &  bleeding

receding & bleeding gums

fatigue and greater than normal susceptibility to colds & other infections

poor digestion

tooth loss

slow wound healing time

rough skin

Substances That Can Deplete Vitamin C Levels in Your Body

Smoking can cause a serious depletion of vitamin C, so if you haven’t stopped smoking yet, you might want to make sure you eat lots of foods high in C, and/or take a supplement.

Other substances that can cause reduced levels of vitamin C include alcohol and many medications, like oral contraceptives, steroids, antidepressants, analgesics (like aspirin and acetaminophen), anticoagulants and tetracycline.  Injury or trauma has also been shown to use up very large quantities of the C complex, including the injury to cells that occurs with surgery.

Vitamin C has been shown to work synergistically with beta carotene and E.

Vitamins C & E tend to extend the others’ antioxidant effect in the body.  Using whole food sources and eating a good, natural diet will help to ensure that your C does work synergistically with a host of other.

Amounts of Vitamin C in Plants Depends on a lot of things.

The amount of vitamin C in plants that you consume depends on a lot of things, including the soil fertility and climate in which it grew, as well as harvesting and storage conditions.  Studies have shown that foods grown organically typically have higher nutrient content as well as lower pesticide residues, so try to find organic sources of fresh, local fruits and vegetables, such as from farmer’s markets.

Many people have stopped using large dosages of synthetic vitamin C because they find that much smaller amounts of truly natural, potent, food sources of C gives them more effective strengthening of their immune system.

Health care practitioners report the extraordinary nutritional benefits of supporting the body’s natural defense against internal invaders using 100-150 mg of potent natural-source vitamin C which they had previously only achieved with mega doses of ester C.

For supplements, look for 100% whole food sources grown organically in nutrient-rich soils that are preserved & stored carefully so as to retain high nutrient levels.

Vitamin D-The Sunshine Vitamin

According to research in the 1930’s, primitive peoples who were in excellent health and free of today’s degenerative diseases like cancer, heart disease, arthritis and more, consumed around 10 times the amount of fat soluble vitamins than Westernized peoples did back then.  For vitamin D this would mean around 4,000 IUs, instead of the 200-400 which is our current RDA.

However, there have been reports of toxicity of D, and you do want to make sure that you don’t take too much if you decide to supplement.  Further, some research has shown that even vitamin D that your body manufactures during and after exposure to the sun can be detrimental to your body if you are not getting enough calcium.  Vitamin D can also increase the uptake of heavy metals like cadmium, aluminum and lead if you do not have enough calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, so it is very important that you are getting enough minerals in your diet along with the vitamin D.

In spite of reports of the dangers of too much vitamin D, in certain older age groups, the strongest indication of health and longevity was having high levels of vitamin D in the blood, along with normal thyroid function.  It certainly appears that at any age, vitamin D is a very important nutrient associated with high levels of health and vitality and a long life!

Vitamin D and the Heart

German scientists found in comparing patients with chronic heart failure to healthy patients that one factor in heart failure is having low levels of vitamin D in the blood.

Low levels of D are associated with “syndrome X” or the group of symptoms & diseases that seem to run together with heart disease:  obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.  Researchers have long noted that more heart disease occurs in winter months and in northern countries where people get less vitamin D from the sun.  Also, studies have shown that increased D levels can restore insulin sensitivity, lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

Benefits of Vitamin D

Every cell in the body has receptors for vitamin D, so obviously this nutrient is much needed in the body.  Vitamin D plays a role in the regulation of the immune system, and also helps us to build strong bone structure and healthy teeth.  Vitamin D also seems to function as an antioxidant than may be even more effective than Vitamin E.  Low Vitamin D consumption is linked to higher levels of lead in the bones.

Osteoporosis, chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia have all been associated with low levels of Vitamin D.  So has glucose intolerance, which means that vitamin D may have a role to play in preventing diabetes as well as obesity and overweight, since those with abnormal blood sugar levels often have a hard time staying at their ideal weight.

vitamin D is a “potent force in regulating cell growth, immunity and energy metabolism.”

Inadequate vitamin D levels also seem to contribute to depression, perhaps because of D’s involvement in producing some of the neurotransmitters, such as epinephrine and norepinephrine and dopamine.  Infertility, PMS and menstrual migraines are also associated with low levels of vitamin D, calcium and magnesium.  On the other hand, getting enough D can benefit eye problems including spots and glaucoma, and help protect against colon cancer.

Recently, vitamin D has been shown to help fights cancers and diabetes, help create a hormone that protects muscle, and inhibit autoimmune disorders like multiple sclerosis, lupus and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).   In addition, many of these newly recognized benefits of vitamin D seem to need blood concentrations much higher than those needed simply to protect and strengthen our bones.

Getting Vitamin D From Your Diet
Some of the highest food sources of D include various foods from the sea, like:  high vitamin as well as standard cod liver oil, marlin and chum salmon, canned pink salmon, herring, fatty blue-fin tuna, rainbow trout, mackerel, salmon and canned sardines.

You can also get a considerable amount of dietary vitamin D from pork lard, duck and chicken eggs and from some mushrooms.  Duck eggs have much more D in them than chicken eggs (about 6 times more).  However, the seafood sources are much more concentrated sources of D than the others, so if you are not taking cod liver oil and not eating fish, your diet probably doesn’t have that much D in it.

In addition, even if you are eating fish, the fish make D from nutrients found in algae, so if your fish comes from a farmed source, it probably doesn’t contain much D.  Also, lard will only contain adequate amounts of vitamin D if it comes from pigs that are outside in the sunshine, and eggs need to come from chickens that have access to either insects or fishmeal.  So try to find pastured sources of lard and eggs if at all possible.

Vitamin D Rich Lard Used By Long Lived Peoples

Two groups of people who are well known for their longevity, the Vilcabamba in Ecuador and those living in Soviet Georgia traditionally consumed large amounts of lard (pig fat) in their diets.

Perhaps we need to stop being so afraid of lard!

It also seems from the research that adequate levels of vitamin A & vitamin K, and also the minerals calcium and magnesium, found in coral calcium and other sources, seem to protect against vitamin D toxicity.  You can also increase your mineral intake by using dairy products and bone broths on a regular basis.  You can increase your A intake with liver or cod liver oil, and you can increase your vitamin K intake by eating leafy greens and/or cultured vegetables.

WARNING:  If you have any of the following problems, please do not consume vitamin D-rich foods or supplement with vitamin D at any level without consulting your physician:

Kidney or liver problems

Tuberculosis

Hyperparathyroidism

Lymphoma

Sarcoidosis

Those on Blood Thinners Need to Be More Careful with Vitamin D Supplementation

Warfarin is an anti-clotting drug that was, no lie, originally introduced to the marketplace as a rat poison, way back in 1948.  It works by inhibiting the recycling of vitamin K, and hence those taking Warfarin and other coumadin derivatives need to be more careful of Vitamin D toxicity than others.  Problems with vitamin D supplementation are seen at much lower levels if the person is also taking Warfarin than if they were only supplementing with D.

Vitamin E- A great anti oxidant vitamin

Vitamin E, like the other vitamins, is not just one synthetic nutrient, but is made up of a complex of four tocopherols:  alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-, and four tocotrienols (alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-). Alpha-tocopherol is the main form of vitamin E that is usually studied and/or given as a synthetic supplement.  It is important, however, that if you take a vitamin E supplement, you find a completely natural one with all four of the tocopherols and all four of the tocotrienols as they do work together as a complex and do different things in the body.

1. E seems to also be a protective factor in cancer and reduces inflammation in the body.

Some other roles of E in the body include protecting against negative effects of environmental pollutants and chemicals, lowering blood pressure and protecting from frostbite, reducing PMS symptoms, helping treat lupus and avoiding miscarriages.

Many studies have shown that increased vitamin E consumption is related to a decreased risk of heart attack or death from heart disease.  Several studies have found that plasma and red blood cell levels of alpha-tocopherol are inversely related with the presence or severity of carotid arthererosclerosis (this is when you have blockages in your carotid artery leading to your brain, which can cause a stroke).  This is significant because it means that the more vitamin E you have in your blood, the lower the risk of carotid artheriosclerosis, and hence subsequent risk for heart disease and heart attacks.  It is interesting, though, that studies giving supplemental E to patients who already had heart disease did not show any preventative effect for either heart attacks or death.  Perhaps this is because of using synthetic vitamin E.

Vitamin E Deficiency

Although severe vitamin E deficiency is rare, it does seem that a lot of us have a sub-optimal intake, and may very well need vitamin E supplements.

A deficiency can cause nerve and muscle degeneration and muscle weakness, impaired vision, changes in skin pigmentation & anemia.  It can also cause reproductive problems like multiple miscarriages and premature deliveries.  It can cause neurological problems and eventually compromise kidney and liver function.

Food Sources of Vitamin E

E is found in wheat germ & wheat germ oil, palm oil, almonds, salmon, leafy green vegetables, organ meats like liver, eggs, butterfat, whole grains, avocados, nuts and vegetable oils.  We don’t recommend the use of many of these vegetable oils, however, especially soy oil, because of their implication in immune system dysfunction and cancer.

Sunflower oil that is cold pressed is OK, but it does tend to go rancid rather quickly. Sunflower butter on the other hand, can be canned and/or frozen until ready to use. Walnut, hazelnut, peanut & extra-virgin olive oils are also good sources, but with these too you want to make sure and purchase and consume them fresh.

Higher Need for Vitamin E May Mean Supplements Can Be Beneficial

Since fat is necessary for your body to use vitamin E, it seems that anyone who has problems absorbing fat may need vitamin E supplements.  This may include those with pancreatic insufficiency or liver disease, or those with Crohn’s disease.  Also those with cystic fibrosis or who have had all or part of their stomach removed, as in stomach stapling surgeries for obesity, may need additional E and may well benefit from Vitamin E supplements.

Nuts:  A Good Source of Vitamin E

A review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition talks about how regular consumption of nuts, a good source of gamma tocopherol, is related to a lower risk of heart disease mortality.  This form of E is found in large quantities in pecans, walnuts and peanuts.  A moderate, regular consumption of nuts has also been shown to help people keep their weight down, so this is something you might want to consider adding to your diet if you are not allergic to nuts.
Vitamin E from Soybean Oil

Although many health care practitioners feel that there is nothing wrong with consuming E that comes from soy bean oil, we have heard so many bad things about soy, that we think it’s probably prudent to search out another source of vitamin E that does NOT come from soy.  Also, the E is contained in the oil, but so are pesticides and other chemicals, which are heavily used on soybean crops or in the processing of soybean oil today.  You want to make sure that any supplement you choose to take does not contain pesticides or other chemical residues.  In addition, most soy on the American marketplace today is a GMO type of soy, and those of you who have done much research on the problems with genetically modified foods will want to stay away from soy-based E for that reason as well.

Vitamin K – The Blood Clotting Vitamin

The “K” in vitamin K comes from the German word “koagulation,”  since K is a fat soluble vitamin that needed to help your clot blood when you are injured.  It also helps to heal broken blood vessels in the eyes, and helps in cirrhosis and jaundice of the liver.  It can reduce excessive menstruation and helps stop post-menopausal brittle bones and bone loss and help maintain strong bones in general.  A couple of long-term studies have shown higher risk of hip fractures in the elderly when they had lower vitamin K intakes.

There are two different forms of vitamin K:  K1 and K2.  Even though there is a lot more K1 in the diet, its absorption rate is usually less than 15%.  K2 is not as abundant, but its absorption rate is very close to 100%.  These different forms of K are used differently in the body.  K1 is mostly used by the liver to activate the clotting factors.  K2, on the other hand, enhances the effectiveness of vitamin D and helps in preventing osteoporosis and preventing heart disease.

K1 is found in green vegetables like broccoli, kale, parsley, spinach and swiss chard and plant-based oils, especially in olive oil.  K2 can be produced by your own intestinal bacteria if you are healthy.  It is also found in abundance in fermented vegetables, like sauerkraut, and also in egg yolks, goose meat, including goose liver and butterfat.  Chicken, duck, beef and pork also have some vitamin K.

Amount of Vitamin K Found in 1/2 Cup of Broccoli Per Day Decreases Hip Fracture Risk

Don’t forget, however, that vitamin K is a fat soluble vitamin, so you want to make sure and put butter on your vegetables and oil-based dressing on your salads in order to best absorb it.

Vitamin K deficiency results in problems with blood clotting, and symptoms are easy bruising and bleeding that may be manifested as bleeding gums or nosebleeds, blood in the stool or urine, or heavy menstrual bleeding.  Vitamin K deficiency is, however, uncommon in healthy adults.

It appears that Vitamin D can deplete the body of vitamin K, which can cause problems.  Because of this, if you are taking extra D, you might want to make sure and emphasize high vitamin K foods as well.