Demythifying Supplementation!
The Martial Art of Wellness
Volume 8 – December 2009
DEAR FRIENDS
Welcome to this month’s BioNews. We must learn to free ourselves from the control that others exert over us. As we learn we become FREE, we become powerful. This pursuit of self defense in wellness, I call “The Martial Art of Wellness”. And as we practice we become Wellness Ninjas.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“ This is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you to the truth.
– Morpheus, The Matrix
THIS ISSUE’S TESTIMONIAL:
Able to focus the entire day
“ I wanted to let you know I was able to help my cousin who has ADD using BSF. She is 22 years old and for the first day she took half a capsule of f2. She was able to focus the entire day at work and did not get upset when a very stressful situation arose. She was also able to carry on a conversation without stuttering after her long work day. ”
– M.M.M., USA, December 2010
REALITY CHECK ( Demythifying Supplementation )
At the beginning of the year I committed to write and article demythifyng either a supplement, a substance or a concept of health, for each of 12 monthly BioNews. Ending the series with this December BioNews, I wanted to consolidate my views into a conclusion. I picked “supplementation” at large. I encourage you to reflect on your rationales for using or prescribing supplements. So much can be done before reverting to “blind” supplementation. My goal is that you too will be free from the grip of the supplement’s marketing machine.
To Supplement or Not?
My mentor Dr. Michael Kiriac, once told me that if one wanted to use “supplements” to maintain health, that one would have to take handful of pills all day long, and that even that, would not come close to matching the thousands of digestive enzymes, co-enzymes, hormones, and alkalizing juices that are synthesized each seconds by the cells of our pancreas. Imagine – this self-supplementation of biochemicals is ongoing in all internal glands, organs, lymphs, and ultimatly in each of our cells. In our current “so called scientific” era, we have been blinded in thinking that we can add “specialized” molecules of our choice to this mix.
We now know that health does not come in a pill. We know that we can achieve prevention of, and recovery from disease by applying health principles that are supportive to the cells of our body in their myriad of activities; osmosis of water and oxygen, synthesis of hormones, enzymes, and co-enzymes, regulation, repair, regeneration, detoxification and protection. This innate “self regulation” miracle takes place 24-7 in trillion cells of your body.
These health principles are:
- avoid overeating and eating after diner
- eating several small meals (fist size) instead of three large meals
- letting each meal’s chemistry complete before tossing another meal on top
- eating mostly plants, mostly greens and fruits, mostly raw
- exercising and staying active daily
- making water the beverage of choice and drinking some frequently
The famous saying “Let thy food be thy medicine” applies perfectly here. In essence our body is designed to derive the energy and all the necessary molecules for good health from sunlight, from the air we breathe, from the water we drink, and from the foods we eat. But instead, most people are influence by the powerful marketing machine of the supplement industry, and will not hesitate to ingest chemical substances called “supplement”. And in most cases, if they knew what they are made of, they would not put in the gas tank of their car.
This industry has become complex and blinding even to the experts. From hundreds of supplements available, results thousands of choices for the consumer. These supplements all vary in their regulations, ingredients, sources, mixes, labeling, quality, manufacturers, descriptions, and claims. At the rate that new molecules and their metabolic functionality are identified, like COQ10, alpha lipoic acid, selenium, etc, hundreds of supplements continue to be introduced annually in your health store, or on the Internet.
Synthetic Vs. Natural
After the beginning of the industrial revolution, researchers identified ways to replicate molecules of vitamins normally occurring in nature. With that the supplementation industry was born. Today many nutrients can be synthesized from substances ranging from corn syrup to coal tar. It is with these synthetics and the help of thousands of promotional articles published daily in hundreds of publications, newsletters and other media, that the multi billions dollars supplements industry capitalizes on the failure of the pharmaceuticals industry.
I propose next a few simple theory which I have confirmed in my own pursuit of health, and I know, many of you have, or would like to;
- nutrients left in their natural food are tremendously functional and non toxic
- nutrients isolated from their natural form are mostly inefficient and often toxic
- synthesized nutrients are greatly inefficient, often toxic and dangerous
- mega dose of synthesized and/or isolated nutrients are greatly inefficient, often toxic and dangerous (most supplements are taken in large dose; i.e. Vitamin C (actually ascorbic acid) is often taken in dose as large as 2,000 and 4,000 mg, while its is well known that the body needs only 60 mg per day which can be easily fulfilled with an orange, a quarter of a green pepper, etc.).
For the purpose of this article, I describe synthetic supplements as those concocted by man, usually composed of one or many of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, phytonutrients, amino acids, etc., that are either made from chemicals, and/or that do not occur naturally with a whole food. Typically they are blends of isolate chemicals, or if from food, they are separates or extracts, their molecules are not complete and balanced with their original co-dependant molecules, as when they occur in the whole food. Most often they are taken in mega dose quantity much greater then our body can deal with, or tolerate. The bio-availability of synthetic supplements is either ZERO, or well below 80% that of naturally occurring nutrients, and often these supplements are toxic and dangerous for your health.
While natural nutrients, the “real / functional” ones are those that occur in their whole food natural state, complete in their complex family of co-dependent nutrients and micro-nutrients (known and unknown). Just like vitamin C in green pepper, the balance and synergy between its micro-nutrients cannot be duplicated and is indispensable for its proper assimilation, cellular absorption and utilization. NWhole food nutrients are the most efficient way to benefit our cells without causing toxicity or imbalance. Synthetic and isolated vitamins not only lack the supporting balance and synergy of natural nutrients, but often will cause metabolic imbalances.
Some scientist say that synthetic supplements have identical chemical structure as naturals do; that they are just as efficient. At one time most scientists believed the world to be flat. In the laboratory, chemists can duplicate sea water that looks chemically identical to natural sea water, but when fish are placed in this synthetic water they die. For decades now, common sense and research has casted doubt on the lack of biological activity of synthetic supplements. Isobel Jennings of Cambridge University says:
“ The synthetic supplements may look identical as naturally occurring (with the whole food) substances, or may appear closely related. The close relations, although useful in many ways, pose some problems in that they may have only a fraction, whether large or small, of the biological activity of the naturally occurring products… Synthetic vitamins may perform some of the functions of their naturally occurring counterparts while being useless in others. But what may be more important is the fact that synthetic vitamins, prepared from chemicals or separated from their natural state, are less active biologically than their naturally occurring counterparts, thereby reducing any beneficial effect they may have. ”
What about the life force in supplements?
The difference between synthetic supplements and naturally occurring nutrients is apparent when viewing their response to a beam of polarized light. The light when passing through a natural vitamin will always bend to the right due to its molecular rotation. Photography of natural nutrients taken with a Kirlian camera always shine brighter then synthetic ones. The life force of natural nutrients cannot be replicated with synthetics.
Synthetic supplements may look like the real thing but they won’t function like the real thing. Synthetic supplements are like the image in a mirror. Half of it may work in the body and the other half may not work as well. Proponents of synthetic supplements might claim natural and synthetic are equally effective but they are wrong. Ask yourself the question “has the synthetic supplements industry made a difference in reducing the health crisis in America?”
“The only truly natural vitamins and minerals are those that occur with whole foods. They may also be available in some whole food nutritional supplements as highly nutritious, concentrated foods; powdered concentrates of foods and herbs with only the moisture, an isolated component of whole food removed. Some sources of these include wheat-grass, freshwater algae (blue-green algae, spirulina), sea vegetables such as kelp, flax seeds, wheat-germ, alfalfa.”
On Assimilation of Vitamins and Minerals
I’ve alluded to this throughout this series, and it deserves repeating: there’s no such thing as an isolated vitamin or mineral or any other separated nutrient growing in nature. For example, there are no “Vitamin C” fruits growing on trees; all fruits offer a spectrum of vitamins and minerals. There are no “Calcium leaves” on vegetables; all vegetables have an assortment of minerals and phytochemicals that work synergistically to support human health.
All of us have been hearing about vitamins since we were small children. Still today we hear authoritative sources say, “Be sure to take your vitamins!” But, today we have also proven that all the vitamins in the world do us little good without minerals! Why do people continue taking them without minerals? Vitamins are a group of chemically unrelated organic nutrients; carbon, oxygen and hydrogen which are essential in small quantities for our normal metabolism, growth and well being. Vitamins must be obtained through diet since they are either not synthesized in our bodies or are synthesized in inadequate amounts. Minerals are very different from vitamins in their structure and the work they do. According to Rodale’s Complete Book of Minerals for Health, minerals create a healthy environment in which the body, using vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and fats, can grow, function and heal itself. But for this working relationship to happen, both vitamins and minerals must be eaten together. Only then can we benefit from the harmonious synergistic power of vitamins and minerals.
Read next this extraordinary message about minerals:
(Reprint from READER’S DIGEST – March 1936 – Dr. Ranville of the Colorado School of Mines) – Plant minerals like those obtained from tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes, oranges, etc., are different from metallic (synthetic) minerals. Their size and molecular weight is much smaller than that of metallic minerals. In most cases the plant minerals are attached to a different molecule, even though they possess the same name. We predict that the scientific industry will change the name of plant minerals in the future. This might occur after they eventually realize plant minerals are no longer metal elements.
Basically, the size scale reveals that “inorganic” clay, silt and hydrophobic metallic minerals, on average, are considerably larger than “organic” hydrophilic acids or hydrophilic plant minerals. The research clearly indicate that bacteria, viruses, clay, and humic metalo-complexes (metallic or synthetic minerals) are considerably larger than hydrophilic (plant) complexes such as hydrophilic plant derived minerals. Pure plant minerals can be pumped through a pharmaceutical grade: .05-micron absolute filter. Most metallic minerals will not pass through this small membrane. Only water passes through. Note: A water molecule is only slightly smaller than hydrophilic complexes. The small size and water solubility is one of the reasons so many nutritionists believe plant minerals are much easier to assimilate or absorb than metallic minerals. When comparing the size and weight of metallic and plant minerals, it is easy to see that the molecular weight of hydrophilic (plant) complexes is considerably less than metallic complexes. In short, this clearly indicates there is a great difference in, generally known, “metallic minerals” and “plant minerals”.
More argument for whole food nutrients
Furthermore, even if the vitamin supplement is of what some marketers call “natural source”, you will still have problems of non bio-availability. For examples; vitamin C needs minimally a certain amount of zinc to be absorbable, vitamin E requires at least some selenium to be absorbed, vitamins A, D, E and K to be absorbed, require fatty acids omega 6 and omega 3, and those fatty acids must occur in proper ratio between themselves. And so forth at the level of cellular nutrition, for proper balance and synergy, there are endless molecular requirements that can only be obtained with whole food base nutrition.
Synthetics! Let’s pick on ascorbic acid (erroneously called vitamin C)
Vitamin C as naturally occurring in citrus fruits, acerola cherries and a myriad other fruits and vegetables, comes as a complex containing vitamin P factors such as bioflavonoid and rutin, vitamin K, vitamin J, various enzymes and coenzymes plus a small amount of ascorbic acid, the antioxidant of the complex. In the supplementation industry, vitamin C is rated according to the amount of ascorbic acid it contains. Ascorbic acid is not vitamin C, ascorbic acid is ascorbic acid, a fraction of the biologically utilizable natural vitamin C complex. Most vitamin C (ascorbic acid) on the market are produced synthetically. According to The New York Times, a team of British pathologists at the University of Leicester studied 30 healthy men and women for six weeks, giving them 400 milligrams of synthetic vitamin C daily in the form of ascorbic acid. They found that at this level, vitamin C promoted damage to the DNA in these individuals.
Dr. Szent-Gyorgi won the Nobel Prize in Medicine, in the 1930s for identifying vitamin C and all its many health benefits. Although he successfully isolated the molecule ascorbic acid in his research, his studies clearly demonstrated the vastly superior benefits of consuming foods rich in vitamin C. For this reason, even though he discovered ascorbic acid, he did not recommend its use! In fact, Dr. Szent-Gyorgi affirmed over and over again that the best results occurred when people consumed vitamin C in its natural food form.
Yet even with these facts known, as much as 97% percent of vitamin C supplements are calcium ascorbate, ascorbic acid, magnesium ascorbate or potassium ascorbate. Despite marketing claims, these laboratory-produced molecules are not natural vitamin C, far from it. They are chemically synthesized molecules manufactured in test tubes and often made from genetically modified corn sugar. These synthetic molecules are an attempt to mimic ascorbic acid, which is only one of the numerous life-supporting molecules found in vitamin C of food.
Over the years, as the scientists keep uncovering the assimilation requirements of vitamin C, you may have noticed the marketers of vitamin C adding those required factors. In 1970 synthetic ascorbic acid was sold stand alone as vitamin C; in the 80’s, scientists identified the need of zinc for human assimilation of vitamin c; the marketers proceeded to add zinc to their vitamin C supplement; by 2000 we know that vitamin A and E are required, in 2005 we know that bioflavanoids are required and the marketers are now adding these flavanoids to their formula. This will go on until we realize that the only way to reach full vitamin C functionality is when eating the whole green pepper. In the mean time millions of people are buying synthetic and dysfunctional vitamin C.
We are familiar with many scientific studies demonstrating vitamin C’s important health-enhancing and antioxidant benefits. What we may not know is that much of this research is conducted using foods high in vitamin C and not synthetic ascorbic acid supplements. The proven health benefits we all associate with vitamin C are actually created by the intricate interaction of numerous supportive co-factors found only in food, not in isolated, synthesized molecules. Test-tube vitamin C simply cannot re-create the magnificent synergy of whole-food vitamin C. This is a significant distinction. Unbiased scientists and health care providers consistently emphasize the importance of obtaining all our nutrients from mixed whole foods.
What about the famous Beta-Carotene?
Most micro-nutrients are found in families or complex like those of vitamin C and B. Another example is beta-carotene that is sold as a separate supplement. You can be certain that most beta-carotene on the market are isolated synthetic compounds made from acetylene gas. It’s no wonder that testing done with the synthetic form of beta-carotene produces mixed results, and even hazard to health. In nature, beta-carotene is part of a large family of carotenoids that never occur alone. For example, even in the carrot and tomatoes you find beside beta-carotene, other wonderful carotenoids like alpha-carotene, cantozantheen, gamma-carotene, licopene, omega-carotene, etc. And although beta-carotene is a popular antioxidant, the unknown cantozantheen is more effective as an antioxidant then beta-carotene, while the even less known alpha-carotene is at least 20 times more effective then beta-carotene. When isolating beta-carotene from its natural family of carotenoids, supposed experts or marketers are removing other beneficial antioxidants, and more importantly their synergistic power when working together. Even the American Cancer Society recommends that the best source of cancer fighting nutrients should be obtained from a diet rich in mixed fruits and vegetables.
In Defense of Food – (paragraph title stolen from Mike Pollan’s book)
Why not get your nutrients from natural and whole food sources? Whole food sources provide spectrums of abundant nutrients that work synergistically in our body in ways that no scientist can comprehend or replicate. Contemporary scientists have not yet identified the tip of the iceberg in the domain of phytochemicals, those microscopic elements found in fruits, vegetables and micro-algae, much less studied their combined effects in any detail. Fortunately, more and more biochemical experts realize that without the whole-food complex, the body does not achieve the intended nutrition. They also know that isolate vitamins and minerals lack the full complex and cannot function as claimed. On the contrary, much research is proving synthetics and isolates to cause imbalances and nutritional deficiencies, forcing the body to use its own reserves of nutrients and energy in the futile attempt to make these incomplete nutrients work.
All our nutritional requirements can be met with a varied diet of organic whole foods. And health wise, there is a world of difference between synthetic and natural when you take into account energy units return per consumption, natural will always be more effective and cheaper in the short and the long run. Knowing what you now know, which would you choose; the food in the mirror … or the real thing?
Yet beware, there is increasing and relentless marketing and promotional activities for synthetic supplements.
How can BAC be part of the solution?
Bio-Algae Concentrates itself is a whole food that contains an extraordinary variety of naturally occurring vitamins, proteins,enzymes, coenzymes, minerals, antioxidants, etc., more than 4,000 in total. In addition to obtaining nutrients from our fresh foods, it is as important that you know that many nutrients like enzymes and hormones that our body need are continuously composed (or synthesized) by the cells of our body. Bruce Lipton, PhD, explains that “our cells have the power to create from our active amino acids sets as many as 100,000 types of proteins, enzymes and coenzymes as needed by the body at the appropriate time.” That is the genius within! Beside supplying an “extraordinary” array of nutrients, the value added of consuming BAC, lies in its capacity as an efficient brain food to “awaken this genius within.”
BAC awakens the genius within
It has been established in animal studies, that when BAC is consumed regularly, cells of critical brain organs hypothalamus-pituitary axis will regulate better our energy and endocrine metabolisms that govern nutrients assimilation, all internal glands, organ functions, and ultimately the productivity of each cell of our body; and in turn there is:
- increased assimilation of nutrients from foods including not only CoQ10, but all enzymes and the myriad of nutrients present in foods
- better synthesis at the cellular level of needed biochemicals like CoQ10
- more efficient processing of hormones, peptides, vitamins, etc.
- cellular productivity leading to more cleansing, repair and regeneration
