Vitamins: Natural vs. Synthetic

Ascorbic acid is ascorbic acid, right?

It doesn’t matter if it’s ascorbic acid from an orange or ascorbic acid from a laboratory, it’s all the same stuff, right? Isn’t it all vitamin C?

The isolated, synthetic, vitamin molecule is indeed identical to the natural vitamin molecule, but our bodies don’t “see” them the same way. The synthetic vitamin is “stripped down” compared to the natural form. Our bodies then need to replace the missing pieces in order to utilize the synthetic. Vitamins that are found naturally in whole foods come with all of their necessary components; a good example is vitamin C. Real vitamin C from whole foods contains Rutin, vitamin P, Factor K, Factor J, Factor P, Tyrosinase, Ascorbinogen, and Ascorbic Acid. Synthetic vitamin C is simply Ascorbic Acid. Vitamin C is a complex, not a single molecule. When you ingest the stripped down version of vitamin C, ascorbic acid, your body must gather all of the other components of the full vitamin C complex in order to use it. This is where problems start to rear their ugly head. Your body will pull the missing pieces from other places.

Example: if the synthetic vitamin you just swallowed is processed by your body using calcium, your body will take calcium from your bones so that it can utilize that vitamin. This process is called “leaching”.

If your body does not have the missing building blocks, it will filter out the unused compound and send it down the drain.

Vitamins are made up of several different components – enzymes, co-enzymes, co-factors– that must work together to produce their intended effects. Type, “dangers of synthetic vitamins” into your favorite search engine and you’ll find headlines, news articles, and scientific studies pointing out the detrimental health effects found in the use of synthetic vitamins that do not appear with their natural cousins.

Here is another example discussing evaporated cane juice and how our bodies are leaching the compounds needed to process the cane juice and how this “leaching” harms us: “The natural sugar cane is brimming with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, fibers, and phytonutrients that help the body digest the naturally occurring sugars. The minerals required to digest sugar are calcium, phosphorous, chromium, magnesium, cobalt, copper, iron, zinc and manganese. It also contains vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B6, niacin, and pantothenic acid, which work synergistically with the minerals to nourish the body.

Of more importance is the presence of compounds in natural sugar cane called polyphenols.

Polyphenols are a large class phytonutrients with powerful antioxidant properties and numerous potential health benefits. Sugarcane contains a unique mix of antioxidant polyphenols. The polyphenols, vitamins, and minerals present in sugar cane help slow down the absorption of the sugars and prevent the sharp rise in blood sugar levels associated with refined sugar.

Unfortunately, since the wrongly called “evaporated cane juice” has been refined almost as much as white sugar, it contains none of these health benefits.

When you eat any type of sugar that has been refined, your body has to pull stored nutrients from itself to be able to properly digest the sugar. This is called leaching refined sugar (including this wrongly called “evaporated cane juice”) robs calcium and other minerals from your bones, tissues, and teeth in order to be digested. Since calcium is one of the most abundant mineral in natural sugar cane and needed the most for proper digestion of sugar, it is the most important to retain.

Article: http://www.processedfreeamerica.org/resources/health-news/405-the-truth-about-evaporated-cane-juice

Medical conditions notwithstanding, there is no need to supplement a proper diet as everything your body needs can be had via whole foods alone, and preferably so.