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Vitamins
WHOLE-FOOD VITAMIN PRODUCTS
CLICK HERE FOR WHOLE FOOD NUTIENTS LECTURE
2009 AT SOUTHWEST COLLEGE OF NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE
Nutrient depletion or shortage may arise from inadequate food intake, impaired digestion, inefficient absorption or malabsorption, inefficient assimilation and other physiologic or functional disorders. Genetic errors may interfere with or prohibit assimilation and utilization. Gastrointestinal motility disorders may have similar effects. Stress may affect both gastrointestinal tract transit times and quantities or ratios of nutrient needs, leading to depleted nutrients. Americans now spend $2.5 billion yearly on vitamins and minerals, up from $328 million 25 years ago. Roughly 55% of women and 45% of men take some kind of vitamin supplement. Most of the vitamin supplements consumed by Americans, including those used in "enriched" foods, are making them more deficient! The greatest and most enduring of medical discoveries of the twentieth century were the vitamins. Here, at last, was the discovery of factors that caused health. Vitamin A (1912, the first vitamin to be discovered) was named retinol because, without it, a healthy retina in the eye could not be formed. Then it was found to cure night blindness. And that was just the beginning.
Along came the B-vitamins and the cures for beriberi, pellagra, pernicious anemia, nerve degeneration, enlarged heart, energy production, and much more. These came from unprocessed, whole, natural foods. When man realized his foods had been devitalized from processing and refinement, he decided to replace the lost vitamins. But, in his effort to extricate himself from the refined food trap, "scientific confusion" led him to try to replace them with "chemical, man-made vitamins." So, again, he refined down natural vitamins into pure, crystalline vitamins, thus robbing them of important food values, just as he had refined natural grains and sweets into their pure, crystalline, carbon-white flour and sugar. Then, to save money, he duplicated these crystalline vitamins synthetically, mostly from COAL-TAR products. Thus, natural vitamins as well as natural foods were robbed of nature's life and valuable elusive nutrients.
The latest round in conventional medicine's ongoing attempts to discredit (and ultimately outlaw) nutritional supplements is found in a highly questionable study published February, 2007 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which claims that vitamins actually increase the risk of death.
The study claims to have analyzed a collection of previous studies on Vitamin A, beta carotene, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and selenium, concluding that most of the nutrients are actually dangerous to human health. Of course, this is research from conventional medicine – an industry that promotes patented chemicals as perfectly safe, even though FDA-approved pharmaceuticals are killing at least 100,000 Americans each year. (Imagine the uproar if vitamins killed even a fraction of that number)
To avoid getting hoodwinked by questionable research on "vitamins," you have to strongly consider the financial interests of the source of this research. JAMA accepts millions of dollars in advertising from drug companies each year, and its pages are absolutely packed with drug ads. The American Medical Association, for its part, has long worked to discredit alternative medicine and has even been found guilty by U.S. federal courts of engaging in a conspiracy to destroy chiropractic medicine. The AMA, which is largely considered a joke by anyone familiar with natural health, is hardly a credible source for publishing scientific findings on nutrition. To protect the multi-billion dollar drug industry, it’s likely the AMA would say practically anything.
This research published in JAMA does remind us of one important point, however: synthetic chemicals are harmful to human health. If you take cheap "vitamins" made of these synthetic chemicals, you are doing yourself more harm than good. These cheap vitamin manufacturers, by the way, are usually owned by pharmaceutical firms.
Conventional medicine researchers try to blur the line between "junk vitamins" and "quality vitamins" by classifying ALL nutritional supplements as "vitamins," regardless of what they're really made from. By discrediting a few synthetic chemicals, they can effectively dissuade the masses from taking ANY vitamins, including the good ones. And that is, of course, their goal: to use F.U.D. (fear, uncertainty and doubt) to scare consumers away from nutritional supplements so that patients will flock to the patented, synthetic chemicals that earn drug companies billions of dollars in profits. Drugs make money for Big Pharma, and vitamins compete with drug sales.
Round up 100 people who are taking multiple pharmaceuticals, and compare their health to 100 people who are taking vitamins and nutritional supplements. Guess who's healthier? The supplement crowd will be healthier every time. It's the obvious question: If vitamins are so dangerous, where are all the dead vitamin takers? And if pharmaceuticals are so safe, where are all the super-healthy prescription drug patients? They are nowhere to be found.
The healthiest people, by far, are those who take supplements, who engage in regular exercise, and who avoid taking prescription drugs.
Only fools believe research about nutrition that comes from the American Medical Association or its journal. Conventional medical researchers declaring that vitamins are worthless is about as credible as Bush Administration climatologists claiming there's no such thing as global warming. With the publication of this research, the distortion of health reality is now complete. According to the American Medical Association, vitamins will kill you but pharmaceuticals will make you healthy.
Vitamins
What is a vitamin? It is a complex of biological "wheels within wheels" consisting of enzymes, coenzymes, antioxidants and trace mineral activators. Enzymes, being protein, contain amino acids and trace minerals. Every mineral and amino acid needed by living cells may be found in a natural assemblage of vitamin concentrates obtained from wholesome foods. Identifying a vitamin in terms of a single chemical structure is self-defeating--you need the whole complex to get the vitamin function. The natural vitamin complex carries trace mineral activators and without them, the vitamin fails in its metabolic function. Copper in its organic, biologically active form tyrosinase, is the trace element activator of the vitamin C-complex. Likewise, manganese activates the B complex. In turn, selenium is the trace mineral activator of the vitamin E-complex. Enzyme activators, destroyed by heat, steam sterilization and pasteurization, include Manganese, Cobalt, Molybdenum, Zinc, Selenium and Vanadium...and are effective only in the organic state. By reducing a vitamin complex to a single chemical, chemists can claim to duplicate it in a laboratory and easily mass produce it and sell it as an additive to food or a pill. This wouldn't be possible if they were charged with keeping all the synergistic components intact. As such, vitamins are given single chemical names and single chemical structures for the purpose of selling synthetic vitamins.
The failure of the pharmaceutical approach to vitamins originated in the chemists' synthetic isolation of aelements, uncombined with its biological matrix. The discovery of the vitamins coincided with the boom in industry, agriculture, and chemistry, which were crowding their way into all facets of life. But in the attempted duplication of living things, like artificial fertilizers or vitamins, chemistry had its most influence. The biological activity of synthetic and natural vitamins is not identical. Anyone who has studied anatomy, physiology, neurology and biochemistry will readily admit that the human body is a neuro-biochemical plant--a composite of tissues, fluids and organs that exist in a living state by virtue of neuroelectric and biochemical reactions. Being biochemical in nature, the body operates on biochemicals--LIVE CHEMICALS--in contrast to dead or lifeless chemicals. Those biochemical factors are derived from whole, natural, uncooked and unprocessed foods. Cooking and processing alters biochemicals to dead chemicals. The human body cannot properly function if it is fueled with dead chemicals rather than live, complex biochemicals. The difference between the live biochemical food factor and the dead chemical (counterfeit food) is dependent upon two primary requisites: (1) unaltered proteins and (2) viable enzyme systems.
Dr. Casmir Funk, who discovered the method for concentrating vitamin B, and the one who coined the term, Vitamine, said, "The synthetic product is less effective and more toxic." Every process used to extract vitamins from foods, destroys the vitamin complex. What you end up with is similar to a banana peel without the banana. When you take these incomplete supplements, they rob from the body's nutritional reserve what is missing (the banana), to try to complete the complex. This creates what is called a rebound deficiency. If you find the shed skin of a snake, you haven't found a snake. In the Biomedical Nitty Gritty, Vol. 3, No. 1, Jan. 1982, Dr. Richard Murray D.C., presented an abundance of incontestable evidence that there is a tremendous difference between natural and synthetic vitamins..."Synthetic vitamins are reverses conformationally or mirror images of natural vitamins. However, synthetic vitamins are not vitamins at all but synthesized fractions of a vitamin complex...a mirror image duplicate of just a portion of the real, biologically active and physiologically-precise, nutritional complex. There is no way that a fraction of a vitamin can be called a vitamin." He continues, "Textbooks record that vitamin B1 was first isolated in the year 1926. About 10 years later, scientists were able to synthesize the mirror image of Thiamine from coal-tar. About the beginning of WWII (Sept.-39) enrichment of refined, devitalized flour became compulsory. Bleached wheat flour has more than 30 known nutrients removed with 4 synthetics added back in. Today, the majority of people in the civilized world are becoming victims of degenerative disease resulting from chronic poisoning and malnutrition. Even though well fed, they are starving to death for the most essential micronutrients. Since World War II, the American people and people of other countries as well, have had a daily ration of a genetic poison in most of the bread, flour products, cereals and other food items that are forced, by law, to be enriched with synthetic vitamins.
Dr. Royal Lee, in 1956 stated, "We have drifted into this deplorable position of malnutrition quite inadvertently. It is the result of scientific research, with the objective of finding the best ways to create foods that are non-perishable; that can be made by mass-production methods, in centrally located factories and distributed so cheaply that they can sweep all local competition from the market. Then, after there develops a suspicion that these 'foods' are inadequate to support life, modern advertising science steps in to propagandize the people into believing that there is nothing wrong with counterfeit or devitalized foods, that they are products of value...and...the confused public is totally unable to arrive at any conclusion of fact. In turn, they continue to buy the rubbish that is killing them off, years prematurely."
In 1941, Dr. Agnes Fay Morgan, Ph.D., food research scientist at the Univ. of Cal., reported in Science, #93, pp. 261-262, that animals on a synthetic-vitamin-enriched diet: "dropped dead long before the animals on an un-enriched diet became disabled." She remarked at that time, that such phony enrichment might "precipitate conditions worse than the original deficiency." Gilbert Levin, Ph.D., (Discover 1981) discussing optical isomers or asymmetrical molecules with atomic arrangements that are mirror images of each other, states: "Because its structure is reversed, a left-handed molecule can't take part in chemical reactions meant for a right-handed molecule any more than a left hand can fit in a right-handed glove--its odd geometry prevents it from being metabolized by the body." In turn, the human physiology cannot properly utilize synthetic (mirror-image) fractions in the way natural complexes find their way into the biological reactions that are essential to tissue repair and the sustenance of life. A synthetic vitamin fraction can only be utilized for a drug or pharmacologic effect. Drugs are poisons, by definition. All pharmacologic therapies induce side effects and high-dose nutritional therapies are no exception. Only synthetic supplements achieve drug status. The effect of a drug is palliative not curative. Palliation means a masking or covering-over of symptoms, while the disease process remains unchanged or progressively gets worse for lack of attention. "It is better to have no vitamins at all than a mixture of crystalline-pure vitamin fractions, with one or more members of the complex missing."
Natural complexes differ from synthetic or crystalline vitamins in many ways:
1 Natural complexes are colloidal, protein in nature and usually exist as enzymes or coenzymes.
2 The crystalline vitamin can't be separated from its protein part without destroying its biological activity.
3 The natural "live" complex carries trace mineral activators...without which the enzyme fails as a biochemical catalyst.
4 Crystalline vitamins, taken into the body, must recombine (if possible) with their natural required components (robbed from the body's reserve) before they can function as a vitamin. Most, if not all of the crystalline component is lost through the kidneys.
Vitamins are not meant to be eliminated in urine any more than silverware is to be thrown out with the leftovers. Often you hear, "But, I feel better when I take them." The reason is that synthetic vitamins act as poisons in the body. Since most poisons stimulate circulation in the human body for the purpose of moving blood through the kidneys, more often to filter out the said toxin as quickly a possible...the speeded-up circulation also delivers more blood and more oxygen to the brain with a created sense of euphoria. Natural and low-potency vitamin complexes do not and will not produce euphoria, any more than eating a (non-poison-sprayed) carrot.
A synthetically-derived substance may cause a reaction in a chemically susceptible person when the same material of natural origin is tolerated, despite the two substances having identical chemical structures. The layman who doesn't understand the biochemical nature of true nutritional changes, is easily deceived by the pseudo-nutritional therapist and believes the initial response (drug effect), to the massive dose of one or more prescribed megavitamins, represents that what is being taken is exactly what is needed. Nutritional therapists know after a time on synthetic vitamin fractions, the biochemical reaction is reversed, the euphoria ends and the original symptoms return; except amplified by vitamin poisoning. Also, the diagnosis and evaluation of symptoms are now clouded by the weeks, months or years of improper supplementation. Why the great mystery about all of this?
Why don't doctors know about vitamins or nutrition in general? One big answer was revealed in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) August 8, 1980. It honestly admitted: "Nutrition has been neglected by the medical profession." Most medical schools devote less than three hours of total instruction in nutritional deficiency and therapy. In short, Physicians in the United States are not required to understand nutrition to be licensed to practice medicine. It's not hard to understand why, when medical experiments are performed with synthetic vitamin fractions, these counterfeits fail to produce impressive results. But a reductionist seeks to understand the whole by dismantling its parts. This precludes the wholistic principle of synergism, that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. For example, what if we tried to understand the properties of water (H2O) by testing hydrogen separately and oxygen separately. Presumably, we would learn enough about each to understand what their combined characteristics would be. Combined as 2 parts hydrogen and 1 part oxygen, H2O will extinguish fire. Separately, the elements are among the most flammable and explosive elements in the universe. The functions are exactly the reverse in their isolated state from their organically combined state. Similarly, vitamins function as biological mechanisms only when whole and complete, combined with their synergists, as in whole food. Isolated into synthetic chemicals, they fail as catalysts.
Categories of Supplements
The following is a summarization of the basic differences between the four categories of supplements available today.
Pure, Hypoallergenic or Natural
This is the most prevalent category of professional supplements available today. Contrary to popular belief, the vitamins and minerals used to create supplements in this category are not derived from consumable food or botanical sources. Instead, they are synthetically produced, fractionated or isolated from refined raw materials such as crushed rock, petroleum by-products and organic solvents to produce a pure, crystalline vitamin or mineral analogue. Although the final compound is an analogous structure to a specific vitamin or mineral, it is no longer attached or associated with any of the synergistic co-factors that the nutrient is inherently found within foods. As a result, pure vitamins and minerals have significantly reduced biological activity and a lower rate of utilization in the body.
Food-Based
This category of supplements is created from a physical mix of pure, fractionated nutrients with varying amounts of food powders or extracts. There are several different factors that need to be considered when determining the absolute nutritional value of a food-based formula. The primary factors that affect the quality of a food-based supplement are the amount, variance and form of the foods included in a particular formula. A premium food-base formula is one that provides a broad range of unadulterated whole food or plant concentrates (preferred over powders) in at least a 3:1 ratio of food to nutrients in a formula will significantly improve the bioavailability and biological activity of the vitamins and minerals. Delivering isolated vitamins and minerals in a premium food base is an energy-saving process, as the body will not waste vital energy stores to transform the vitamins and minerals into absorbable nutrients. Ascorbic acid is a good example of a chemically synthesized vitamin that has been vastly studied; it has demonstrated enhanced utilization when the nutrient is delivered with its natural co-factors, such as bioflavonoids, rutin and tyrosinase, which always co-exist with vitamin C in food. The utilization factor can be increased by as much as 3 to 5 times (from 10% for vitamins in the first category, to 3 - 50% for food-based).
To determine if a supplement has a food-base, review the label for chemical names, as well as a combination of food extracts or powders. To determine the ratio of nutrients to foods, add up the total milligrams of the listed nutrients and for the food extracts.
Biocultured Supplements
Biocultured supplements are a physical mix of food, pure isolated nutrients and may have one or more strains of yeast and/or probiotics. Once combined, this mixture is allowed to ferment in a controlled environment. The process of fermentation, also known as culturing, biologically alters the biochemistry and nutrient content of the food. Cultured foods have been shown to have numerous health benefits and have played a role in the diet of many cultures for centuries; however, the body cannot sustain optimal health on cultured foods alone. This is due to the loss of substances, nutrients or compounds that are protective of health, such as vitamin c. Depending on the strains used during the culturing process, the generation or inactivation of toxic substances may also occur. In addition, many proteins and enzymes are denatured during the culturing of biological activity of the nutrients.
Supplements that fall into this category will denote the foods on which the yeast and/or probiotics feed. Not all cultured supplements list the isolated vitamins and minerals used in a particular formula.
Whole-Food Supplements
Many companies tout that their supplements are made from whole-foods; however, there are only a few companies that actually can substantiate this claim. Authentic whole food supplements are made with vitamins and minerals delivered in whole-food concentrates. The food concentrates selected have been grown in a controlled environment where budding plants are fed a nourishing broth enriched with bioactive peptide carriers. The peptide carriers act as chaperones, which govern a vitamin’s or mineral’s capacity to store the nutrient within its cells is successfully achieved, the growing process is complete, and harvesting is commenced using proteolytic enzymes to break down the cells’ walls, and release the intra-cellular material.
The whole-food extract or concentrate produced is rich in a particular vitamin or mineral and is delivered in a synergistic state, with all of the plant’s inherent food attachments intact and unadulterated. These attachments are vital co-factors facilitating the body’s natural ability to recognize and utilize the nutrients present within the concentrate. Whole-food nutrients are recognized by the body as food, and therefore are better utilized and retained by the body when compared to any other supplemental form. Food is the complex form in which all nutrients are found in nature.
Supplements in this category will list the nutrient names--vitamin C, folate, calcium, etc.--and the mg. dosage of each, but they will not denote a fractionated chemical name. Nutrients as they exist in food cannot be listed as one identifiable organic compound in this way, for the reason that they always exist within an interconnected weave of parts, and never as one isolated element. Nutrients in a whole-food state will be listed with their food source in the supplement facts panel such as vitamin C (Citrus sinensis)
The Bioavailability Spectrum
Let's take a closer look at the bioavailability of supplements on a spectrum, from least bioavailable to most bioavailable. On the low end of the spectrum you would have an inexpensive, store bought, hard-packed tablet. Something brightly colored that you can't break with your fingers. Such supplements have many fillers and binders, including ingredients that can be found in wood putty and tar. You can't take these on an empty stomach, or else you'll get an upset stomach. These are difficult to digest and breakdown, and often times your body doesn't at all. And these have been known to have been passed whole! For that reason you can understand why they have a bioavailability of 0-25%. So, just as a reminder, when you look at the daily values of nutrients on the label of these products, your body is not getting those percentages of nutrition, but rather up to 25% tops.
Moving up the bioavailability spectrum we come to the capsule delivery system. They have no fillers or binders, and you usually have to take larger quantities of these because they are not very concentrated. The bioavailability is a little better, but still only 40-60%.
Getting higher up the bioavailability spectrum brings us to liquid supplements. These are better then the previous two in bioavailability and range between 80-90%, but many liquid herbs and oils do not taste very good.
Finally we arrive to isotonic-capable supplements. Isotonic supplements are the most bioavailable delivery of supplements and are up to 95% absorbable.
Isotonic-Capable Supplements
More on the science behind supplementation
Let's break down the word isotonic. "Iso" means "the same", and "tonic" means "pressure", so isotonic refers to a solution being the same pressure as the fluids of the body. For example, an IV is isotonic. It is the proper ratio of nutrients to water so that it can be seamlessly integrated into the blood stream. An isotonic capable supplement works similarly. It is the proper measurement of nutrients to water to create an isotonic capable solution. When it is taken on an empty stomach, it is recognized as the same pressure as the stomach. The pyloric valve is signaled to open, and the full concentration of nutrients is delivered to the small intestine (our absorption site) where it is up to 95% absorbable within 5-15 minutes of consumption.
It is important to note that not all liquids are isotonic capable, again it is a specific ratio of medicine or nutrients to water which makes it isotonic. Everything that you ingest and put into your stomach has to be digested down to an isotonic state before it is released to the small intestine. When you eat some food and take a standard pill or capsule vitamin, it all remains in your stomach digesting for anywhere from 40 minutes to 4 hours. At that point a certain amount of dilution of nutrients has taken place. Some low quality pills do not even break down due to harsh fillers and binders, but still pass to the small intestine where none of the content of the supplement can be absorbed. This is why the bioavailability of pills and capsules are so significantly lower than isotonic capable supplements.
Vitamin-A
Vitamin-A was the first fat-soluble vitamin to be discovered. In 1919, it was recognized that egg yolk contained a fat-soluble substance essential for life. In 1924, it was demonstrated that the eye disease, xerophthalmia, in children could be prevented by feeding them butter or cod liver oil. Vitamin-A was purified--separated from its natural constituents--and its refined chemical structure proposed in 1931. Synthesis, an artificial chemically-pure duplication, was accomplished in 1947 at Hoffman-LaRoche, a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland. Vitamin-A is actually a whole family of compounds, including retinol, retinal, retinoids, carotenes, and carotenoids, and always occurs in nature with synergists such as fatty acids, chlorophyll, other vitamins, enzymes, minerals, and trace elements. Retinol, retinal, and retinoids are found in foods of animal origin such as eggs, liver, fish, butter, and cheese.
The scientific term for vitamin-A is retinol, because of its presence in the retina of the eye. The role of retinol in vision was elucidated by a number of brilliant scientists, beginning in 1877 with a German, W. Kuhne, who discovered that the purple retinas from dark-adapted frogs turned yellow when exposed to light. The purple color is restored in a complex biochemical cycle involving vitamin-A, which makes vision possible. Other scientists demonstrated the role of vitamin A in cell differentiation, bone development, reproduction and immune system function. Dr. Weston Price confirmed the value of vitamin-A in traditional diets during his studies of primitive peoples carried out during the 1930s and 1940s. Due to the outstanding scientific work of these and many other researchers, the administration of cod liver oil to growing children--a tradition found among Arctic peoples such as the Scandinavians and Eskimos--became standard practice until after the Second World War.
In recent decades, much vitamin-A research has focused on its role in preventing cancer, and its use in combination with nontoxic therapies in the treatment of cancer. Dr. Max Gerson treated many cases of terminal cancer with excellent results, using raw liver juice, a rich source of vitamin-A. Modern confinement farming practices effectively prevent vitamin-A from incorporation into animal foods and the processing industry would rather use vegetable oils than animal fats. Some vegetable oils contain carotenes but they do not contain true vitamin-A. Only animal fats contain vitamin-A and vitamin-A is present in large amounts only when the animals have a source of carotenes or vitamin-A in the diet, such as green pasture, insects, and fish meal. Many popular books on nutrition insist that humans can obtain vitamin-A from fruits and vegetables. Even worse, FDA regulations allow food processors to label carotenes as vitamin-A. Vitamin-A from butter may be two or three times as potent, unit for unit, as vitamin-A from cod liver oil in some people.
The food industry, and the low-fat school of nutrition that the industry has spawned, benefit greatly from the fact that the public has only vague notions about vitamin-A. In fact, most of the foods that provide large amounts of vitamin-A--butter, egg yolks, liver, organ meats and shellfish--have been demonized. Under optimal conditions, humans can indeed convert carotenes to vitamin-A. This occurs in the upper intestinal tract by the action of bile salts and fat-splitting enzymes. Of the entire family of carotenes, beta-carotene is most easily converted to vitamin-A. The accepted ratio of how many units of beta-carotene is needed to produce one unit of vitamin-A is 6:1 and some research suggests an even higher ratio. This means that you have to eat an awful lot of vegetables and fruits to obtain even the daily minimal conversion. But the transformation of carotene to retinol is rarely optimal. Strenuous physical exercise, periods of physical growth, pregnancy, lactation and infection are stresses that quickly deplete vitamin-A stores.
Diabetics and those with poor thyroid function, which could include at least half the adult U.S. population, cannot make the conversion. In fact, the thyroid gland requires more vitamin-A than the other glands, and cannot function without it (mercury toxicity diminishes the thyroid and pituitary glands' functions). And a diet rich in vitamin-A will help protect the diabetic from the degenerative conditions associated with the disease, such as problems with the retina and with healing (mercury binds with the sulfur in insulin). Children make the conversion very poorly and infants not at all--they must obtain their precious stores of vitamin-A from animal fats--yet the low-fat diet is often recommended for children. Vitamin-A from animal sources (retinol) is primarily absorbed within three to five hours after ingestion in the upper intestinal tract; it is here that the fat-splitting enzymes and bile salts convert carotenes into usable nutrients, though conversion and assimilation takes up to six or seven hours. Carotenes are converted by the action of bile salts (mercury inhibits production of taurocholic acid, a bile salt) and very little bile reaches the intestine when a meal is low in fat. The conversion of carotenes is stimulated by thyroxine, a hormone secreted by the thyroid gland. Zinc, iron, and vitamin-E status also influences carotene conversion. Once converted, the carotenes are absorbed in the same way as retinol and allocated by the liver. Unabsorbed carotene is excreted in the feces.
Butterfat stimulates the secretion of bile needed to convert carotenes from vegetables into vitamin-A, and at the same time supplies very easily absorbed true vitamin-A. Polyunsaturated oils also stimulate the secretion of bile salts but can cause rapid destruction of carotene unless antioxidants are present. It is very unwise, therefore, to depend on plant sources for vitamin-A. This vital nutrient is needed for the growth and repair of body tissues; it helps protect mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, throat and lungs; it prompts the secretion of gastric juices necessary for proper digestion of protein; it helps to build strong bones and teeth and rich blood; it is essential for good eyesight; it aids in the production of RNA; and contributes to the health of the immune system. Strenuous physical exercise, excessive consumption of alcohol, excessive consumption of iron (especially from "fortified" white flour and breakfast cereal), use of a number of popular drugs, excessive consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids, zinc deficiency and even cold weather can hinder the conversion of carotenes to vitamin-A, as does the low-fat diet.
Natural vitamin-A provided by liver, eggs, butter, cream and cod liver oil is well recognized as providing excellent protection against birth defects. Vitamin-A deficiency in pregnant mothers results in offspring with eye defects, hydrocephalus, displaced kidneys, harelip, cleft palate and major malformations of the heart and large blood vessels. Vitamin-A stores are rapidly depleted during exercise, fever and periods of stress. Vitamin-A deficiencies are widespread and contribute to high infant mortality, blindness, stunting, bone deformities and susceptibility to infection. These occur even in communities that have access to plentiful carotenes in vegetables and fruits. It is required for cellular differentiation (determines the function that cells will have): this assures that the cells which are lost from natural turnover, stress, insult, injury, disease, etc. are reproduced in the exact same form as the ones being replaced. Growing children actually benefit from a diet that contains considerably more calories as fat than as protein. Generous amounts of vitamin-A insure healthy reproduction and offspring with attractive wide faces, straight teeth and strong sturdy bodies. This vitamin assists in normal pregnancy, embryonic development, successful reproduction, fertility, lactation (nursing), and reproductive organ function, spermatogenesis, to adrenal, thyroid, and other gland functions. Vitamin-A is important for normal eyesight; necessary for night vision. A high-fat diet that is rich in vitamin-A will result in steady, even growth, a sturdy physique and high immunity to illness. Vitamin-A-rich foods like liver, egg yolk, cream and shellfish confer resistance to infectious diseases in children and prevent cancer in adults.
Children with measles rapidly use up vitamin-A, which can result in irreversible blindness. An interval of three years between pregnancies, allows mothers to rebuild vitamin-A stores so that subsequent children will not suffer diminished vitality. Kwashiorkor is as much a disease of vitamin-A deficiency, leading to impaired protein absorption, as it is a result of absence of protein in the diet. High-protein, low-fat diets are especially dangerous because protein consumption rapidly depletes vitamin-A stores. Children brought up on high-protein, low-fat diets often experience rapid growth. The results--tall, myopic, lanky individuals with crowded teeth, and poor bone structure, are commonplace in America. High-protein, low-fat diets can even cause blindness. Scarcity of good quality raw dairy products, a rejection of organ meats as old fashioned or unhealthful, and a substitution of vegetable oil for animal fat in cooking all contribute to the physical degeneration and suffering of Third World peoples. Supplies of vitamin-A are so vital to the human organism that mankind is able to store large quantities of it in the liver and other organs. Even people who can efficiently convert carotenes to vitamin-A cannot quickly and adequately replenish vitamin-A stores from plant foods. Many factors interfere with its absorption and utilization. Inadequate fat in the diet, poor production of bile salts, low enzyme status, and compromised liver function can all interfere with the uptake and usage of vitamin-A, especially when given as a supplement in the form of retinol, rather than as a component of whole foods. One tablespoon of cod liver oil contains at least 15,000 IU and one serving of liver (should be from organically raised animals) can contain up to 40,000 IU vitamin-A. Foods high in vitamin-A are especially important for diabetics and those suffering from thyroid conditions. Weston Price considered the fat-soluble vitamins, especially vitamin-A, to be the catalysts on which all other biological processes depend. Efficient mineral uptake and utilization of water-soluble vitamins require sufficient vitamin-A in the diet.
Synthetic Vitamin-A
Synthetic vitamin-A interferes with the proper utilization of natural vitamin-A from foods. Pure retinol is added to many fabricated foods like margarine, white flour, extruded breakfast cereals and pizza. A synthetic retinoic acid derivative, isotretinoin (Accutane) is used to treat acne as well as psoriasis, cancer, and oral leukoplakia. Children whose mothers took Accutane during pregnancy were born with nervous system defects, brain damage, congenital heart disease, and more. Depression, crying spells, malaise, and forgetfulness are reported human symptoms. Inflammation of the lips (cheilitis) develops in 90% of the users; conjunctivitis develops in 40%. Muscle damage has also been added to the list. The synovial membranes in joints are supported by vitamin-A. The vitamin-A complex is supportive to the adrenal glands which produce cortisone and other needed hormones; and vitamin-A plays an important role in any inflammation and repair process. Vitamin-A is important to the external and internal mucous membrane tissues as well as to the immune system. However, synthetic retinoic acid metabolites do not reveal any specific supportive mechanism and results are not seen with synthetic, altered fractions.
The whole vitamin-A complex is known to be very functional, but when distilled or synthetic fractions are used, roles and results are questionable at best. Megadoses of synthetic vitamin-A can result in hypertrophy (excessive growth) of the liver and spleen, with elevation of AST (aspartate aminotransferase), a liver enzyme. Liver fibrosis (abnormal formation of fibrous tissue), fat deposition, obstruction of portal blood flow with portal hypertension (high blood pressure) and sclerosis (hardening) of the blood vessels have been found at liver biopsies. Excess synthetic vitamin-A is also associated with calcium deposits in soft tissues, contributes to attacks of gouty arthritis, hair loss, irregular menses, emotional lability, insomnia, restlessness, night sweats, and more. Vitamin-A is essential to spermatogenesis, the production of sperm in men, and it requires alcohol dehydrogenase, an enzyme to convert retinol to retinal. This enzyme may require the trace element, zinc, as well. Excessive doses of synthetic fractions of vitamin-A can convert to a compound that can be more damaging than a deficiency in its effect on the germinal epithelium of the testes. Vitamin-A is present in almost twice the amount in seminal fluid of highly fertile men compared with that of men deficient in sperm. Zinc increases vitamin-A uptake by the seminiferous tubules of the testes. Vitamin-A is bound to a protein, called retinol-binding protein. The necessity of enzymes, trace mineral activators, amino acids, and other constituents stresses the point that the whole food complex is important and effective whereas an isolated portion cannot produce the same results. Excessive fractionated "vitamins" A and E may produce testicular hemorrhaging. Zinc is required to maintain normal concentrations of vitamin-A in the blood plasma.
Diabetic persons tend to have decreased levels of zinc. Since a zinc deficiency may lead to difficulties mobilizing vitamin-A from the liver for use elsewhere in the body, vitamin-A deficiency will worsen the condition. Another essential constituent is fat, as vitamin-A occurs in foods with fatty acids and is a fat-soluble vitamin. It is absorbed much better when natural, unaltered fats are also present. Other fat-soluble vitamins occur with and work with whole vitamin-A complex such as vitamin E complex and essential fatty acids. When vitamin E is deficient, one develops low blood levels of vitamin-A; when vitamin E is restored to the diet, vitamin-A levels become normal. Yet, using chemically-pure fractions of "vitamins" A and E in large doses creates more problems, more imbalances. Fractionated alpha-tocopherol (so-called vitamin-E) can supplant vitamin A in the body, reducing its effectiveness. Administration of the whole food complex brings excellent responses. Stubborn cases of gastrointestinal irritation and even ulceration in the digestive tract that failed to respond to other treatments have totally resolved after use of real vitamin-A complex. Persons with cystitis (inflammation of the bladder) experience relief after a relatively short time taking food concentrates of Vitamin-A and other supportive nutritional complexes. Edema caused by liver pathology is another instance where vitamin-A complex is of particular value; the liver is the chief location of vitamin-A stores. Colds, chronic rhinitis, sinusitis, psoriasis, and many other conditions--especially those involving epithelial tissues--are responsive to the whole vitamin-A complex.
A new strategy that has been the development of and promotion of genetically engineering rice to produce carotenes. Golden rice containing carotenes can't provide true vitamin-A to the world's children but it will further the trend of pushing their parents off the farm and into ghastly slums. The most effective response that consumers have is to boycott processed foods!
Vitamin B-Complex
The B-COMPLEX factors naturally divide themselves into two groups. One group consists of the factors that are alcohol and water soluble. This includes B1, B12, Pantothenic Acid and Adenine, but the primary factor in this group is called Vitamin B4, an anti-paralysis vitamin. It is one that has not yet been recognized by the FDA as being necessary in human nutrition. They say it helps pigeons, but not people. So vitamin B4 is a nerve-promoting factor, it promotes the transmission of nerve impulses. This would be needed with heart conditions involving irregular heartbeat, fibrillation, or heart blocks. The B4 factor also causes vessels to constrict. It's very useful for people with low blood pressure--the person whose blood vessels are just hanging open, with no tone. The B4 puts strength in the vessels and snaps them into action by improving the transmission of nerve impulses to the vessels. For this reason, vitamin B would be contraindicated in cases of organic heart trouble, such as angina. Here you would need the G factor. The G factors are not soluble in absolute alcohol. Complex G contains the lipotropic factors that metabolize fat.
Complex-G contains B2, B3, B6, Choline, Betaine, Inositol, Folic Acid, Biotin and PABA, and is a vasodilator--it opens up the blood vessels by relaxing the nerves in the vessels. So complex G is for a person with high blood pressurethe tense, coronary type person. It is important to have these factors separated and useable either by themselves or together. This benefit is not achieved with megadoses of synthetic so-called Vitamin-B. Today, the average practitioner of the medical arts, if sufficiently brain washed by the medical-drug-food-dairy-chemical combine of disinformation, cannot conceive that any person could suffer from B-complex deficiency. Even if they know that refining and processing of food, chemical fertilizers and food additives, all diminish vitamin content and nutrient quality. Because these "foods" are "enriched" with synthetic vitamins. University biochemists and leading health authorities parrot the phrase: "There is no difference between natural and synthetic vitamins." Below are diagrams of the structural formulae of NATURAL vitamin B1 (left) and synthetic B1 (right). Show any high-school chemistry student with a passing grade the diagrams and tell them they are the same, and that the body does not know the difference. They will laugh in your face. Yet, leading nutritionists from the university fountainheads of knowledge will tell you: "there is no difference."
Thiamine is one of two vitamins in the body that contains a sulfur entity; the other is biotin. The high binding affinity that mercury has for the sulfur-containing molecules (thiols & disulfides) gives it the biochemical potential to affect the functions of this critical vitamin and affect critical energy processes in the body. Not only does thiamine have a sulfur atom in its structure to start with, but its involvement as a coenzyme in critical biochemical processes is connected through transfers involving sulfur molecules. Out of about two-dozen substances produced by the metabolism of thiamine in the body and excreted in the urine, science has only identified the function of six of them thus far. There is a lot going on metabolically with vitamin B1, that mercury can affect, that haven't even been considered as potential problems because the complete biochemical function of the vitamin has not been identified.
Thiamine is involved in many enzyme reactions in the body. As a coenzyme, B1 is involved in the intermediary metabolism of carbohydrates in all cells of the body. For natural vitamin B1 to perform as a coenzyme, it must be phosphorylated or combined with two molecules of phosphoric acid. As such, it then functions as thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP). In the biochemically active form, it is also called diphosphothiamine (DPT). Better textbooks of biochemistry use the TPP designation as preferable. Early symptoms of thiamine deficiency, are intriguingly similar to mercury toxicity and are non-specific and hard to pinpoint: fatigue, anorexia, weight loss, gradual loss of muscle strength, peripheral neuritis (numness or increased sensitivity, tingling in the extremities, loss of reflexes), irritability, confusion, depression, lack of initiative, poor memory, gastrointestinal problems (including constipation), and low body temperature. Cardiovascular symptoms can include edema of the ankles, feet and legs, palpitation, tachycardia, abnormal electrocardiograms, decreased blood pressure, and difficulty in breathing after exertion. Thiamine participates in the metabolism of tryptophan to form nicotinic acid. Because of this, a deficiency of thiamine can cause a deficiency of vitamin B6, which is also required in the metabolic pathway of tryptophan. Thiamine is a cofactor in steroid hydroxylation, fatty acid synthesis, and glucose metabolism in the pentose phosphate cycle, which is another energy system. Mercury inhibits glucose-6-phosphatase, a key enzyme in the glucose cycle. The proportion of glucose metabolized by this route is high in the lactating mammary gland, the adrenal cortex, leukocytes and erythrocytes. Each one of the mentioned also are affected by mercury in ways other than glucose metabolism. Not only mercury, but arsenic and lead impact on the biochemical pathways of these vitamins and minerals. If a person is deficient in thiamine or B1, most likely they are also lacking in all members of the B-complex.
From many reliable textbooks such as Biochemistry, White, Handler, Smith and Stetton; Medical Physiology, Guyton; Nutritional Handbook, Mellon Foundation; Textbook Of Medicine, Cecil; and Rehabilitation Through Better Nutrition, Tom Spies, M.D.; we find an abundance of information relative to B-complex deficiency.
Symptoms include:
1 weakness and fatigue, insomnia,
abnormal fears
5 neuralgia to neuritis, forgetfulness,
and anxiety
2 indigestion (hypochlorhydria),
dizziness, rage
6 muscular soreness, vague fears, apprehension
3 decreased appetite, nervousness,
and hostility
7 headache, uneasiness
4 craving for sweets, instability, depression
Vitamin B deficiency leads to heart block and a remarkably slow pulse... Vitamin B deficiency is known to produce a loss of appetite through its effect of causing a loss of tone of the stomach muscles. This loss of tone also may affect the heart and muscular walls of the arterioles--resulting in heart weakness and edema, respectively. Albert L. Lehninger, in Principles Of Biochemistry, teaches that while muscle cells can oxidize fats for prolonged energy demand and sugar (glucose) for immediate energy...the brain cell has only one CURRENCY FOR ENERGY, and that is glucose. Thus, under stress, exaggerated mental activity requires additional glucose for the brain cell to function. Not only must the brain cell have extra glucose to cope with stress, the cytoplasm and mitochondria of brain cells (neurons), must have all of the members of the B-complex in their biologically-active-form the coenzymes required for anaerobic and aerobic glycolysis. Minerals and trace elements must also be available optimally. Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium, Manganese and Calcium play important roles in the conversion of sugar into energy, within all cells of the body. Being deficient in the B-complex factors, one cannot properly convert sugar or glucose to pyruvic acid for the anaerobic glycolytic pathway of sugar metabolism in the cell cytoplasm. Without B1, pyruvic acid cannot be converted to coenzyme A and enter the mitochondria to participate in the citric acid cycle and form ATP. As a result, pyruvic acid accumulates in nervous tissue and piles up on nerve endings causing irritation. Then the cells signal for help.
The adrenal medula comes to the rescue, increases its function and hormone output...and, as a result, provides the mechanism and the stimulus for producing muscle and brain energy by gluconeogenesis. As long as adrenal hormone output is sufficient, one can survive all the symptoms of B-complex deficiency. The adrenal glands need protein, minerals and vitamin C (not ascorbic acid), especially tyrosinase (organic copper), to produce catecholamines. Without that extra energy, the person will flee, or cry, or hide. Emotionally they usually hide or separate from reality...the classical nervous breakdown, or nervous exhaustion. When this inevitable point is near at hand, the person not only needs total nutritional support, but also adrenal support. Besides those nutrients mentioned in the glycolytic phase, the Krebs energy cycle uses B3 five times, B1 two times, Pantothenic acid two times and Biotin three times. Biotin, normally synthesized in the intestines, is needed to transport CO2 from the cells into the circulation. Heavy metal toxicity blocks Biotin function, while antibiotics and chlorine in water, stop or restrict Biotin production in the intestinal tract. In the anaerobic phase of glycolysis, Fluoride blocks the very important enolase reaction, which impairs glucose metabolism. B2, Riboflavin or "G" combines with several enzymes and enzyme systems forming many flavo-proteins. It is present in retinal pigment contributing to visual acuity. Deficiency signs and symptoms include:
1 Corneal vascularization (red eye) 8 Myelin degeneration
2 Corneal cloudiness and ulceration 9 Incoordination
3 Cataracts 10 Loss of strength in arms and legs
4 Photophobia
(burning and itching of eyes)
11 Central neuritis
5 Abnormal pigmentation of iris 12 Fissures at corners of the mouth
6 Stomatitis with lesions 13 Scaliness and greasiness at nose & ears
7 Glossitis 14 Impaired red blood cell formation
B3, or Niacinamide. The acid niacin or nicotinic acid as found in plants is a vasodilator...the amide form as found in animals is not. B3 deficiency signs
1 Erythematous cutaneous lesions
aggravated by sunlight
10 Failing vision
2 Anorexia, nausea and vomiting 11 Excessive salivation
3 Dilation of blood vessels
(aggravated by Niacin)
12 Burning hands and feet
4 Epithelial atrophy of tongue 13 Pain in calves
5 Headaches, dizziness, insomnia,
depression, impaired memory
14 Numbness and weakness
of extremities
6 Enteritis to ulcers 15 Difficulty in walking
7 Fatty infiltration of liver 16 Absent knee jerk
8 Watery to bloody stools 17 Psychoneurosis to stupor or mania
9 Myelin degeneration
(motor and sensory)
B6, or pyridoxine as a pyridoxal-5-phosphate, functions as a coenzyme in the metabolism of amino acids, fats and fatty acids. Transports amino acids and potassium into cells. Deficiency signs and symptoms include:
1 Seborrheic dermatitis around eyes,
eyebrows and angles of mouth
5 Lethargy and mental confusion
2 Glossitis and conjunctivitis 6 Decreased lymphocytes
3 Severe sensory neuritis
(a.) Numbness and tingling in hands & feet
(b.) Hyperesthesia
7 Increased Eosinophils
4 Anorexia, nausea, and vomiting 8 Elevated B.U.N. (Blood Urea Nitrogen)
Folic Acid
Folic acid deficiency is one fo the most common vitamin deficiencies. Many of the symptoms are similar to those of B12 deficiency. As much as 100% may be lost if foods are improperly stored, cooking water is discarded, or foods are reheated or overcooked. Many medications, including aspirin and anticonvulsants, may also interfere with folacin absorption and metabolism, further decreasing its availability. Folic acid is involved in the metabolism of pantothentic acid and is required for its utilization. It is through this participation that it is involved in antibody production of the immune system. Folic acid also has a relationship with other vitamins including vitamin C and E. In the body, folic acid is rapidly converted to the biologically active form tetrahydrofolic acid (THFA) in the presence of NADPH (niacin's coenzyme form) and ascorbic acid. In conjunction with vitamin B12, THFA participates in amino acid conversions and the methylation of choline, methionine, serine, and histidine. Folates carry out their metabolic function as a carrier of one-carbon units in the tetra-hydro form. It is this capability to accept one-carbon units, which synthesize various coenzymes, that makes folates so important and involves them in so many metabolic functions. The liver actively reduces and methylates folates which are then transported into the bile for reabsorption by the gut and subsequent delivery to the tissues. This important pathway provides as much as 200 micrograms or more of folate each day for recirculation to tissues. The folates are a family of coenzymes that function in association with their respective enzymes to accomplish many intracellular metabolic functions. Methyl-THFA is required as the methyl donor in the conversion of homocysteine to methionine (methyl methionine).
This reaction utilizes vitamin B12 as a cofactor and also requires vitamin B6. Folates are also involved in the conversion of the amino acid serine to glycine, and histidine to glutamic acid. It is also necessary in the synthesis of glucose, and DNA. Folic acid and vitamin B12 are both involved in synthesizing DNA. In megaloblastic anemia (folate deficiency), certain steps in this vital process of DNA synthesis are reduced, causing an arresting of the synthesis of red blood cell replicaiton. The form of folacin most commonly found in the liver and serum is methyl-THFA. Methyl-THFA can only recycle through a B12-dependent pathway. If a B12 deficiency exists, folic acid is trapped as methyl-THFA and is useless to the body. A deficiency of either vitamin B12 or folic acid will result in identical hematological symptoms. A vitamin B12 deficiency impairs the conversion of homocysteine to methionine. The enzyme methionine synthetase requires vitamin B12. Therefore, failure of methionine synthesis leads to inadequate formulation of THFA. Methionine deficiency has been equated with B12 deficiency. The phagocytic function of polymorphonuclear leucocytes (PMNs), and to a lesser degree bactericidal function, are adversely affected by folic acid deprivation. Folic acid requirements increase during pregnancy, and low tissue-folate levels are a predisposing factor in the bacteriuria (bacteria in the urine) of pregnancy. There is great potential for mercury and lead to be involved in folate deficiency. The involvement of chronic inhalation of mercury vapor from mercury amalgam dental fillings can be an etiological factor in thyroid dysfunction involving folic acid, B12, and thyroxine production.
Pantothenic Acid
The physiological active form of pantothenic acid is coenzyme A, which is required for many different enzymatic actions. It is at the center of energy metabolism and fat, acetylcholine, and antibody synthesis. Coenzyme A, which is synthesized from pantothenic acid, is abbreviated as CoA or CoA-SH, and functions as a transient carrier and a cofactor for a variety of enzyme-catalyzed reactions involving the transfer of acetyl (two carbon) groups. The CoA-SH designation reflects the fact that the coenzyme A molecule has a reactive thiol (-SH) group, to which acyl-groups become covalently linked to form thioesters during acyl-group transfer reactions.
All known acyl derivatives of CoA and related pantetheine derivatives are thiol esters. Because of these derivatives, CoA is involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, protein, and porphyrin. It is also involved in the synthesis of fatty acids, cholesterol, citrate, acetoacetate, and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Pantothenic acid is an essential component of the brain and must enter the brain and cerebrospinal fluid from the blood. In the brain, as part of CoA, pantothenic acid is involved in many important reactions. Symptoms identified with pantothenic acid deficiency such as fatigue, headache, insomnia, nausea, abdominal cramps, occasional vomiting, paresthesias of the hands and feet (burning foot syndrome), muscle cramps, and impaired coordination. Pantothenic acid is required for the synthesis of cholesterol precursors for sterol hormones in the adrenal cortex, and a pantothenic deficiency can produce cortical necrosis. Conversely, pantothenic acid stimulates the adrenal glands and increases production of adrenal hormones. Mercury can inhibit production of adrenal hormones and cause adrenal over-growth. Mercury causes a direct defect in adrenal steroid biosynthesis with physiological consequences being lowered plasma levels of corticosterone and elevated concentrations of progesterone and dehydroepiandrosterone, all abnormal steroid hormone profiles. Mercury's affinity for thiols, sulfhydryl groups and the sulfur molecule, wherever they are biochemically available in the body, gives it the potential to affect countless metabolic functions. Symptoms produced by a pantothenic deficiency are all also documented as effects produced by mercury toxicity.
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)
Vitamin B6 participates in the metabolism of protein, carbohydrates, and lipids, and is a coenzyme constituent in the formation of erythrocytes and in amino acid metabolism. The conversion of methionine to cysteine is dependent on vitamin B6. The three forms of vitamin B6 that occur in foods are pyridoxine, pyridoxal phosphate, and pyridoxamine phosphate. The physiologically active forms of vitamin B6 are pyridoxal phosphate and pyridoxamine phosphate. All three forms are converted in the body to pyridoxal phosphate. Pyridoxal phosphate is involved with a number of enzymes in catalyzing reactions of amino acids. The most common of these are called transaminations, in which an amino group is transferred to a carbon atom. In these reactions, pyridoxal phosphate serves as a transient carrier of the amino group from its donor to the amino group acceptor. The derivative of this intermediate action is pyridoxamine phosphate which then donates its amino group to the carbon atom of alpha-keto acid, after which it reverts to its pyridoxal phosphate form. In the biochemical reactions related to the conversion of methionine to cysteine, there is a need to transfer a sulfur component, and an amino component, which would make the process doubly vulnerable to mercury because its highest binding affinity is for the sulfhydryl group and then the amino group. Further, mercury can bind to phosphate groups, which gives it a total of three possible mechanisms to affect the metabolism of pyridoxal phosphate, the biologically active form of vitamin B6.
One of the functions of vitamin B6 is called transsulfuration. This is the process whereby one sulfur molecule can replace another and represents an important biochemical function for utilization of sulfur. When pyridoxine is deficient in the body, methionine metabolism is altered. The pancreas is very active in transsulfuration and is known to have a rapid uptake of methionine, because of this, mercury can be involved in pancreatic dysfunction. Cystathionine is a major constituent of the pool of free amino acids in the brain. This fact raises the question of neurochemical involvement. Although vitamin B6 is not synthesized in the brain, it readily enters the cerebral spinal fluid and brain from the plasma. Once within the CSF, B6 can enter brain cells. The holoenzyme needed to convert cystathionine to cysteine contains B6 in its pyridoxal phosphate form. It is relatively easy to deplete brain B6. Any substance that impedes or inhibits the metabolic functions of vitamin B6 in humans could have some very serious consequences. Symptoms of vitamin B6 deficiency, like those of micromercurialism, can be nonspecific and hard to pinpoint. They include weakness, mental confusion, irritability and nervousness, insomnia, poor coordination in walking, hyperactivity, convulsions, abnormal electroencephalogram, declining blood lymphocytes and white blood cells, anemia, and skin lesions. Mercury has the biochemical capability of reducing the availability of, or inhibiting the function of vitamin B6. There is a positive correlation between brain mercury levels and the numbers and surfaces of amalgam fillings.
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B12 has the most complex structure of all vitamins and is also unique in that it is the only vitamin containing a metal ion. Cobalamin is the generic name of the vitamin because of the presence of the metal ion cobalt in its structure. Vitamin B12 was isolated in 1948. Merck and Company is the holder of various patents of procedures for producing synthetic B12 and owns the product claim. B12 functions primarily as an essential coenzyme for the normal metabolism of all cells, including those of the gastrointestinal tract, bone marrow, and nervous tissue. It is also a coenzyme in the synthesis of red blood cells and in the maintenance of nerve cells, and is involved with protein, lipid and nucleic acid synthesis. It is considered necessary for growth. The coenzyme of vitamin B12 is a carrier of methyl groups and hydrogen and is necessary for protein, fat, and carbohydrate metabolism. Coenzyme B12, methylcobalamin, functions as a methyl-group donor to form methionine from homocysteine. Vitamin B12 coenzyme deoxyadenosylcobalamin functions in the conversion of methylmalonic acid to succinic acid. Methionine and B12 coordinate in the regulation of folate metabolism. A deficiency of either vitamin results in defective synthesis of DNA in any cell that attempts chromosomal replication and division.
Chronic mercury inhalation from mercury amalgam dental fillings, with its great affinity to bind to methionine and cysteine has the potential to decrease the availability of these amino acids and affect the metabolism of both vitamin B12 and folate in man. Methionine is needed in choline synthesis, which means that vitamin B12 plays a secondary role in this lipid pathway. A choline deficiency that causes fatty liver can be prevented by vitamin B12 or the other methyl donors--betaine, methionine, and folic acid. Impaired fatty acid synthesis, observed in vitamin B12 deficiency conditions, can result in impairment of brain and nerve tissue. The insulation around nerve cells, the myelin sheath, is misformed in vitamin B12 deficiency, contributing to faulty nerve transmission.
Neurological disturbances result from prolonged vitamin B12 deficiency. Inorganic mercury inhibits outgrowth of nerve fibers and the development of glial cells, and also depresses the outgrowth of fibroblasts. Methyl-B12 is able to inhibit the neurotoxic effects of organic mercury but not those caused by inorganic mercury. Mercury vapor released from dental amalgam fillings is inorganic mercury. Very low concentrations of mercury and arsenic are able to inhibit nerve outgrowth, and lead directly interferes with the process of myelination. Proper DNA replication is dependent on the function of coenzyme vitamin B12 as a methyl-group carrier. Methyl-B12 may play an important role in immune regulation. Methyl-B12 is able to enhance the activity of helper T-cells for immunoglobulin synthesis of B cells. The presence of methyl-B12 significantly potentiates the induction of suppressor cells. Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) are white blood cells that function in a phagocytic capacity (capable of destroying foreign substances). Low levels of mercury inhibit the metabolic reaction called respiratory burst in human PMNs. Mercury acts as an interference to normal biological functions involving the formation and/or function of sulfur containing proteins in cells, enzymes, and hormones. Biological damage will occur long before the appearance of any clinically observable signs and symptoms of mercurialism. Known causes of B12 malabsorption are a lack of intrinsic factor and hydrochloric acid in the stomach, the removal or disease of the second portion of the ileum, and competition for B12 by microorganisms or parasites.
There is far more unknown than known about B12 and its metabolism in the body. There are several vegetarian food sources of B12. While these sources may not be constant, it appears that they occur with sufficient frequency to supply the minute quantities of B12 that are needed by those who are not abusing their health. These include: wheat, soybeans, various common greens, olives, fruits, and many other foods that occasionally have B12 either in or on the food. Vitamin B12 has been found in roots and stems of tomatoes, cabbage, celery, kale, broccoli and leeks. It has been found in the leaves of kohlrabi. Seaweed and alfalfa contain B12 also. It is difficult to avoid vitamin B12. A further source of B12 is bacterial growth in the mouth (around the teeth and gums), in the nasopharynx, around the tonsils and tonsillar crypts, in the folds at the base of the tongue, and in the upper bronchial tree. Up to 0.5 micorograms daily can be obtained from this source. It's likely that this source alone will supply sufficient quantities of B12 for the small requirement that a pure vegetarian has, especially considering his low protein intake, which further reduces the need for B12. It has also been shown that some bacteria, which may colonize the small intestine of man, can synthesize considerable amounts of biologically active forms of the vitamin. The terminal ileum is principally involved in absorbing B12. Since bacteria can form B12 above the terminal ileum, and since intrinsic factor, which is needed for most rapid absorption, is found in the ileum, there can be adequate absorption of vitamin B12 produced from these bacteria in the ileum in healthy people.
Individuals taking conventional diets need only about 0.1 micrograms of B12 per day even though conventional diets contain excess fat, animal protein and refined foods all of which increase the need for B12. True vegetarians require only 0.05 micrograms of B12 daily. An ounce of the roots of leeks, beets and other vegetables will provide 0.1 to 0.3 mcg. of B1, more than a day's supply. The routine use of vitamin B12 is not advised. Cases of increased cancer production in animals receiving high levels of B12 have been published. A group of French investigators reported a series of cases suggesting that B12 may stimulate multiplication of cancer cells and aggravate the disease. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis present serum B12 levels significantly higher than normal subjects. It is also known to be higher in patients with ulcerative colitis, leukemia and other serious illnesses. Breast-fed infants get only a tiny fraction of a microgram of B12 per day, even if their mothers are on a high intake. Yet, they can build neurological tissue, convert their hemoglobin from F to A type, and do other complex functions dependent on B12. Iron deficiency interferes with absorption of B12. Large doses of vitamin B1 can also destroy vitamin B12, as can the use of oral contraceptives. Lactose intolerance may increase B12 needs.
Vitamin C Complex
Another danger inherent to crystalline-pure, megavitamin usage is the consumption of ascorbic acid--the so-called vitamin C that is recklessly prescribed by the "pseudo-nutritional pharmacologists" (Physicians, Nurses, Nutrition consultants, registered dieticians, health food store employees, etc.), who have little, if any, realistic training in this most important field. Ascorbic acid is not vitamin C! Ascorbic acid is a fraction of the biologically utilizable Vitamin C complex. Most all ascorbic acid sold is synthetically produced from corn sugar and even though it is synthetically manufactured, it is called "natural" and "organic" because corn is found in nature. Technically, anything with a carbon atom can be called "organic." The terms natural and organic are totally meaningless. This article alerts the general public to the fact that as little as 1,500 milligrams of ASCORBIC ACID, taken daily, depletes blood copper, leading to serious health problems. You jeopardize your important "fight or flight" (stress) response by depletion of copper. Just 500 mg. of ascorbic acid with 3 meals can do just that. The late Dr. Albert Szent Giorgi in America officially discovered Vitamin C in 1937. Dr. Giorgi, who received the Nobel Prize for his vitamin C work, stated that with just isolated ascorbic acid, he had not found the active anti-scurvy factor of the C-complex. "Ascorbic" means "anti-scurvy." The symptoms of clinical scurvy include swollen joints, muscular aches, bone pain, edema, weakness, fatigue, anemia, loose teeth, hyperkeratosis, impaired wound healing. Behavioral changes may include apathy, depression, and emotinal disturbances, weakening of the walls of blood vessels such as swollen and bleeding gums, ocular hemorrhages, bruising, and varicosities of small blood vessels which are seen under the tongue. Subclinical vitamin C deficiency may exist in a large segment of the population, and can lead to impaired health and increased susceptibility to other diseases. Ascorbic acid therefore is incorrectly named. With isolated ascorbic acid (from Hungarian red pepper), he could not stop the capillary hemorrhaging, so characteristic of scurvy, that he could reliably influence with the C-complex. He went back to the laboratory and discovered vitamin P, the rutin factor of the C-complex, which exists more in buckwheat (grain and leaf) than in citrus.
The P-factor of the C-complex gives capillary and blood vessel wall strength, the J-factors, increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. The known physiological functions of vitamin C are synthesis of polysaccharides and collagen; formation of cartilage, dentin, bone, and teeth; antioxidant; absorption of iron; cold tolerance; maintenance of the adrenal cortex; metabolism of tryptophan, phenylalanine, and tyrosine; growth; wound healing; and maintenance of capillaries. Vitamin C is directly involved in proline and lysine hydroxylation; carnitine synthesis; dopamine hydroxylation; drug and cholesterol breakdown; sulphation; lymphocyte and neutrophil function; and folate reduction. Vitamin C has a protective effect against mercury poisoning. For many years, mercury diuretics were used extensively by the medical profession. The toxicity of these mercurial diuretics could be reduced if the patient was given vitamin C prior to or simultaneously with the mercurial diuretic. When vitamin C is metabolized, part of it is metabolized to vitamin C-sulphate, with the sulphate being derived from sulphur-containing amino acids such as cysteine. Vitamin C competes with certain drugs for sulphate conjugation, which could affect the pharmacological activity and toxicity of drugs. Mercury competes actively for the sulphur-containing amino acids cysteine and methionine, as well as the cysteine molecule of the tripeptide glutathione. Anyone with amalgam fillings should routinely eat a diet rich in sulphur-containing foods to offset the depletion of cysteine and methionine caused by the inhalation of mercury vapor being continually released from amalgam fillings. The problem of cysteine depletion is further aggravated by the presence of mercury, lead, arsenic, and cadmium, because they are all thiol sensitive.
Mercury is also known to inhibit collagen synthesis. The synthesis of collagen is impaired in vitamin C deficiency, due to lowered ability to hydroxylate lysine and proline. The reducing agent in the hydroxylation of both lysine and proline is the reduced form of vitamin C. Consequently, in vitamin C deficiency, the amount of effective collagen fiber present in connective tissue is reduced. In severely scorbutic patients, swelling, hemorrhages, and secondary bacterial infections of the gingival margins are common. It is not the actual deficiency of vitamin C that causes the inflammation, but the lack of real vitamin C, impairing the normal defensive responses of the mucous membranes. Thus, the massive gingival enlargement so characteristic of scurvy results from the combined effects of lack of vitamin C and nonspecific inflammation. The adrenal glands are one of the target glands of mercury deposition. They also contain the body's second highest tissue levels of vitamin C. The physical response to stress is an increased secretion of the hormones of the adrenal glands. Physical and mental stress increases adrenal activity which, in turn, depletes vitamin C from the gland. Humans replenish the adrenal stores of vitamin C by taking it from other stores in the body. If tissue values of vitamin C are low, there may be an insufficient amount available to replenish or satisfy the requirements of the adrenals. Thiol groups have a direct role in the preservation of tissue vitamin C and its reduced form, and any decrease in the biological reducing capacity of tissue thiols will result in lower levels of tisssue vitamin C. Under these conditions, normal adrenal hormone response may become inadequate. Prolonged exposures to low mercury concentrations depress the adrenal vitamin C content. The person with amalgam dental fillings who is being exposed to chronic intakes of mercury vapor is subjecting the adrenals to depletion by chemical stress. One function of the liver tissue is to reduce dehydroascorbic acid to ascorbic acid. This ability guarantees the preservation of the body's vitamin C reserves, so necessary to normal function.
The body doesn't want ascorbic acid per se; it wants the C-complex being preserved by ascorbic acid. Once in the body, the body sheds the ascorbic acid, the preservative wrapper, the way you shed the peel of an orange; takes the rest of the C-complex and places it as the lance of the lymphocyte; and kills bacteria with it. A lymphocyte unarmed with C complex will fail in its function, it will be impotent, it won't be able to destroy infectious organisms. Lymphocyte potency is dependent on copper, the core trace mineral of the tyrosinase enzyme. The reason one gets any relief from taking ascorbic acid is that ascorbic acid lowers the pH to the acid side of the pH scale. It acidifies the body, creating an unfavorable medium of growth for pathogenic bacteria. Acting in this way, ascorbic acid is not producing a "vitamin effect" but rather an "acidifying effect." Most infectious pathogenic bacteria thrive in an alkaline pH. The following bacteria, all well-known enemies of modern science's war on bacterial infection, grew optimally on alkaline media of pH 7.4 and above: staphylococcus (staph infection), streptococcus (strep throat), pneumococcus (pneumonia), h. influenza (the flu), meningococcus (meningitis), corymbacterium diptheria (diptheria), clostridium tetani (tetanus), and others.
Apple cider vinegar is 5% malic acid, a natural colorless crystalline acid normally found in the body. It can be taken with water during meals, and is much less expensive than ascorbic acid and does a better job in lower doses at acidifying the body, without causing rebound deficiencies as ascorbic acid does. Ascorbic acid has long been recognized as a contributing factor in tyrosine (copper) depletion. Tyrosinase is absolutely essential in the biosynthesis of catecholamines. The adrenal medulla supplies the catecholamines, epinephrine and norepinephrine which are biosynthesized from phenylalanine being oxidized to tyrosine, to dopa (dihydroxyphenylalanine), dopa is transformed first into dopamine and then into norepinephrine with the enzyme tyrosinase catalyzing the intermediate reaction. Other functions of organic copper include: vascular integrity, purine excretion, hemoglobin stability, gas exchange, digestive enzymes, myelin maintenance, visual accommodation, fertility, adrenal hormone synthesis, and connective tissue integrity.
In the book New Dynamics Of Preventive Medicine, 1974, Dr. Linus Pauling is quoted as saying: "What is called rosehips vitamin C is the same pure crystalline ascorbic acid with a pinch of rose hips powder added. It is almost impossible to buy ascorbic acid from a natural source." He continues, "The rose hip and ascerolebarus ascorbic acid is from the same barrel at Hoffman-LaRoche, as the others, but with a pinch of rose hip powder." That's straight from the horse's mouth. Red blood cells lose their copper, called erythrocuprein, to vitamin C megadoses. Organic copper plays an important role in hematopoiesis, the development of red blood cells. Copper depletion contributes to microcytic anemia similar to that caused by iron deficiency. With inadequate copper in the cell, there is a distinct decrease in red blood cell survival time. Ascorbic acid depletion of copper results in tissue loss of catalase and cytochrome C, the latter being essential to the incorporation of iron into hemoglobin.
The former, catalase, is an enzyme that cooperates with SOD in the removal of free oxygen radicals from cellular metabolism. The Biomedical Nitty Gritty, Vol. 3, No. 7, Sept/Oct 1982, provides authoritative research information which established that ascorbic acid provokes diabetes mellitus and experimental data showing how ascorbic acid damages the beta-cells of the pancreas...the source of Insulin. "Dehydroascorbic acid, a metabolite of ascorbic acid, is diabetogenic" reports the Annals of Clinical Biochemistry, Volume 19, March 1982. That means the metabolized ascorbic acid (so-called vitamin C) has been shown to contribute to the development of diabetes. The article presents 31 referenced studies about phony vitamin C and damaged sugar metabolism with #1 being: Patterson, J. W., The Diabetogenic Effect Of Dehydroascorbic Acid And Dehydroisoascorbic Acid. J.Biol. Chem., 183:81-8. Ascorbic acid is a 6-carbon sugar (hexose) and the article relates that given to rats, the result was degranulation of the pancreatic beta-cells...the source if insulin. (J. Pharmacol. Exp. Therapy., 185:713-8). Other research presented showed that ascorbic acid, regularly ingested, aggravates a deficiency of vitamin K which can lead to hemorrhagic disease. In one study, high doses of ascorbic acid caused an increase in blood sugar in rats that persisted for three weeks.
Excess quantities of so-called vitamin C can reduce the pH of the urine to as low as 4.0, and cause the precipitation of large quantities of urates, increasing incidence of kidney stones. It appears that excessive doses of ascorbic acid interfere with purine metabolism, increasing the risk of gout. There is some evidence that high doses of ascorbic acid reduce fertility in some women. Large doses of ascorbic acid and vitamin E are undesirable as they may reduce availability of vitamin A. Ascorbic acid increases intestinal peristalsis and may produce diarrhea. This laxative action, along with its acidifying effect, may be the only benefit ascorbic acid has against a cold. High doses of so-called vitamin C, as popularly used in home remedies for the common cold, destroy substantial amounts of vitamin B12. Ascorbic acid in quantities in excess of a half a gram will destroy 50% to 95% of B12 content in food. Megadoses of phony vitamin C may produce B12 deficiency by destroying the cobalamins during transport through the digestive tract, and possibly also in the tissues. No further discussion should be needed to establish the lack of wisdom leading to taking or prescribing ascorbic acid.
Vitamin E
The chemical name for vitamin E is tocopherol, which is derived from the Greek tokos (childbirth) and pherin (to bear). The ending ol is the chemical suffix to denote an alcohol. The name tocopherol was bestowed on this vitamin in 1938. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin, as are vitamins A, D, and K. Fat-soluble vitamins can be stored in the body whereas water-solubles cannot. Fat-soluble vitamins are excreted chiefly by the fecal pathway versus the urinary pathway for the water-soluble vitamins. They are absorbed along with dietary fats, and conditions of extremely low fat intake or impaired uptake of fats will also interfere with their absorption. Antibiotics and certain other drugs, as well as certain disease states such as malabsorption syndromes, decrease the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins from the intestinal tract. One of the primary biological functions of vitamin E relates to its role as an antioxidant. Vitamin E's antioxidant ability is enhanced by selenium. This synergistic effect preserves membranes from destruction by oxidation products and especially retards breakdown (hemolysis) of red blood cells. Vitamin E can reduce the toxic effects of mercury. Vitamin E is able to reduce the chromosomal breakage caused by mercury. Vitamin E also has sulfhydryl-protective activity. When vitamin E is involved in reducing the toxic effects of mercury, there is less available for normal metabolic functions. Vitamin E protects the enzymes G6P, G6PD, GSH-Px and glutathione reductase from auto-oxidative damage and at the same time protects the biological supply of glutathione. The presence of mercury in combination with a vitamin E deficiency has the potential of producing toxic reactions in the body. The primary lymphoid organs are major targets of selenium and vitamin E dietary deficiencies, contributing to impaired immune function. Vitamin E is not a cofactor, such as the trace elements manganese, copper, zinc, and selenium, it is an independent antioxidant that has its main effect in the lipid phase of the cell, protecting the membrane from auto-oxidative damage. A distinguishing feature of cystic fibrosis is fat malabsorption. Cystic fibrosis patients usually have a deficiency of vitamin E. Patients with G6PD deficiency have less capacity to generate reduced glutathione, and their red blood cells have a greatly reduced half-life. Vitamin E supplementaton can decrease the level of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia due to G6PD deficiency. Mercury inhibits G6PD activity and also reduces available vitamin E.
Alpha and delta tocopherols or mixed tocopherols are not vitamin E. They are merely antioxidant or protective agents (banana peel) for the more complex parts of the vitamin E assemblage (xanthine, phospholipids, lipositols, sex hormone precursors)--see functional architecture of vitamin E. There are seven tocopherols in all, alpha being one of them. The government has decided to rate any vitamin E product according to the amount of alpha tocopherol it contains. The tocopherols are antioxidants, just like ascorbic acid. They are a part of the E complex, but they are not the active ingredient. Their function is to preserve the active factor. Tocopherols are measured on the basis of cell growth. The entire E complex contains the polyunsaturated fatty acids. (Vitamin F) Vitamin F is part of the E complex. Also, vitamins A and K. There are some forms of vitamin D and manganese in the E complex, as well. The traditional source for vitamin E is vegetable oils. But the best quality vitamin E comes from vegetables. Lettuce is one of the best sources and the pea plant is equally as good. If you take any laboratory-chelated products, your body has to do some combining to make them work. But if you take your minerals the way nature provides them, combined with protein and vitamins through the growing process of plants, they are bound to work. For example, we could take vitamin E and separate the tocopherols from the manganese. Putting them back together in the laboratory--chelating them artificially--we would find they wouldn't work like they did before you took them apart. If you take a watch apart piece by piece and analyze it and then throw all the parts back together, it isn't going to work! Although it is the same watch, it has now lost its function. A nutritional concentrate is an organized mechanism that has a function. If you break the function by separating the parts, the body can no longer use the mechanism. High potency vitamin E is made this way. Tocopherols are broken down and separated from oils--the natural tocopherols are separated from vegetable oil.
Then they are packed into a gelatin perle, and you have a high potency vitamin E product--a 220 or 500 International Unit (IU) Vitamin E product. That means 200 or 500 International Units) of alpha tocohpherol--the potency of the product is measured by the amount of alpha tocopherol it contains. Although the label of such a product will say "all natural" or "organic""--it was taken from oil, a natural source--it's still not food. It's an incomplete product. You're getting lots of tocopherols, but none of the active components of the E complex; the F, A, K, D, manganese, selenium, etc. The Vitamin E2 fraction (prostaglandin) is found in beef chromatin material, which is glandular substance. It's a food factor that will stop a heart cramp or a heart pain, usually within about ten minutes. Most cramps are due to calcium deficiency. So E2 gets calcium into the area to relax the muscle. It can be used to relieve any muscle cramp, but it's especially effective to relax cramps in the muscles of the heart. Natural forms of vitamin E complex lose up to 99% of their potency when separated from their natural synergists (Ann. Review Biochemistry, 1943, page 381). These synergists include tannins, fatty acids (vitamin F complex), phospholipids, and other synergistic factors. Chemically purified vitamin E (tocopherols), in high unit doses, reverses its effect and produces the same symptoms as a deficiency (including bone decalcification). The Vitamins In Medicine, Page 623 by Bicknell and Prescott, 3rd Ed. Without selenium (the trace mineral activator of vitamin E), vitamin E cannot perform many of its functions.
Xanthine increases the antioxidative function of the tocopherols as much as 50%. Xanthine plays an important role in the metabolism of purines (nucleoproteins) within the cell. In one instance, hypoxanthine is transformed biochemically to xanthine with the metabolic fate proceeding to uric acid in two forms; enol and keto. Intracellular utilization of purines is dependent upon the said contribution. Lipositols are essential to cholesterol metabolism in order that cholesterol be altered to a biochemical acceptable to the synthesis of adrenal and sex hormones. F1 is the active form of unsaturated fatty acids described in the Annual Review of Biochemistry, 1949. Vitamin F restores and maintains Calcium in tissue fluids and is anticarcinogenic. F2 is part of the phospholipid complex in nerve structures; particularly the myelin sheath. It also promotes tissue repair and enhances the benefits of the antiarthritic Wulzen factor. F2 could very well be the missing link in pernicious anemia according to Dr. Royal Lee. E2 is a part of E complex that has been compared to nitroglycerine in its function of relieving angina-type pains--the hypoxic spasm of the heart muscle. E2 reduces pain because it increases the oxygen conserving factor of the blood. The E3 component of Vitamin E complex is a precursor of sex hormones. Also, the E3 factor is similar to the cabbage juice Vitamin U which was developed by Dr. Garnett Chaney at Stanford University and found useful in peptic ulcer syndrome. E3 is a powerful tissue rebuilder. In turn, E3 is considered as an important factor in the natural therapy of G.I. problems.
Drugs in five major groups have been shown either to function as vitamin B6 antagonists, or to increase the turnover of vitamin B6 in the body. Drugs in ten major groups have been shown to affect the absorption of folic acid; to act as folate antagonists; or to increase the turnover or loss of folate from the body. Drugs in four groups have been shown to affect the absorption of vitamin B12. Depletion of one vitamin can affect the requirement for another vitamin. Mercury can cause similar deficiencies or metabolic changes in the way the body handles these same three vitamins.
While man can isolate from foods known factors comprising about 99% plus of total weight, we cannot maintain normal nutrition or "life" by consuming isolated factors. Nature still withholds that "something" that sustains "life." One of the deceptive practices of manufacturers of pseudo-nutrients is to label crystalline-pure and synthetic vitamin fractions as COMPLEXES. The meaning of complex is simply: the sum or combination of various things. Another, but more precise, definition is: Consisting of various connected or interwoven parts; composite. As a result, the consumer buys a "vitamin" product that says on the label: "Vitamins From Natural Sources (usually synthetic, from corn sugar and coal tar) with Bioflavonoids or Rutin." Legally, this can be called a "Vitamin Complex" but it is really no more than a mixture of two or more dead, refined chemicals--not a required for life, "biochemical." Remember, the human anatomy is composed of 100 trillion cells that need 75+ nutrients every day and, in turn, it can require six to eight months or more to overcome a nutritional deficiency. If you try and fool mother nature, she'll make a fool out of you!
How To Read Vitamin Labels
NATURAL in this writing means, "As naturally found in nature or natural food sources." It further implies that in preparation there has been no change, either biologically or chemically, in the combination or in the activity of these natural foods. This does not mean the moisture and fiber cannot be removed.
CO-NATURAL or CRYSTALLINE A co-natural vitamin is one that has a natural food as its source, but has been reduced to one specific pure crystalline vitamin by means of solvents, heat or distillation. Since it is practically impossible to reduce any natural food product to an absolutely pure state during manufacture, the impurities remaining could be certain synergists.
SYNTHETIC A synthetic vitamin is created by a scientist in a laboratory when he/she has reconstructed the exact molecular structure of a vitamin by putting together or chemically combining molecules from other know sources. The synthetic vitamin has no synergists, no enzymes or co-enzymes, minerals, mineral activators, or co-vitamin helpers. It is a chemically pure vitamin but is, conformationally, a mirror image of the real thing. Legally it is not necessary to give the source from which the synthetic chemical is derived (coal-tar)
Item
If Source Is It Is
Vitamin A
Fish oils Natural
Acetate Synthetic
Palmitate Synthetic
Lemongrass Co-Natural
Vitamin B Complex
Vitamin B1
(Thiamine)
Yeast (unenriched) Natural
Thiamine mononitrate Synthetic
Thiamine hydrochloride Synthetic
Vitamin B2
(riboflavin)
Yeast (unenriched) Natural
Pantothenic Acid
Yeast (unenriched)
rice bran, liver
Natural
Cal panto Synthetic
Vitamin B3
(Niacin)
Yeast (unenriched), or bran Natural
Niacinamide Co-Natural
Vitamin B6
(Pyridoxine)
Yeast (unenriched) Natural
Pyridoxine hydrochloride Synthetic
Vitamin B12
Liver or Yeast (unenriched) Natural
Cobalamin from fermentation Natural
Cyano cobalamin Co-Natural/
Crystalline
Cyano cobalamin Co-Natural/
Crystalline
PABA
Yeast (unenriched) Natural
Para-aminobenzoic acid Synthetic
Folic Acid
Yeast (unenriched)
or Liver
Natural
Pteroylglutamic acid Synthetic
Inositol
Soy beans Natural
Reduced from corn Co-Natural
Choline
Soy beans Natural
Choline chloride Synthetic
Choline bitartrate Synthetic
Biotin
Liver Natural
d-Biotin Synthetic
Vitamin B15
(Pangamic acid)
Bran-apricot kernels Natural
Pangamic acid Synthetic
Vitamin C-Complex
Vitamin C
Buckwheat leaf, peppers,
tomatoes, citrus, rose hips
Natural
Acerola berries Co-Natural
Ascorbic acid Synthetic
Vitamin D-Complex
Vitamin D
Fish oil Natural
Irradiated ergosterol Co-Natural
Calciferol Synthetic
Vitamin E-Complex
Vitamin E
Wheat germ oil Natural
dl-alpha tocopherol Synthetic
d-alpha tocopherol acetate Synthetic
d-alpha tocopherol succinate Synthetic
Vitamin F
(Unsaturated fatty acids)
Flax oil, pumpkin seeds,
walnuts, soybeans
Natural
Vitamin K
Alfalfa, Cabbage Natural
Menadione Synthetic
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