Taking most vitamins is like pouring money down the drain

Did you know that the majority of multivitamins and supplements on the market have no positive effect on your body? It’s true.  The reason is that most do not contain substances taken from real foods but instead are simply “synthesized” in a factory.  Many of the compounds and chemicals found in the products are even toxic to the body in large amounts.  The secret to finding good nutrition is to read the labels and I don’t necessarily mean the little box on the back that shows “% of RDA”.  Read the “ingredients”.  If the list of ingredients is simply names of chemicals, you probably have a “synthetic” product.

If the list includes the names of real things that you recognize as plants or from animals, you’re looking at a better multivitamin or nutritional supplement.  For example, if the ingredients on a bottle of vitamin-C simply say “ascorbic acid”, it’s probably synthetic, but if they say “acerola cherry” or “bilberry”, you’re on the right track.

Manufacturers are always looking for ways to shortcut and keep their costs down.  A new trend we’re seeing in “Omega-3” supplements is the use of algae instead of fish oil.  We know that many species of algae make compounds harmful to humans so this trend is particularly disturbing. Mineral supplements most often contain forms of “salts” that the body has difficulty utilizing (we refer to this as “uptake” or “bio-availability”).  For instance, calcium from limestone (one of  the most commonly used sources) is almost useless in our bodies, but calcium taken from real food is familiar to our cells. To learn more about real nutrition and what you should be taking to meet you body’s needs, call our office today to schedule a “nutrition consultation”.

Michael Halan DC.

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