By design the human body supports conception, growth, development and “homeostasis” through the consumption of vitamins and minerals taken from plants, animals and water. In their purest form plants represent the healthiest food choices we can make. Plants take up minerals from the soil in which they are grown, those minerals along with sunlight and water, synthesize vitamins within the growing plant.  This “Food Source Nutrition” formula representing vitamins and minerals is ideally and routinely different for each vegetable. Beets for example, with their long tap roots, are known to contain more iron than lettuce which has a much shallower root system. The critical part of this “life process” is that the growing plant has created a living organism from these specific nutrients. The different ratios, the various concentrations and combinations of different minerals unique to that particular vegetable, synergistically create enzymes, amino acids, vitamins and literally hundreds and hundreds of plant compounds that have a distinct life function.  When we consume those plants in their natural, unprocessed, unadulterated form we are not only receiving the purest form of nutrition but the form the body recognizes and in turn is the most digestible and beneficial. That purity and nutritional value changes dramatically when the vegetable is processed, preserved and packaged. It’s not news to anyone that over processed foods have less nutritional value and contain a host of undesirable additives and preservatives that we can’t even pronounce. What is overlooked in this “perfect food” scenario is that we simply cannot replicate nature’s nutritional quality and value.  Manmade products are not comparable in terms of nutritional quality.  We routinely add Vitamin C, Ascorbic Acid, to orange juice to increase the Vitamin C content that has been marginalized by agricultural production methods, processing systems, and preservatives. In this case by adding a synthetic vitamin to a natural food product, we think we have enhanced the concentration of Vitamin C. In reality we created an artificial product, that the body has difficulty recognizing nutritionally, therefore the nutritional benefit is suspect and digestion and assimilation are compromised.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are obviously the best choice nutritionally. But Food Source Nutrition also applies directly to the raw materials being sourced to manufacture dietary supplements. The nutritional preference are vitamins and minerals that have been isolated from food sources.  Years ago while attending a Nutritional Supplement Manufacturers conference in Nashville, I noticed the badge of a conferee, his company was Texas Eastman. I introduced myself with a question, “What’s an oil company representative doing at a vitamin manufacturers conference?” Before I share with you his response, let me qualify the voracity and accuracy of everything that I post to A Healthier You. My goal with this Blog is to share my life’s work, to enhance our understanding of health, and in doing so I pledge to you an absolute an uncompromising commitment to accuracy and the truth. The health and wellness industry has it’s share of entrepreneurial opportunist and those who simply misrepresent the facts. So with guarded optimism lets proceed, “ in plenitudine veritas.”  So the guy from Texas Eastman responds, looking at my name tag,  “Bill, we sell 80% of the tocopherol to the vitamin industry.” So 80% of the Vitamin E you and I purchase, as an antioxidant vitamin supplement comes from petroleum sources.  Not from wheat germ oil, or extracted from other seed oils, but from petroleum. Unbelievable, chemist will argue that the tocopherol molecule is the same, years of research tells me we need a vitamin from a Food Source to be effective and safe. The lesson here is that all Dietary Supplements  are certainly not the same, and each product choice you make must be carefully scrutinized.   Natural verses synthetic has significant ramifications as we search for the best nutritional sources available.