Vitamin supplements are a great idea for the simple fact that we can no longer get all of the nutrients we need simply from eating the correct foods. Now I know some of you are saying, "Hold on a minute Ken, I eat my fruits and vegetables so I'm fine."
But consider this: It's possible to eat an orange that looks and tastes like an orange but has next to no vitamin C in it. How is this possible? Well, most of our fruits and vegetable are picked before they're ripe so that they survive the long commute to the market. On top of that, over-farming, the use of toxic fertilizers, and poor crop rotation have all left our soil nutrient deficient. And if the soil is no good how is what we grow in that same soil going to be any good?
Did you know that spinach loses 60 % of it's folic acid in three days of being picked, or that the apples you see in your supermarket are, on average, 10 months old? I can go on and on about how deficient our food is but the point is that vitamin supplementation has never been more important.
Just Because it`s a Vitamin..,
Just because it`s a vitamin doesn`t mean it`s going to do you any good however, and in some cases it might do you some harm. Most of the vitamin supplements on the market are synthetic--meaning that the nutrients aren`t taken from whole, `real` foods, instead, they`re made from petroleum based chemicals.
Synthetic vitamins don`t have the natural co-factors and synergist molecules found in real food. Apart from that, the molecules are differently shaped, kind of like your left and right arm. They're similar but still very different. The shape of the molecule is what tells your body what to do with it. For example, synthetic beta-carotene is a 100% left handed molecule while natural beta-carotene is mostly right handed. The mis-shapen synthetic molecule has been proven to be unhelpful and can create more problems than it prevents.
All of this is to say that when choosing a vitamin supplement it's important to choose a natural product that comes from whole foods. It pays to stay away from the cheaper brands because you`re wasting your money and possibly doing more harm than good.
Follow this link to my website for more on vitamin supplements and other health related topics.
