WHOLE FOOD vs. VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS
Your best nutrition will come from FOOD, not synthetic vitamin tablets.
by Russell W. Shurtleff, DC.
As vitamins are only a small part of the nutritional healing picture, I have
over several years converted my nutritional practice from using isolated and
synthetic supplements to using whole-food supplements.
Although there is always much debate about which supplements are best, owing to the large numbers of companies selling them, they are different. Whether one supplement is better than another amounts to the particular physician’s goals, naturalist philosophy and food research data.
A whole-food supplement is one comprised of foods (not extracts, but entire
foods) that have been concentrated into supplemental form. Isolated
supplements are singular (or groups of individual) vitamins, minerals and/or
amino acids. Whole foods contain vitamins, but vitamins never contain the
rest of the whole-food “complex.”
According to Vic Shayne,PhD, author of Whole Food Nutrition: The Missing
Link in Vitamin Therapy, “Vitamins never exist in isolation, but rather
within an interwoven complex of food nutrients and substances along with
myriad cofactors and synergists.” For instance, a vitamin A supplement is
usually vitamin A palmitate, a synthetic form of vitamin A. Or, the
supplement may consist of beta carotene, an isolated precursor to vitamin A.
Conversely, a whole-food supplement contains the food(s) which not only
consists of vitamin A, but particularly vitamin A1; vitamin A2; retino;
retinal; retinoic acid; carotenes (there are more than 500 carotenoids in
nature); essential fatty acids; fiber; grass factors; pigments; natural
sugars; minerals (such as zinc and copper); lipids; bioflavonoids; and
nutrients that fall under the broad spectrum of “phytochemicals,” ranging
from terpenes to isoflavones. Doctors using whole-food supplements in their
nutritional practices look not only for vitamins, but, more importantly,
rely on these cofactors to bring the body back into biochemical balance.
Ultimately, whole-food supplements provide the “chemical” part of the
equation needed to meet the needs of the subluxation complex (chemical,
physical, mental) taught as a fundamental of chiropractic.
Many biochemical researchers, nutritionists and herbalists have noted that
without the whole-food complex, the body will never achieve whole nutrition,
as vitamin supplements lack the rest of the complex. Richard Murray,DC, an
avid biochemical researcher and lecturer for the past 30 years, taught that
isolated vitamins eventually lead to biochemical imbalances and
consequential nutritional deficiencies, as the body is forced to surrender
its stores of nutrients in order to make any isolated vitamin work. Dr.
Murray went so far as to state that the use of isolated/synthetic vitamins
amounts to the practice of “chemistry,” wherein the use of whole-food
supplements translates into the practice of biochemistry. Whole foods are
alive with enzyme activity, while isolated vitamins are not living
substances in the least. Vitamins do not resemble foods, but they resemble
parts of foods.
It is the rest of the food complex – the other parts – in which proponents of whole foods are interested. Retired USDA botanist, James Duke,PhD, author of The Green Pharmacy, agrees: “Vitamins and phytochemicals are better taken in their evolutionary context – as they occur in plants – not isolated and out of context.” Although it is true that isolated vitamin supplementation “works,” we must define the word “work.”
Certainly, experiments have shown the efficacy of vitamins against
symptomatology, but some experts claim that this is a matter of practicing
pharmacology, not nutrition. Nutrition relates to nourishment by foods, not
isolated chemicals. Whole foods work biochemically and harmoniously, while
isolated vitamins always run the risk of creating biochemical imbalances.
When speaking of minerals, there is the added risk of toxicity, as minerals
must enjoy a biochemical balance to promote health. Zinc; copper; iron;
calcium; magnesium; phosphorus; and other minerals are easily upset and
offset by an improper ratio of minerals in the body. Taking isolated
minerals and mineral toddies, even in a multivitamin/mineral supplement, is
a biochemical risk. Too much magnesium or phosphorus may imbalance calcium; too much copper may imbalance vitamin C; zinc; manganese; molybdenum; vitamin B6; and iron; too much zinc can lead to copper deficiency, and so on. Because nutrients in foods are balanced within the food complex, the risk of toxicity is very low.
Conversely, trying to balance the body’s biochemistry with mineral and
vitamin supplements is very difficult because of the dynamic complexity of
the human organism; the daily diet; exposure to environmental poisons;
stress factors; genetics, etc. If my patient needs minerals, I use a
whole-food complex supplement containing a multitude of plant foods known to be mineral-rich, and also include synergistic vitamins; amino acids; trace
mineral activators; and enzymes. I have found that nature’s design is a
safer choice due its inherent intelligence in providing a variety of
nutrients, synergists and low dosages. When using whole-food supplements,
doctors must realize a paradigm shift and the need to stop regarding foods
as chemicals. We have to give up the reductionist line of thinking and grasp
the holistic perspective, understanding that the “more is better” attitude
does not apply to food; vitamins; minerals; or amino acids. The quality of
the food complex becomes more important than the quantity of individual
vitamins, minerals or amino acids.
As with all supplements, buyer beware. If you don’t read and understand
what’s on a supplement label, then you may be contradicting yourself to your
patients. The truth is that many companies tout their products as whole
foods when they’re offering mixtures of foods along with isolates. And some
so-called “whole-food” supplements are not grown in soil, under natural,
traditional farming conditions. The way to tell the difference is rather
simple: A whole food is just that – a food like a carrot, beet, celery or
potato flour, for instance. Isolates are stated on the label by their
chemical names, such as vitamin A palmitate; mixed tocopherols; ascorbic
acid; pyridoxine; niacin; niacinamide; etc.
Russell W. Shurtleff,DC,
Phoenix, Arizona
http://www.natureswellness.com
