It can be quite confusing to go shopping for vitamins and minerals these days. They are in every store. They come in every shape and milligram with some having thousands of milligrams. Here is a brief history of vitamin and mineral supplements to help you better understand what the best choice is for you.
The history of vitamins and minerals goes way back to the discovery in the 1930's. At this time certain deficiency diseases were recognized as being caused by a lack of vitamins and minerals. When this was realized the development of Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) came about. In a nutshell the RDA is the amount of essential nutrients from food that is needed to keep a healthy person healthy.
Vitamin Mineral Supplements
What does this little history have to do with vitamins and Minerals?
The first generation of vitamin/ mineral supplements were developed using synthetic versions of vitamins and minerals. These supplements were created in the laboratory to provide an inexpensive and standardized way to meet RDA requirements. In fact the vast majority of vitamin and mineral supplements are still made using synthetic vitamins and minerals. This includes some of the most popular brands (the ones advertised regularly on the TV).
The major disadvantages of supplements made like this are: Synthetic vitamins are not food so our body cannot uptake and utilize these at the optimal levels. Dirt and Rocks are not food. The solubility of minerals and their uptake and utilization in the body are critical factors.
A first generation vitamin may list 100% or more of the RDA for a given nutrient. But this does not mean your body will be able to absorb and utilize any or some of that nutrient. In other words synthetic vitamin and mineral salts are less expensive but they do not provide effective support for our body to bridge the nutritional gap in our diets.
The next generation of multi-vitamin and minerals is from whole food extracts. They are food and vegetable extracts and or single exotic plant or fruit products, e.g. Aloe Vera, golgi berries, etc. Whole food supplements have nutrients that the human body is able to utilize.
While whole food supplements are better than synthetic vitamins they also have some disadvantages. The reality of our current fruits and vegetables is that they are often deficient in important nutrients. Whole food supplements cannot be standardized for the amounts of vitamins, minerals or phytochemicals they may contain so they cannot be labeled for nutritional values. No single fruit, vegetable, or plant can meet all RDA requirements. Most plants are very high in vitamins but they are generally very low in mineral levels. Whole food supplements are a step in the right direction but since they cannot be standardized they can be significantly deficient in some of the critical nutrients we need for maintaining wellness.
The next major advancement in vitamin and mineral technology is here. The newest generation of supplements has many advantages including standardized natural vitamin complexes, standardized plant-derived minerals, standardized plant-derived phyto-chemicals, and all sources of these individual nutrients are specifically identified and labeled.
So how do you find the third generation of vitamin and mineral technology products? Really you have to be very careful when shopping and label reading. If the label says "whole food" or "plant sourced," make sure you look closer to see if chelated minerals or mineral salts are in the ingredients. Those would indicate that they are not a whole food source. Another common claim is colloidal and liquid minerals are better absorbed by the body. These minerals are still rocks and the body recognizes them as such. The key factor for absorption is a plant source. The best way to make sure you are getting the best nutrient is to ask questions of the seller/ merchant. Ask them until they tell you all the advantages I listed above of the third generation vitamin and mineral supplement. If you have any further questions please check out my resource box for more information.
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