Vitamin Pills Lack Synergists

Here are some notes that make a good case for using whole foods rather than vitamin and multivitamin (isolate) supplementation. It’s the reason NutriPlex Formulas has the whole food philosophy and do not spike their products with isolates such as niacinamide, ascorbic acid, mixed tocopherols, vitamin A palmitate, pyridoxine, thiamine, etc. Check the bottle labels of other supplements to make sure these isolates are not part of the ingredients. If they are, then they are not whole food supplements.

“Every vegetable and fruit has a unique profile of phytonutrients exerting beneficial effects on our bodies to prevent disease,” says David Heber, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine and public health at UCLA.

So far, more than 25,000 different phytonutrients have been discovered in fruits and vegetables. Researchers are now discovering that these chemicals work in concert, orchestrating natural harmony in body systems. To keep our bodies finely tuned, the best diet is one featuring a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and legumes.

Variety: the Spice of Life

Of the 150,000 to 200,000 edible plants on earth, most Americans eat only three per day. For far too many junk food addicts, that boils down to French fries, ketchup, and a limp shred of iceberg lettuce on a hamburger bun.

In a Western diet, vegetables and fruits include the roots, leaves, stems, fruits, and seeds from more than 40 botanical families, says Johanna Lampe, RD, PhD, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. By contrast, primitive tribes who gather plant materials for their existence eat more than 800 varieties of plant foods.

“We have a long way to go to increase the diversity and amounts of plant foods in the American diet,” says David Heber, MD, PhD, a professor of medicine and public health at UCLA. “Cancer is not one disease but many, and no single food or compound can provide the different kinds of cells in the body with the unique protection they require.”

“Whole foods provide a unique mix of nutrients that cannot be mimicked by pills,” says Elizabeth Pivonka, PhD, RD, president of Produce for Better Health Foundation in Newark, Del.

“Just eat the apple, and let the scientists worry about which nutrients in the apple are good for you,” says Mark Messina, PhD, associate professor of nutrition at Loma Linda University in California.
Two scientists at the forefront of whole foods research, James Joseph and Barbara Shukitt-Hale, both of the Jean Mayer USDA

Human Nutrition Research Center in Boston, guide us through the reasons:
Synergy. Many of the most popular supplements, including quercetin, alpha-lipoic acid, and coenzyme Q-10, are antioxidants, molecules that mop up cell-damaging free radicals in the body. Also possessed of powerful anti-inflammatory effects, antioxidants are important for keeping brain cells healthy and youthful. Although the benefits of antioxidants in foods are well known, their efficacy in supplement form is dubious. What supplements lack is synergy. Antioxidants need to work in concert with other molecules to achieve their beneficial effects. Even “brain formulas” that claim their many ingredients work synergistically can’t compete with the wealth of antioxidants in whole foods. Blueberries, for example, by virtue of plant pigments called anthocyanins, have 2400 times the antioxidant power of vitamin E (itself a powerful antioxidant). “There’s 40 anthocyanins and maybe 300 other compounds in blueberries—people don’t even know what they are yet—and they’re all working together,” says Joseph. “A supplement can’t even hope to compete.”

Dosage. There are no well-established guidelines for how much of any supplement you should take. “The problem,” says Joseph, “is that you don’t know how much you need. If you take six of those pills a day, is that equivalent to a cup of blueberries? One good thing about whole foods is you can’t really OD on them.” In high doses, some antioxidants can actually be harmful, turning, in fact, into pro-oxidants. Without knowledge of proper dosing, you can’t know if you’re helping or hurting.

Good Habits. Loading up on supplements can lure you into the trap of thinking you’re eating well. But you may not be getting the right balance of nutrients, and you’re encouraging yourself to seek quick fixes for your dietary concerns. “A lot of people who take these different kinds of pills think, ‘Well, if I do that then I can eat a lousy diet,’” says Dr. Joseph. “But eating whole foods gets you into the mindset and lifestyle of eating healthy.”

Sources:
medicinenet.com, Barclay, Laurie, A Tasty Alternative to Vitamins, Food Synergy: 1 + 1 = 3, Aug. 27, 2001
medicinenet.com, 20040202, Erik Strand,Psychology Today