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Writer's pictureJoyce

Are your supplements natural or synthetic?

Updated: Jan 16, 2020

As consumers, we are trained to see a label like "multivitamin" and think, "Oh look! It's a multivitamin!" We trust the label, we buy it, we consume it, and we assume we're getting the benefits we thought we would get. That seems logical, right? What you don't know is that all of those seemingly-natural supplements are likely synthetic (aka: MAN-MADE CHEMICALS). That's a problem because we think we're getting a bunch of bio-available nutrients for our bodies to easily absorb and use, and what we may actually be doing is adding to our body's toxic load. That's. Not. Cool.


When you buy a multivitamin online or at your local drugstore, the label might list all sorts of vitamins (and minerals), but does it list the source of the vitamins? If it doesn't list the source of the vitamins, it is very likely synthetic.


For example, does your multivitamin look like this:


Vitamin B6 100%

Vitamin B12 100%


...or does it look like this:


Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxine hydrochloride) 500%

Vitamin B12 (as methylcobalamin) 8,000%


The most blatantly confused vitamins for decades have been folic acid and folate. Which one is real and which one is synthetic? Do you know the difference? If you're pregnant, you'll be told to make sure you're getting plenty of folic acid to help prevent brain and spinal cord birth defects. WebMD.com has an article about the benefits of Folic Acid. Given what you've read in this blog post so far, read their article and see if you can spot what I'm saying about natural vs man-made. Don't worry. It's a quick read and the answers are obvious. I'll insert a picture here so you won't see my next comments until you read the article (or you could just scroll down in defiance and then scroll back up to the link to this article and read it after reading what I've explained below - you decide).

If you read the article, did you catch it? Did you see how they told you that Folic Acid is a man-made chemical and that it is most commonly found in fortified cereals? Did you catch that just briefly they admitted that folate is natural and that it's most commonly found in green, leafy vegetables and citrus fruits?


I've never claimed to be a doctor, but this isn't rocket science, guys! If I were pregnant, and if I knew that there were vitamins that could help prevent brain and spinal column injuries in my baby, should I reach for a fortified cereal (loaded with sugar in umpteen disguises, with "grains" that are often genetically modified or even bio-engineered, and slathered with synthetic "nutrients"), OR should I increase my consumption of organic, raw, green, leafy vegetables as well as increase my consumption of organic oranges and grapefruits? Which source do you think would be more likely to help the healthy growth and development of my baby?


In short, should I consume folic acid or should I consume folate? According to their article, the CDC recommends that child-bearing-aged women take folic acid every single day, pregnant or not - just in case they become pregnant and they miss a few weeks/months of taking folic acid without knowing it. I believe that their logic is good, but the source of their supplement recommendation is not. I believe that pregnant women should increase their daily consumption of FOLATE.

2019 Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal label, with four sources of sugar (sugar, fructose, maltodextrin, and dextrose), bio-engineered ingredients, calcium carbonate (the cheapest and least-absorbable type of calcium available), and folic acid (the synthetic version of folate)


Since I have access to fresh fruits and vegetables, and since I have access to folate in supplements, I choose to get my folate from plants - either plants in their raw, fresh form (cooked plants are less bio-available), or dried plants in the form of a supplement that has folate in it.


Please do your research (or at least rely on mine). Learn what you're really consuming and how it'll affect your body. The time is past for blindly trusting mass-marketed products and flashy commercials.


If you want my list of recommended powerhouse supplements, send me a message about which supplements you need (I promise not to spam you) and I'll tell you which multivitamins and supplements I recommend and which companies I support because of their ability to provide the highest-quality, most bio-available, non-synthetic supplements.

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