The Many Faces of MultiVitamins

Multivitamin, by definition, means a grouping of vitamins and minerals compacted into a single pill. Statistically, about 70 percent of Americans take a daily multivitamin, but how do you know the multivitamin you are taking is actually working for you, or healthy for you?

Unfortunately, not all multivitamins are created equal. In fact, they are constructed in five different ways: Natural, meaning the nutrients are obtained from vegetable, mineral, or animal sources with limited to no processing. Natural source, meaning they are like the above but the good is processed. Natural identical, meaning the nutrients are lab manufactured and identical in molecular structure and absorb similarly to natural nutrients. Synthetic, meaning the nutrients are lab manufactured but are not identical, and are usually the multivitamins that are inexpensive and found in grocery stores. Last but not at all least is whole food, meaning that these multivitamins are formed with raw materials and are extremely usable and available to the body.

The multivitamins to avoid are the synthetically made, which try to imitate natural nutrients but do not succeed because the body is not designed to process artificial and unnatural ingredients such as synthetic vitamins. Now, the next question is how do you figure out if the multivitamin you are taking is made of synthetic nutrients? First of all, you need to be aware of the label on the back of bottle. Read the fine print and ingredients first. If any where it says natural and artificial flavors, sucralose (splenda), coloring, or anything starting with dl, it is synthetic. The prefix dl (dl-alpha tocopheryl) means that the nutrient is a synthetic version of vitami
E instead of the natural vitami
E. The natural nutrient in its scientific name starts with a d. Also, if the label lists vitamins in its chemical name, it is synthetic.

The dirty little secret that most individuals do not know is that synthetic vitamins are 50 to 70 percent less likely to absorb in the body as opposed to natural vitamins which absorb at almost 95 percent. Why throw away money on multivitamins that don’t even absorb…to have fluorescent urine? You can pay a bit more for whole food vitamins and get the results you strive for; whether that is increased energy, to support an already good diet, or prevent disease, or shell out cash for vitamins that don’t work.

Consuming a high-quality, whole food multivitamin can help contribute to muscle growth, proper fat burning, and overall good health. Think about it this way. If you are exercising and taking a synthetic multivitamin or none at all, you are ultimately harming your body more because as you work out your body needs certain nutrients to maintain your metabolism, feed muscles, maintain naturally occurring processes, and the list goes on. This can contribute to people wondering why their bodies have taken so long to transform into what they are striving for; and more often that not, they do not have the correct nutrition to support their activity.

So now the question is what are some names of whole food multivitamins and where can you find them? Well, here in San Antonio there are several options of stores to purchase whole food vitamins such as Whole Foods, Sun Harvest, and Cost Plus. In all honesty, Cost Plus is the place to go. They sell products at whole sale; so there is no tax included and they have a very, very knowledgeable staff that works there. That being said you should still be able to find, at all three stores, Garden of Life products which are all whole food goods and are very affordable. If that does not fit your budget or you want something different, just ask the staff and remember the rules above. There are also online stores that sell whole food products and supplements such as Clayton Naturals.

Remember vitamins do not replace all natural fruits and vegetables which the body loves and needs; however if you do not get the recommended daily servings, multivitamins are a necessity. Above all, always remember to do your own research to find what works best for you and fits your life style.

Resources: "Body For Life" by Bill Phillips