Nutrient Supplements are necessary & essential components present in very small amounts, but are no less important for the efficient functioning of the various enzymes in our bodies. Regardless of their relatively small amounts, the enzymes in our bodies are capable of transforming them into much larger quantities. Nutrient Supplements components do not provide calories.
Despite the difference between plants & animals supplement needs, all living tissue share the same basic nutrients. As a result animals can live on both plant & animal food sources. Plants require only water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, minerals & light to manufacture every natural component they need, supposedly with the exception of vitamin B12. Only bacteria are capable of manufacturing vitamin B12. Animals need organic food because they are not capable of manufacturing the same kinds of nutrients. Plant cells manufacture everything they need. Animals, on the other hand, have to go in search of their food to supplement their diets. This difference between plants & animals is important for our survival.
Vitamins are needed by plants but they manufacture all they need. Only mineral supplement are needed by both plants & animals. The combination of vitamins, minerals & other food components, in their natural state, produce complexes. These complex combination when consumed release their energy at a much slower rate in the body, although sometimes not enough is released. Adding vitamins to food, does not make the food natural. When nutrients are added to food, their energies are often released rapidly. Consuming more whole foods, allows the nutrients to be released naturally in the digestive tract. Adding vitamin B3/Niacinamide to flour, the vitamin is absorbed into the bloodstream long before the starch in the wheat has had time to be converted to sugar & absorbed in the body.
Vitamins & minerals are food artifacts, meaning they have had their most nutritious parts removed. The proteins, fats & carbohydrates are taken out & processed into something that looks, smells & tastes like food but it isn’t natural food. Therefore, supplements must be used intelligently & not overly relied upon. A good natural, as in unprocessed whole foods diet, must be the basis for any good health plan. Supplements are just, as the word implies, are added to food but they are not a replacement for a meal or meals.
There are a few vitamins that would not meet the strict definition of a vitamin. One example, vitamin C has been considered a vitamin for so long, it would be troublesome to reclassify it now. Vitamin C or Ascorbic acid is required in large gram doses (1g = 1000mg, so 10g = 10,000mg). Substances required in large amounts are not characteristic of vitamins. By definition, vitamins cannot be made in the body & are required in small amounts. Despite their small amounts, they have the ability to effectuate thousands of favourable reactions inside the body.
Another example, vitamin B/niacin or Niacinamide is manufactured in the body. Approximately 60mg of the amino acid tryptophan e.g. in bananas produces about 1mg of vitamin B3. Therefore, by strict definition niacin is not really a vitamin either.
Vitamin D3 is manufactured in the skin with the help of the Sun’s ultraviolet rays. By definition, vitamin D3 should not be referred to as a vitamin. In this case, Vitamin D3 is more of a hormone. The “Vitamin Concept” has long served its time & has no real guiding purpose today. If we were to look at Nutritional medicine today we would see how misleading the “Vitamin Concept” really is, particularly when a substance is referred to one thing but fits a more appropriately into a more defining definition.
As per minerals, no mineral is manufactured in the body. All Minerals must be obtained from food, water or both.
There are two main classes of Minerals:
? Essential trace minerals e.g. selenium, choline & zinc.
? Toxic minerals such as mercury, arsenic, silver & cadmium.
Our bodies depend on food, water, sleep, oxygen & most definitely on vitamins. Without adequate vitamin intake the body will become sick/ill & would not function efficiently. Any prolonged vitamin deficiency will be fatal. This constitutes a dependency on vitamins. A longstanding deficiency creates an increased need for the missing nutrient(s) which will never be corrected by our continued poor diets of sugar, additives laden foods & foods devoid of meaningful essential nutrients, nor will it be corrected by low-dose supplementation. Deficiencies occur because the diet does not provide the necessary nutrients for maintaining good/optimum health.
Deficiency disease conditions occur when individuals, of average vitamin needs, don’t get from their diets their daily vitamin/nutritional requirements. The processed food most people consume is devoid of essential nutrients. Its nutrients have been deliberately destroyed & are now virtually deficient in several of their natural vitamins & minerals, but we continue to chomp down away.
A Deficiency may present at birth, or may be acquired, suggesting a genetic involvement in some cases which also determine our vitamin requirements. When the diet is deficient in vitamins & minerals it leads to deficiency conditions, however mild. If the problem is with the body’s requirements e.g. it needing much more than what’s normally required, it is referred to as a dependency. In both cases the result is the same but the mechanism that produces them are different. For example, pernicious anemia occurs when to body is unable the absorb vitamin B12. In this case the mechanism is malabsorption. Vitamin B12 injections will be required to bypass the gastrointestinal tract where, for whatever reason, it cannot be absorbed there.
Dependency can be acquired after a prolonged deficiency, resulting from the mechanism of malnutrition. Vitamin dependencies can be developed from the stress leading up to, just before, during & weeks after surgery, especially when combined with severe stress. Here is an example: during World War 2 many Japanese captured prisoners of war/POWs were starved of protein, fats, calories, vitamins & minerals, combined with severe psychological stress. These harsh circumstances e.g. starvation & psychological trauma produced a clinical syndrome characterised by accelerated ageing. This was a case of a vitamin dependency. For each year the POWs were held captive, they aged the equivalent of 5 years e.g. a 30 year old POW under those conditions for 5 years would look like a 55 year old; 40 year old POW would be like a 65 year old & so on. These individuals were treated with vitamin therapy & remained well only after given large doses of niacin.
Many claims have been made regarding Natural versus Synthetic supplements, leaving many confused & dismayed. Part of this confusion comes from current labeling laws. A product may not have any synthetic or extracted vitamins, yet its label can show a long list of vitamins. Here are some examples: yeast tablets are not vitamins but food in a tablet form; neither is powdered rose hips a good source of vitamin C. It would have to be supplemented with other substances to make it stronger. Therefore, it becomes a mixture of mostly man-made/synthetic ingredients with very little natural source of vitamin C. Labels on such supplements should list the source & quantity of each nutrient.
To contact Dr. Stan Horne:
1-264-582-7045
1-784-531-1150
Email: naturopathyplus@yahoo.co.uk
