Are your vitamins doing more harm than good?

I once read a book about man-made vitamins and the information I found was astounding. Not all vitamins are created equal and most of the vitamins on the shelves at the drugstore are full of chemicals, sugars, fillers, dies, and not at all what they claim to do for you.

A common sense fact here: Synthetic or man-made vitamins (i.e. fortified, concentrated, added) are nothing more than INORGANIC substances since they are created in a laboratory. Our bodies are ORGANIC. Therefore an inorganic substance cannot be absorbed or accepted into an organic substance.  It is similar to oil and water. They do not merge.

Many vitamins are created with the use of synthetic/inorganic/chemical/man-made copies of the real thing. These tend to make up 95% of that bottle of vitamins that you believe because of the marketing, is going to help you.

Unfortunately, there are 5 common ingredients in the vitamins that you need to look for, and then put that bottle back down. It will not do you any good.

1. Ferrous Fumarate (C4H2FeO4)
It is a anhydrous (containing no water) salt that by combining ferrous iron with fumaric acid and used as a  preparation to improve the quality of blood. Yet the iron used is inorganic and pre-oxidative, meaning it increases the free-radicals in your body and causing damage to your liver because extra iron in the body accumulates there. It also is known to feed or increase infections and bacteria.  Inorganic iron has been linked to cardiovascular disease and even cancer.

2. Magnesium Stearate (Mg(C18H35O2)2)
Used to make large productions  of supplements,  this chemical  is produced by mixing sodium stearate with  magnesium sulfate,  similar to hydrogenated  oils. This chemical has shown signs of death from inhalation of the powder.

3. Manganese Sulfate (MnSO4H2O)
Interesting enough, the MSDS or the Material Safety Data Sheet list this chemical as a hazardous substance. It indicates it adversely effects  reproduction.

4. Chromic Chloride (CrCl3)
Although this type of is far less poisonous than other forms, it is still a toxic substance, known to to be a reproductive hazard. It is on the Hazardous  Substance list. It is more common in metal industries, tanning solutions, and as a waterproofing agent.

5 .Sodium Selenite (Na2SeO3)
Selenium found in food is an antioxidant. Yet this type is inorganic and has been known to cause tumors, genetic mutations, interfere with reproduction, and cause  birth defects.

Here is a handy guide when choosing "vitamins" from the store.

Look for the words “100 percent natural”.  Some may say “natural,” but manufacturers can claim “natural” on  their products if at least 10 percent of the product comes from  natural food sources. The Organic Consumers Organization recommends looking for  those that state “100 percent plant-based” or “100 percent animal-based”.

Find the “food source” list on the product.  If it doesn't contain any whole food sources then it is synthetic. You are looking for yeast, fish, vegetable and citrus.

Look for whole foods in the list instead of the nutrient. Foods that contain a vitamin, such as “acerola cherry powder,” which is vitamin C. If you can  identify “vitamin C” in the ingredient list, you can almost guarantee  that the vitamin is synthetic.

Watch for salt forms in the product, a synthetic added to supplements  for increasing the stability of the vitamin or mineral. Some to look for are acetate, bitartrate, chloride, gluconate, hydrochloride,  nitrate and succinate.

Words that end in “ide” or “ate” indicate that the  product has salt forms, which are synthetics. for example, if you see chloride, hydrochloride, acetate or nitrate on the  list, the manufacturer definitely used synthetics.

The letters “dl” that appear before the name of an ingredient  indicate it is synthetic. You could look for “fish oils” when  buying a vitamin A supplement. If the  label states “palmitate,” it is  a synthetic vitamin A supplement.

Synthetic Vitamins to Avoid

Vitamin A: Acetate and Palmitate
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): Thiamine Mononitrate, Thiamine Hydrochloride
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): Riboflavin
Pantothenic Acid: Calcium D-Pantothenate
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine): Pyridoxine Hydrochloride
Vitamin B12: Cobalamin
PABA (Para-aminobenzoic Acid): Aminobenzoic Acid
Folic Acid: Pteroylglutamic Acid
Choline: Choline Chloride, Choline Bitartrate
Biotin: d-Biotin
Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid): Ascorbic Acid
Vitamin D: Irradiated Ergosteral, Calciferol
Vitamin E: dl-alpha tocopherol, dl-alpha tocopherol acetate or  succinate