Hi and welcome back!
This is Part Two on a series about natural and synthetic supplements. I have said before, based on science and research that a supplement that gets as much vitamins from organic whole foods is much better for you.
I try to do as much independant research as I can, espeically with
health products. I came accross an article which questioned the use of
synthetic vitamins and minerals in supplements.
I'd like to say you really learn to trust Quixtar/Amway when you begin to utilize their product support, research and the like. Also, when you start to use the products, for the most part are great and especially when you start to sell them, your customers love them too.
Double X includes 2000mg of compressed plant food, but it does also
have some synthetic content so I emailed Quixtar to find out why they are
used.
This can be applied to any supplement as well. Here was their response.
Quote:
Hi,
I am looking for some scientific in-depth knowledge about the ingredients of Double X after recently reading this article:
http://www.doctorsresearch.com/articles3.html
I know you have to be careful with what you read on the internet which is why I'm emailing you. The article describes how synthetic vitamins are no good for you, here are some statements:
"Calcium carbonate is the rock known as limestone or chalk. Used in the manufacture of paint, rubber, plastics, ceramics, putty, polishes, insecticides, & inks. Used as a filler for adhesives, matches, pencils, crayons, linoleum, insulating compounds, & welding rods"
"Vitamin B-1, Thiamin: Vitamin B-1 exists in food in the forms of thiamin pyrophosphate, thiamin monophosphate, and thiamin . The non-food thiamin mononitrate is a coal tar derivative , never naturally found in the body , and is a crystalline isolate (the same is true for thiamin hydrochloride and other chloride forms)."
Double X Contains both of these, another worrying example being "Silicon Dioxide".
So, i understand Double X does include synthetic vitamins, why not use 100% plant food? and can you give more information about the ingredients used in Double X concerning the above article.
Any help on this matter would be very appriciated.
Regards,
Marc Possoff
The Reply
Quote:
Hello Marc,
Thank you for your message.
In many cases, the body is incapable of distinguishing between synthetic and natural forms of vitamins, which means that synthetic and natural vitamins are equally effective. However, natural vitamins, if delivered in their original plant context (such as in a concentrate)may also provide a wealth of other vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. In some cases, such as with beta-carotene and vitamin E, the natural forms are more bioavailable, and also have more potent activities in the body. And that is the basis of using natural forms whenever possible in our products.
However, for the case that you mention speicifically, thiamine hydrochloride, there is specific research on this topic stating that this form of the vitamin is equally well absorbed and used by the body as other forms, and is an efficient method by which to provide thiamine to the body. Thiamine hydrochoride is referred to as the 'salt' form of thiamine, meaning that it is easy to work with in manufacturing process, yet dissolves quickly and easily in water so that it can absorbed by the body when consumed.
Calcium carbonate does have many uses - in the manufacturing arena as well as in human health. This form of calcium is natural, and is derived from oyster shells (which over millions of years have transformed into limestone). There are many forms of calcium available for nutritional supplements, but calcium carbonate is generally preferred because it is absorbed most easily by the body (equivalent to the absorption of calcium from milk, the best dietary source of calcium), and is the most compact way to deliver large amounts of calcium in supplement form.
Some ingredients - such as silicon dioxide - are included in the manufacturing process because it enhances the quality of and production of the final product. Silicon dioxide acts as a 'glidant', which means that it helps the particles in each tablet to mix together more completely, and enhance the rate at which the formulations flow through the tableting process. In essence, it allows to maintain our high standards and high production rate.
There are many factors which we consider when we formulate a product - two of the most important are size and cost. Natural sources of vitamins and minerals are often very expensive and take up a great deal of space (remember, it's not just the single nutrient present in the concentrate, but hundreds and thousands of other phytonutrients as well). In order to keep both of these parameters under control, we may also use synthetic sources of vitamins - that perform equally well as the natural source - in some of our products. In this way, we can provide as much natural sourced vitamin and mineral as possible - to insure the inclusion of healthy phytonutrients from concentrates - but also provide potency from synthetic sources, to insure that you get all the health benefits of highly-potent multivitamin/multimineral supplement.
We trust this answers your questions however, should you require any further help, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will do our upmost to assist you.
With Kind Regards
Angela Morley
Pretty great response. I haven't found a 100% organic supplement yet.
Think about it... if there was such a product it would have to be as big as a baseball or even bigger.
What counts is, that a supplement is getting as MUCH as it possibly can from REAL whole food.
Regards,
Marc Possoff
