Are Natural Vitamins Better for You Than Synthetic Vitamins?
In order to answer this question fairly, we must first agree
upon the definition of what constitutes a natural
vitamin.
Definitions of
natural
Some would choose to define a natural vitamin based upon its
source. In this instance, the definition of a natural vitamin would be,
"Vitamins provided from food or plant sources."
In this case, the vitamin C found in a fresh glass of orange juice would
be considered to be natural vitamin C.
Others consider the chemical form of a vitamin to be the factor that
dictates whether or not it is natural.
For example, since the chemical form of vitamin C found in orange juice
is L-ascorbic acid, then L-ascorbic acid would be considered natural even
though it was derived via the conversion of corn syrup to glucose, and then via
further enzymatic steps in the laboratory that would ultimately yield purified,
crystallized vitamin C.
The issue of potency
If you decided that you wanted only natural source vitamins,
and if you go by the former, fundamentalist definition of natural, you would
have to prepare yourself to accept the fact that there is no way you will be
able to achieve high intakes of virtually any vitamin in supplemental form.
Consider that a cup of fresh orange juice will provide you with about 124 mg of
vitamin C.[1]
If you were able to cause all the liquid in the orange juice to evaporate
without destroying the heat and light-sensitive vitamin C, and then put the remaining
powder into a capsule, you would still only get a little over 100 mg of
"natural" vitamin C. If you wanted at least 1000 mg, you would have to take
about 10 capsules, which isn't particularly practical. On the other hand, if
you went by the latter definition of natural, you could easily get 1,000 mg of
vitamin C in a single tablet.
Whole food source
vitamins
Right about know, you may be thinking, "Wait a minute! What
about whole food source vitamins? They're all natural and I can get them in
higher potencies." Again, this is an issue of definition. If you're going by
the fundamentalist definition, then so-called "whole food" vitamins are
synthetic, not natural. If you doubt this, just go to the website of almost any
brand selling "whole food" vitamins, and carefully read how these vitamins are
created.
Initially, the marketing copy on these websites generally
present the vitamins as coming from a whole food, not chemical isolates. As a matter of fact, one website touts that
their products do not contain "the synthetic vitamins, minerals and chemical
herbal isolates you'll find in most supplements." However, when you examine the
process closer, you learn that the distained isolated and synthetic vitamins
are simply mixed together with whole foods in a type of broth, or more
eloquently stated, "cultured in organic media." The finished vitamins are
then said to be delivered "in their safest and most active form within the infinite complexity of
whole food." Let's be fair. Just because
synthetic vitamins are mixed with whole foods, do you really think that they're
now natural and from a whole food source?
Answering the original question
So, back to the original question: "Are natural vitamins better for you
than synthetic vitamins?" With the exception of vitamin E, the short answer is
"no." The reason for this answer is that there is no published data
demonstrating greater absorption or efficacy for natural over synthetic
vitamins. For example, in a review examining vitamin C bioavailability, studies
found that ascorbic acid bioavailability is equivalent in
ascorbic acid tablets, orange juice, whole orange sections, and cooked
broccoli, while the bioavailability of ascorbic acid in raw broccoli was 20%
lower.[2]
Adherents to the fundamentalist definition will say that
it's okay to get far less of a natural vitamin since it will work better in the
body than natural. However, there is no
published data to support this position.
Rather, the data often suggests that it is the higher doses of
"synthetic" vitamins that yield positive health benefits. For example, the research shows a benefit in
reducing the duration and severity of a cold if megadoses (in the grams) of
vitamin C are used[3] [4],
while smaller doses tend to yield little results.
Natural vitamin E is better
than synthetic
Vitamin
E, it turns out, is different than other vitamins. Natural vitamin E (d-alpha
tocopherol/yl) is better absorbed
then synthetic vitamin E (dl-alpha tocopherol/yl). SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1A 1981 study published
in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition[5] demonstrated that the natural
vitamin E was 3.48 times more active in the human body than the synthetic
vitamin E; even though the same number of IUs were used in the test subjects.
Conclusion
If you want high/mega potency
doses of a nutrient, your only real option is to utilize synthetic vitamins. In
any case, it really doesn't matter whether the vitamin is synthetic or
natural. Either way, you're going to get
good absorption.
References
[1] USDA
National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 21; 2008
[2] Gregory JF 3rd. Ascorbic acid bioavailability in
foods and supplements. Nutr Rev
1993;51(10):301-3.
[3] Hemila H. Vitamin C supplementation and common cold
symptoms: factors affecting the magnitude of the benefit. Med Hypotheses 1999; 52(2):171-8.
[4] Gorton HC, Jarvis K. The effectiveness of vitamin C in
preventing and relieving the symptoms of virus-induced respiratory infections. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1999;
22(8):530-3.
[5] Machlin LJ, Brin M. Bioequivalence of RRR-alpha-
tocopheryl acetate and all-rac-alpha-tocopheryl acetate. Am J Clin Nutr 1981; 34(8):1633-6.