The case for whole food nutritional supplements

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Feb-March, 2004  by Jordan Rubin

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

As with any area of health and wellness, there are differing schools of thought and philosophies; nutritional supplementation is no different. Historically, the older school of thought on nutritional supplementations dates back to the 1930s, during which time there was emphasis on the utilization of whole food concentrates as a source of essential nutrients. Concentrated foods such as wheat and barley grass were considered our first multivitamins; these grasses and their juices are "mainstay" health drinks even today, and are seeing a resurgence of interest.

The "modern paradigm" of nutritional supplementation came as chemical scientists claimed they could replicate these natural-growing miracle foods' nutrients in their laboratories. This trend superceded the "old school" paradigm of nutritional supplementation. With the advent of scientific technology, individual nutrients such as beta-carotene, ascorbic acid, and alphatocopherol could not only be identified in the whole food matrix, but could also be scientifically crafted as simplified imitations of the "real thing"--created through synthetic means.

Such "breakthroughs" led to the modern multiple vitamin and mineral formulas that utilize, for the most part, isolated or synthetic vitamins and minerals created in the laboratory. These types of formulas rely on USP (United States Pharmacopoeia) nutrients. These are pulled or isolated from their natural cofactors and are often synthesized like pharmaceuticals. If sufficient cofactors are not supplied--such as other vitamins, minerals, and enzymes--then the body might not be able to use them. These nutrient isolates or USP vitamins and minerals are sometimes combined with food concentrates and herbs. This might be an improvement, but still inferior to the "old school" ways.

Recent studies indicate that the "old school" ways are far superior to the "modern paradigm"; Nature's design should not be altered or "replicated." Irrefutably, nutrition is best gleaned from whole foods; however, when nutritional supplementation is needed, then whole food nutritional supplements offer the greatest nutritional integrity. Isolated or synthetic supplements are sub-optimal, many times ineffective, and can even be detrimental to health.

With nearly 70% of our population taking one or more supplements, mostly in the form of multivitamins, it is important to understand what these nutrients do in the body. Vitamins are extremely complex organic substances necessary for human life and metabolic processes--for growth, maintenance, and health. The body is not capable of producing these vitamins on its own; they must be obtained from foods and are integral parts of the nutritive compounds infused in the whole food. They are sometimes considered singular substances, but each vitamin is actually a "group of chemically related compounds." By separating the vitamin "group" into single, incomplete vitamin portions, the vitamin is then converted from "a physiological, biochemical, active micronutrient into a disabled, debilitated chemical of little or no value to living cells."

For example, the body can selectively choose to absorb and assimilate exactly what it needs from whole foods/whole food concentrates containing whole nutritional complexes, and excrete the rest. The antithesis of this "selective absorption" mechanism occurs when the body is given fractionated, isolated, or synthetic vitamins; the body is coerced to manage the influx of vitamins and the results can be chemical imbalances or toxic overdose. Most vitamins in foods are directly or indirectly products of plants; exceptions include vitamin D--produced in adequate amounts by the body when utilizing ultraviolet light from the sun (in measured quantities). They are also found in organ meats and dairy fat from grass-fed animals, and vitamin B12-produced by fungi, soil microorganisms, and some bacteria, as well as animal foods including meats, dairy, and eggs. Normally, intestinal bacteria produce a needed portion of vitamin K, and other B complex factors--if the healthy intestinal bacteria are functioning properly.

Whole Foods Defined

Properly grown and prepared whole foods are still the primary sources of virtually all vitamins; however, whole food nutritional supplements--derived from whole foods--organically grown, nutrient-dense, minimally processed at low temperatures, and made "body ready" for quick "selective" absorption and assimilation--rank second. Whole foods are real foods complete with all natural nutrients and other important compounds, and have not been highly processed, synthesized, or irradiated.

The word "whole" is a derivation of the Greek root "holon," meaning "a single organism" and "the entire universe"; these can "stand alone," or perform a dual role by becoming synergistic entities woven together, forming the whole. The word "food" is derived from the Old English word "fode," meaning "to foster, to nourish, and to encourage growth." Therefore, "whole foods" denotes that their roots are founded in an integrated universe whose foods contain the spectrum of essential, synergistic nutrients that, when consumed, foster a balanced, complete nutrition.