SuperFood plus Versus Other Multi-Vitamin and Mineral Supplements

Occasionally customers who are used to buying synthetic multivitamins and mineral supplements have questions regarding the difference in dosages of the various nutrients of the Superfood.

It is commonplace for synthetic formulations to contain upwards of ten times the recommended daily amount (RDA) for each nutrient and it is not uncommon to find hundreds and thousands of time the RDA. These customers have expressed some concerns (especially those who are chronically ill) about reducing the amount of their nutrient intake when they switch to Superfood.

There are several important points which relate to this issue.

Firstly, it is invariably the cheapest nutrients which are offered in these mega doses, not by any means those which are most needed by the body. It is unclear at the moment whether nutrient intake in excess of bodily requirements is detrimental to health. At best, for the water soluble nutrients, this would amount to nothing more than 'expensive wine' as the body simply expels any extraneous nutrients. However, there are other concerns too - disturbing the ratios of nutrients by, for example, giving equally high doses of all the B vitamins (another common practice in synthetic formulations), this may place the body in a position where breakdown of excess nutrients becomes the priority and therefore detrimentally redirects the bodies energy.

In recent experiments the value of mega doses of some previously widely used nutrients have been brought into question. One study testing the protective effect of large dose beta-carotene on smokers with lung cancer had to be aborted because it became apparent that mega doses of the nutrient were hastening death not delaying it.

Natural healers have long extolled the virtues of obtaining nutrients from natural sources because of their rounded and interactive biochemistry. There appears to be a lack of understanding between the scientific community and natural healers with regard to the basic principles and methods of natural healers. An example of this is that the scientific community maintains that synthetic vitamin C performs the same function as natural vitamin C. This is an accurate assessment, however this completely misses the point. Take the example of beta carotene (Pro-vitamin A) it is only one of many carotenoids which occur in nature alongside other pigments, many of which have been proven to have antioxidant activity, therefore isolating beta carotene and using it on its own is not as effective. This is the reason why nutrients from food are far superior to synthetic formulations, which contain large doses of single nutrients many of which have a RNI (recommended nutrient intake) of a few milligrams. By increasing the amounts of these single nutrients we are simply being wasteful and there is a potential for harm. By increasing amounts of various fruits and vegetables in the diet we are getting a broader spectrum of nutrients, many of which are in related groups to the various vitamins - the 'newly discovered' carotenoids (always there in spirulina never present in beta-carotene capsules), the tocotrierols and tocophenols of which there are many besides the one which is labeled vitamin E and so on.

More is not better, it is at best wasteful and at worst detrimental to the body.

There is also the issue of bioavailability. You are not what you eat, but what you assimilate. In the plant kingdom vitamin C for example occurs not only as ascorbic acid but as various mineral chelates and complex chemical compounds. A crude but illuminating example can be found in the case of iron deficiency anaemia.

The symptoms and diagnosis of this clinical syndrome are well defined and yet administration of large quantities of ferrous sulphate frequently produces quite uncomfortable side effects. Blood test readings may return to normal but frequently the subsequent lethargy, constipation and headaches compound rather than alleviate the clinical symptoms. If it were as simple as introducing iron back into the body a rusty nail would be nutritionally superior to iron containing foods like molasses, apricots, beets since the amount of elemental iron is hundreds of time higher. However, anyone having tried both the clinical and nutritional approach in the clinical setting alongside blood test monitoring would be in no doubt as to the most effective course of treatment.

All animal life on our planet relies completely upon the plant kingdoms ability to photosynthesize. Our reliance upon the plant world goes further, however, in as much as plants not only produce the oxygen essential to life, but through their root stocks they attract and assimilate the elemental metals in the soil to form complex organic compounds which are useable as nutrients for humans as nutrients and other animal species.
Some plants thrive in soil which contain higher levels of iron. This is why yellow dock grows in profusion around a rusty iron gate and why the blossoms of Red Clover in a similar position are the deepest red. Other plants thrive in sulphur rich soils, like the Alliums (garlic, onion) and Brassicas (cabbage, sprouts, cauliflower) which in turn become rich dietary sources of usable sulphur compounds. (Both nutrients and plant medicines - garlic for example.)

The biggest health concern in terms of human nutritional intake is actually the quality of our soils. Depleted soils produce nutritionally inferior fruits and vegetables which must then rely on chemical fertilizers which in themselves just contain the main nutrients necessary for growth and not the full spectrum of trace elements. It will not escape the attention of gardeners that even these nutrients in the wrong ratio or in excess are detrimental to the survival of the plants in question.
Overloading the human body with those chemical compounds which we know are essential to life (the vitamins for example) may be seen as broadly analogous to over use of chemical fertilizers containing just the main plant nutrients. Attention to the sources of, the form of the bioavailability of nutrients may seem less heroic then megadoses of synthetics but it is, on balance, a more sensible approach which in the longer term could benefit both our environment and our bodies.

Herbs Hands Healing Ltd is the Sole Supplier of Dr. Richard Schulze's Original Superfood in Britain and Mainland Europe.

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