Not all vitamins are created equal

By Serina Penner

Once upon a time, people used to cure common diseases with nutrition. Why? Many of the illnesses of old were simple vitamin deficiencies. One needs only look at the history of scurvy to see that it’s filled with examples of trained physcians not willing to see, or understand, that simple nutrition can be a cure. In those days, doctors didn’t know as much as we do now. Just imagine what they will say about our generation in 2070.

Today, everywhere we turn, we see new cases of cancer. Heart disease is another important participant in significantly reducing life expectancy. In response, there is a plethora of literature on how to prevent, or cure, these now-common ailments. How does one make sense of this nutrition information overload? Firstly, I think it’s important to get back to basics.

Unfortunatly, modern medicine itself does not encourage doctors to provide patients with nutritional remedies. This leaves us with few options. Homeopathy is an improving wing of modern medicine, but for those of us without access to knowledgeable experts, the health food store is our only option.

When it comes to organic produce, you may not always get what you’re paying for. The nutritional benefits of plants are affected by more than conditions of growing, harvesting, transporting, and storing. The most important part of a plant is the soil that it’s grown in. Large farms, including organic farms, may not be able to ensure that the soil has enough nutrients. Healthy soil grows plants that provide fruit and vegetables that are crammed with nutrients. Therefore, in order to make sure you’re getting what you need from your food you should be buying, whenever possible, from a locally certified organic farmer. This way you can enquire about their farming practices.

Secondly, the peanut butter and jam of the health store world: Supplements. I take supplements. I know that it’s impossible for me to get the iron I need (as I have a deficiency) from the food I eat. I also know that, while I do eat organic (whenever I can) and local (whenever I can pick it), I cannot get all the nutrition my body needs to operate at it’s full potential. In addition, with my lifestyle and budget, eating healthy ALL the time is impossible. This is where the supplements come in.

When I started doing research about supplements I was shocked. In Canada, the supplement industry is about as controlled as a kindergarten student. It can behave when watched by an adult, but when not supervised it tends to flail. Vitamins, minerals, herbal remedies, homeopathic medicines, traditional medicines, probiotics, and other products such as amino acids and essential fatty acids are regulated under the Natural Health Products (NHP) which came into effect in January 2004.

The NHP does good job of laying out what the supplement industry needs to do in order to operate in Canada. Supplement manufacturers must adhere to the strong Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), which maintain that all workers in manufacturing plants must undergo appropriate training. Essentially this means that the government watches over the conditions under which the supplements are prepared, but does not cover the issue of supplement quality.

If you go to assessment sites like consumerlab.com, you would see that this lack of control can lead to several problems, some which may include:
• too little active ingredient, or too much
• wrong ingredient altogher
• contamination
• rancidity (especially with fish oils)
• insufficient or misleading information.

Also, when looking at the numerous kinds of supplements and vitamins it is very hard to understand exactly what the source of that vitamin or mineral is. Many supplements are made solely from synthetic sources, rather than natural plant sources. In Canada, if a health supplement has 5% natural ingredients, it can be labeled as a natural product. This leads to a strain of products that are often void of phytonutrients (naturally occuring vitamins and minerals).

Before going to a health food store its important to do some research. There are sources of amazing supplements out there, the trick is finding them. I found a supplement from sustainable organic farms with great farming and manufacturing practices. I did not buy them from a shelf in a health food store, but I do still shop there. No one’s perfect, but at least we can help each other to be more aware.

If you would like more information, or would like to know more about supplements please feel free to email me: serinampenner@gmail.com