Do you know what you’re swallowing when taking your one-a-day supplements?  Most of the supplements out there are glorified, ground up synthetic chemicals from petroleum and/or ROCKS!  This is an eye-opener and you need to share this with everyone! We can help you evaluate your current supplements and provide you the resources so that you can make the best decision for your health.  Our bodies were designed to absorb and utilize plant-based natural vitamins and minerals!

Proclivity, a continuing education, third party company holds post graduate training for all types of doctors for their continuing education requirements in nutrition. Medical doctors, chiropractors, dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists, and nurses can all earn Category One, CME credits studying these nutritional discoveries.  Proevity just released a brochure looking at 23 of the best known companies and what to look for in a vitamin, mineral, and phytonutrient product.

To your health,

Suji Martens

What to look for in vitamin and mineral supplements By Thomas L. Taliaferro, D.C.

Since the 1930’s we have been educated by such governmental agencies as the F.D.A. and U.S.D.A to supplement our diet with vitamins and minerals to prevent certain diseases. Even the AMA has stated every American adult should supplement their diet with vitamins and minerals. Why do we continue to supplement? One reason is that an estimated 90% of our standard American diet (sad for short) is processed. Meat often contains growth hormones and antibiotics. Vegetables and fruits are picked green, before they are ripe and crops are grown in nutrient deficient soil, polluted with pesticides and herbicides.

Farm land used to be cultivated for seven years. One crop a season and left alone for a year to “season” the land for the next crop. Not anymore. Commercial practices of today harvest in one day, rip the next, and plant again. Sometimes up to three or four times a year.

First generation supplements were synthetic (United States Pharmacopeia-USP). These were inexpensive and standardized. The problem becomes obvious when we realize some basic chemistry. The body knows the difference between food that can be properly assimilated and synthetic variants that too often can not. Every single pharmaceutical ever produced has a side effect because the body knows the difference between food and synthetic. “A study published in the Journal of Food Chemistry stated that, with the exception of selenium, less than 10% of the synthetic minerals contained in the most popular brands of multivitamins were in a soluble bioavailable form”. (Proevity, Continuing Education Group) Simply put, a rock is a rock and can not be absorbed as food. This is one reason many physicians believe supplements are nothing more than expensive urine.

Second generation supplements are from whole food. These are from fruit and vegetable extracts as well as from single exotic plants. The problem here is nutrient deficiency, especially in minerals. Also, this category cannot be standardized. You never know how much you are getting from serving to serving. Therefore, whole food supplements cannot be labeled for nutritional values. No single plant, fruit or vegetable on the market today can meet all RDA or DV requirements.

Third generation supplements contain standardized, natural vitamin complexes, standardized, plant derived minerals, standardized plant derived phytochemicals and all sources of all a product should be identified and labeled. We can digest and assimilate a plant that has been grown using hydroponic cultivation techniques. This means all vitamins and minerals are standardized in a special formula and used as food for the plant.

Misleading labeling and claims does more than just drain your wallet. These claims can be dangerous. “Provides you with 2000% of the daily requirement of 90 nutrients.” “Offers the highest absorption.” Are you eating food?

Minerals are typically salts and have less than a 10% absorption/solubility rate.

Chelated minerals are tricks by companies attempting to psych out the body to think a mineral (rock) is actually an amino acid. This has the potential to increase absorption. This is only marginally better than mineral salts.

Plant sourced minerals have an absorption/solubility rate of 80-100%.