Multivitamins to the Rescue!

Multivitamins are known to become more beneficial the longer you use them. According to a 1998 study “Multivitamin use, folate, and colon cancer in women in the Nurses’ Health Study” (Ann Intern Med. 1998 Oct 1;129(7):517-24.), increasing duration of multivitamin use was strongly associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer in 88,756 participants in the Nurses’ Health Study followed up for 15 years.

However, the big news this week was a study entitled “Multivitamins in the Prevention of Cancer in Men. The Physicians’ Health Study II Randomized Controlled Trial” published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) JAMA. 2012;308(18):1871-1880 showing that multivitamin use cuts men’s cancer risk by 8 percent: in this large-scale, randomized, placebo-controlled trial among middle-aged and older men, long-term daily multivitamin use had a statistically significant reduction in the primary end point of total cancer after more than a decade of treatment and follow-up. The study concludes: “Although the main reason to take multivitamins is to prevent nutritional deficiency, this data provides support for the potential use of multivitamin supplements in the prevention of cancer in middle-aged and older men.”

Most unfortunately, it was what I consider to be a low-quality supplement at work here, since it was a synthetic form of multivitamin that was used for this study (it was the Centrum Silver brand). For example, the form of vitamin E used is the synthetic dl-alpha-tocopherol. Synthetic alpha-tocopherol works only about half as well as natural d-alpha-tocopherol.

What would the results be if you used a formula with the full spectrum of all four tocopherols as well as all four tocotrienols?

Indeed, there is a huge difference between natural and synthetic vitamins.

Natural vitamins are always accompanied by various bioflavonoids, the cofactors essential for proper absorption which act as catalysts optimizing the effectiveness of vitamins. Bioflavonoids are proven to increase the bioavailability of vitamins by 30%. Synthetic vitamins however contain no cofactors and research suggests that synthetic molecules can deplete the existing resources in the body, eventually causing vitamin and cofactor deficiencies.

In order to achieve true optimal health, the human body requires a constant supply of nutritionally balanced food. These include fruits and vegetables filled with antioxidants, fiber and probiotics. While these products may be critical for remaining healthy, most people fail to get enough of them in their regular diet. According to the World Health Organization, low fruit and vegetable intake is among the top 10 global mortality risks and is responsible for approximately 1.7 million deaths worldwide. An inadequate supply of these foods may lead to conditions such as a lack of energy, G.I. discomfort, or headaches.

Because all natural vitamins, mineral and nutrients are thought to be better absorbed and utilized by the body than their synthetic counterparts, I have created Recipe For Health™ (a Targetage® Product). Recipe for Health™ is an easy to mix, berry tasting, nutrient powder blend containing a carefully selected mix of organic green vegetables and fruits, antioxidants, providing a high ORAC (anti-oxidant activity level), enzymes and probiotics.

I invite all of my readers to contact me on this blog and request a sample of Recipe For Health™: it is free, it is delicious and it is actually good for you!

The ADNO Conference, held on Monday, December 2nd in Paris, went very well. Although it began with some minor technical problems, it did not prevent me from speaking to an attentive audience of professionals. I described how Mirko Beljanski, while working at the Pasteur Institute, first discovered a synergy of action between the chemotherapy drug, Lomustine and his plant extracts. This synergy of action was later observed by researchers at Columbia University with another chemotherapy drug, Docetaxel and most recently, this synergy was confirmed with two more drugs, Gemcitabine and Carboplatin at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

What is remarkable is that each of these chemotherapy drugs are molecules with different structures and therefore have different effects from each other – sometimes even antagonistic in nature. But when used in combination with the extracts, the potential of each drug to inhibit the replication of cancer cells is significantly enhanced.  And this is the case, whether the cancer is a lymphoma, as seen in Beljanski’s experiments at the Pasteur Institute, a prostate cancer as seen at Columbia University, or an ovarian and pancreatic cancer as seen at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

The similarity observed within this “mini meta-analysis”, despite the disparity of molecular structures of all these chemotherapeutic agents and their disparate modes of action, is explained by the fact that they all contribute to further destabilization of the cancer cell DNA. And it is precisely the destabilized DNA that is targeted by the Beljanski extracts. Once bound to destabilized DNA, the compounds in the extracts prevent DNA duplication.

The principle of gradual and cumulative destabilization of DNA by exogenous agents is now at the heart of scientific explanations behind the emergence of environmental medicine.

This weekend, Dr. Mirko Beljanski was finally recognized by his peers in France and hailed as a pioneer far too ahead of his time to be understood by his contemporaries.

My sincere thanks to Dr. Dominique Rueff, and the ADNO for sponsoring this event and allowing me to be a part of it.

This week the British press is all about a recent study done by the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) which states up to 25% of UK children are Vitamin D deficient and the lack of awareness about this deficiency and the ‘plethora’ of diseases it is linked to therefore fueling a rise in preventable illnesses among children.

Professor Mitch Blair, the college’s Officer for Health Promotion, notes that intervention is needed due to the paucity of sunlight in Britain and because eating foods rich in Vitamin D, such as oily fish, eggs and mushrooms, only provides 10% of an individuals’ ideal intake. Vitamin D deficiency, which has also been linked to diabetes and tuberculosis, is expected to affect one in two white Britons, 90% of those in ethnic minority communities, and a 25% of all children.

“The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommends supplements for pregnant or breastfeeding women and their children from six months to four years. The Chief Medical Officer recommends supplements for children up to the age of five and, the government’s Healthy Start programme provides vitamins free for people on income support, ” Blair writes in an article published on BBC.com. “But we believe more needs to be done.” They plan to fortify food with cheap synthetic Vitamin D.

Unfortunately, not all vitamins are not created equal.

The human body has evolved for millions of years to digest foods found in nature. A healthy, organic diet should provide a good amount of nutrients that the body needs, but supplements can help ensure that we are getting a healthy dose of specific vitamins.  The problem is that many vitamin and mineral supplements are manufactured synthetically with chemicals and do not come straight from their natural sources. Most synthetically produced vitamins and supplements are chemical compounds that cannot be found in nature hence the human body does not recognize these ingredients which can result in unanticipated reactions. The body knows the difference between real and fake and it always prefers real. The natural form comes in packages with other vitamins, enzymes and minerals that control the way the body recognizes, metabolizes and uses them to make what it needs.

Here’s the bad, the worse, and the ugly about synthetic vitamins:

What is a “Synthetic” Vitamin?
What people are not aware of is all vitamins are not created equal, and most are actually synthetic. Synthetic vitamins are made to mimic the way natural vitamins act in our bodies. Natural vitamins are derived directly from plant material containing the vitamin, not produced in a test tube.

A synthetic vitamin can stimulate a cell’s metabolism, but it cannot upgrade or replace the cells components with superior, better quality elements. The result? A degraded cell. Nature always packages vitamins in groups, which work together for better absorption. For this reason, the body responds to an isolated vitamin in the same way it responds to a toxin.

A good example of “junk” nutritional supplements is synthetic B vitamins. Most people do not know that most B vitamins are made from petrochemicals! For your best health, take a whole-nutrient B vitamin and avoid synthetics. Synthetics or “isolated” vitamins will be listed on the label as follows: Vitamin B1 (thiamine), Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), Vitamin B3 (niacin) and, Vitamin B5 (calcium pantothenate).

What is wrong with isolated vitamins?
Many synthetic vitamins lack the transporters and co-factors associated with naturally occurring vitamins because they have been “isolated.” The Organic Consumers Association, emphasizes that isolated vitamins cannot be used or recognized by the body in the same way as the natural version.

A good example is Vitamin E: The synthetic version of Vitamin E is often referred to as the dl-form. The dl-form is a combination of the d-form (which, by the way, is the naturally occurring form) and the l-form. The problem is that the body doesn’t actually use the l-form, we excrete it! Which means no benefit, just extra work for the liver!
When isolated vitamins can’t be used by the body, they are either stored until you obtain or create the nutrients required to use them effectively or are excreted. Synthetic vitamins are also devoid of necessary trace minerals and must use the body’s own mineral reserves, which may lead to dangerous mineral deficiencies.

Are certain synthetic ingredients worse than others?
Yes. Some vitamins are water soluble, so they flush out of the body quite easily. Other vitamins are fat-soluble. The fat-soluble vitamins include Vitamins A, D, E and K. Because they are fat-soluble (in lipids), these vitamins tend to build-up in the body’s fat tissues, fat deposits, and liver. This storage capability makes the fat-soluble vitamins potentially toxic when consuming high-dose synthetic versions of these vitamins, rather than food-based vitamins that the body knows how to metabolize. Care should be exercised when taking the fat-soluble vitamins, and it is recommended that you avoid the synthetic forms of these vitamins whenever possible. Fat-soluble vitamins are found naturally in butter, fish oils, nuts, and green leafy vegetables.

Did You Know?
More than 95% of all the vitamin supplements sold today fall in to the synthetic category. It is based on this firm belief that I have created the Targetage® line of products, which includes a full array of natural vitamins and quality antioxidants. Natural vitamins remain the best way to go!

New Website

To the esteemed supporters and valued customers of Natural Source International Ltd., I would like to announce the launch of the new Natural Source Website! This site has been redesigned to be more user friendly, contemporary and offer you, the customer, a better user experience.

In addition to an improved design, this new website boasts some new features, which include:
– Personalized and secure account information.
– Saving shipping/billing details and information on favorite products, so placing an order is fast and easy.
– Ability to place an order and pay in Euros to avoid excess exchange fees.
– Access specials offers and promotions regularly.
– An affiliate program that allows you, the customer, to earn commissions by promoting the Natural Source family of products.

(more…)

As we welcome a New Year, we would like to thank all of you for your continued support and trust. We wish you all the best of health in the year ahead and we are looking forward to serving you in 2013.

Happy New Year from the team at Natural Source International!