Vitamin C - Natural or Fake?

In addition, Vitamin C builds the collagen in your body that is the main protein substance that makes up cartilage, tendons and connective tissue.

It also assists in the proper functioning of our immune systems, nerve transmission. 

Vitamin C is also critical to proper adrenal gland function. When adrenal glands are not supplied with adequate nutrition, it's common to experience fatigue, insomnia, muscle and joint ache, blood pressure issues, and more.

So it's very important for your body to get adequate vitamin C.

But which of the many vitamin C products on the market should you take?

We are always in favor of getting as much nutrition as possible from your food. But unless you are picking tomatoes right off the vine, or—as many of us can here in Florida—oranges, grapefruits, tangerines, lemons, and limes right off a backyard tree, the vitamin C content of that fruit or vegetable is going to be gone fairly quickly once exposed to air. As an example a freshly sliced cucumber will lose 40 plus percent of it’s vitamin C within 3 hours if left standing once cut.  

But a bigger problem with vitamin C and other vitamins is what the vitamin C is made from. Most of the vitamin C sold in the USA is made from petroleum instead of plants, and the difference is tremendous.

Back in the 1930s, when dietary supplements were first developed, a difference of opinion arose regarding the true definition of a vitamin. Those with a more natural viewpoint defined a vitamin as "a naturally-occurring complex matrix found only in real foods and botanicals." But chemists, who were starting to synthesize fractions of vitamin compounds in laboratories for commercial production, defined vitamins as "isolated synthetic compounds that are similar in structure to naturally-occurring vitamin matrices."

Today the Oxford dictionary defines a vitamin as "any of a group of organic compounds that are essential for normal growth and nutrition and are required in small quantities in the diet because they cannot be synthesized by the body."

But we still have these two types of vitamins: 1) the natural vitamin complexes found in actual foods and botanicals, and 2)  fractionated synthetic vitamins made as industrial chemicals.

Chemists don't see a difference between natural-source vitamin C and synthetic vitamin C because the molecular structure of each is the same.

We believe good health is achieved by living as close as possible to nature. So if it is necessary to take a vitamin because for whatever reason you cannot get enough vitamins from your food, it's best to take a wholefood vitamin.

While chemists look at molecular structure only, there are actually four elements present wholefood vitamins that are essential for the health and proper function of cells: 

1. hormones
2. oxygen content
3. phytochemicals
4.  enzymes. 

These are not present in synthetic vitamins.

Industrial processes make industrial chemicals that are "pure." Industrially processed table salt is pure sodium chloride, with all the naturally-occurring minerals removed. It's made for industrial processes and also used in industrial food processing. It's the same with synthetic vitamins. Vitamin C is pure, isolated ascorbic acid (if you see "ascorbic acid" on a label, it's synthetic). There are no biologically active ingredients.

By contrast, wholefood vitamin C from a living source contains the whole complex of vitamin C and it's co-factors, along with oxygen, enzymes, and phytochemicals.

Much of the vitamin C on the market, while inexpensive, is made from corn and should be avoided by individuals who are corn sensitive. It is also not surrounded by essential nutrients as found in nature.  

It is my preference to use vitamin C complex as it found in nature to insure that you are getting all the Mother Nature intended you to get from this fantastic supplement. Most people would say that the best source of Vitamin C is citrus fruits but vegetables such as raw broccoli, red and green bell peppers, strawberries, cantaloupe and tomatoes have high levels. Cooking destroys water-soluble vitamin C, so be sure to eat these raw. Raw potatoes actually contain a lot of vitamin C; French fries do not.

The list of benefits from taking vitamin C complex is very long for many reasons, but one thing is certain…your health will benefit from taking adequate amounts daily! 

To ensure the amount of Vitamin C needed I recommend Vitality C--an organically grown plant-based vitamin C complex. It contains the naturally-occurring phytochemicals and other natural cofactors which protect the vitamins and enhance their activity.

If you suffer from any joint or muscle pain, bleeding gums or if you bruise easily start on this supplement as soon as possible to assist your body in achieving ideal health!