Why Food Alone Isn’t Enough: The Case for Whole Food Supplements

As a clinical nutritionist, I hear the line, “I try to eat healthy,” every day. And I know most people are genuinely sincere in their efforts. A few may have even given up fast food altogether or ditched the white sugar for healthier sugars such as honey or stevia. But even with these often-considered drastic changes in diet, it is nearly impossible to get all our nutrient needs from food. This is due to several factors, including the degradation of the American soil, the processing of our food, and genetic factors.

In the 2007 edition of Mary Frost’s book, “Back to the Basics of Human Health,” Mary states the following bleak statistics.

• “To get the iron that was available in one cup of spinach in 1945, you would have to consume 65 cups today."

• "An orange that contained 50 mg of natural vitamin C complex in 1950 now contains 5 mg.”

I don’t know about you, but I am not eating 65 cups of spinach daily! Statistics like these can be overwhelming, but the real question is, what are we to do about it? Burying our heads in the sand and hoping for the best isn’t a real strategy. Growing all organic vegetables at home isn’t a viable option for most of us either. For most of us, supplementation is the only viable strategy.

Whole food supplements are different from common vitamins you find on grocery store shelves. Most vitamins are chemically formulated in a lab. You will recognize these formulations by the parentheses after the vitamin name on the label. For example, Vitamin C will be followed by (ascorbic acid). Ascorbic acid is considered the bioavailable component of the Vitamin C complex and thus was the portion chosen to be synthetically replicated. Unfortunately, when synthetic vitamins are used long-term or in high enough doses, the body does not have enough of the remaining parts of the vitamin complex. This can create a deficiency state even with an abundance of “vitamins” going into the body.

Another thing I hear a lot is that people have gene mutations, such as MTHFR, that require methylated B vitamins. The truth is that if you could only absorb synthetic methylated B vitamins, you would not have survived long enough to get the B vitamins off the shelf. However, what it does mean is that synthetic vitamins are even more dangerous for you. Unfortunately, many of the store-bought staples like grains, cereals, and breads are loaded with synthetic B vitamins. So, if you are among the 30-40% of people with MTHFR mutations, removing these synthetic vitamins can make a significant health impact! I am also happy to report that you now have a whole food vitamin, instead of just methylated synthetics, that you can use and absorb! It is called Whole Food Folate from Standard Process.

The bottom line? All cellular functions depend on nutrients. Nutrients are found in food and food alone. Eating nutrient-dense food is definitely a key to our health. That is why we use Whole 30 as a template for helping people learn to eat well. However, with the soil degradation and genetic concerns, we also recommend a whole food vitamin for everybody. If you aren’t sure where to start, I highly recommend the General Health Pack from Standard Process.