In a world where our soil is between 55 and 85% less nutrient dense than it was 60 years ago, here at Wise Owl Health we consider there is a strong case for supplementation.
The nutritional supplement market is a fast growing business as over the years we have all become far more aware of our need to keep healthy and to maintain optimum levels of nutrients.
Gaining access to nutritional supplements is easier now than it has ever been as they can be found in chemists, the shelves of supermarkets and countless sites on the Internet.
However, not all supplements are the same!
The way in which nutritional substances are presented to the body may be broadly divided into four groups:
- Natural food (unprocessed)
- Food State whole food complex nutrients
- Amino acid chelate mineral supplement
- As a ‘natural’ health supplement
Natural Food (unprocessed)
The vitamins, minerals and trace elements we normally consume come to us as part of the food that we eat. The nutrient content of the food will be dependant upon the soil or the animal grazing pasture. Modern day farming has seriously reduced the quality of the earth resulting in food that may be nutritionally deplete.
However, that considered, good quality food is still the most efficient way for our body to obtain our vitamins, minerals and trace minerals.
Food State Whole Food Complex Nutrients
The Food State form of vitamins and minerals present nutrients with appropriate co-factors to the body in a form the body can recognise, use more readily and safely.
In food the vitamins, minerals and trace elements are naturally associated with many different and complex food components.
The body can recognise the food components of unprocessed foods and the co-factors within these foods help to facilitate the absorption and distribution of nutrients.
The composition and structure of natural unprocessed foods contain special proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and other necessary co-factors that contribute to our good health.
In natural foods, (plants and animals), vitamins never exist in an isolated or ‘free state’. They are bound in a food matrix with co-factor attachments.
Food State nutrients, like natural foods are complete with the necessary nutrient delivery co-factors for use. The benefit of the food co-factors makes ‘Food State’ nutrients much more bioavailable within the body.
Although food is always the best means of obtaining all nutritional requirements (if grown in appropriate soil, under certain conditions), the second best will be the ‘Food State’ form of nutrients.
Amino Acid Chelates
Nature does not create amino acid chelates and no foods contain them.
These are minerals that are synthetically produced but considered better with regard to bioavailability than the standard ”natural” isolate chemical form.
As a ‘Natural’ Health Supplement
Unbeknown to many people and practitioners, most of the supplements on the shelves that call themselves ‘natural’ are presented to the body in a chemical form known as a ‘chemical isolate’.
For supplementation purposes, the majority of the 13 recognised vitamins cannot be successfully isolated in a stable form. In order for them to be technologically stable they are manufactured as chemical isolate forms in laboratories.
Many of the vitamins in ‘natural’ supplements are petroleum extracts, coal tar derivatives and chemically processed sugars with other acids and industrial chemicals (such as formaldehyde) used to process them.
Synthetic vitamins were originally developed because they cost far less to produce.