Vitamin Supplements

While the golden rule of any supplement programme is to take the right doses and take them regularly, there are many other issues to consider when choosing supplements. For instance, is it better to have natural rather than synthetic nutrients? Are capsules better than tablets? Are certain forms of minerals better absorbed? Are there good and bad combinations? What if you’re on medication? Are there any drug—nutrient interactions or situations when you shouldn’t take supplements?

Capsules versus Tablets Nutritional Supplements

Capsules used to be made of gelatin, which is an animal product and therefore not suitable for vegetarians. However, thanks to technological advances, capsules made from vegetable cellulose are now available. These are not yet available for softgel’ capsules used for oils like vitamin E. The advantage of tablets is that, through compression, you can get more nutrients into them. The disadvantage is the need for fillers and binders. Some people think capsules allow better nutrient absorption, but, provided the tablet is properly made, there is little difference. Most vitamins can be provided as tablets, including the oil-based vitamins. For instance, natural vitamin E comes in two forms: d-alpha tocopherol acetate (oil); or d-alpha tocopherol succinate (powder). Both are equally potent.

Natural Nutritional Supplements versus Synthetic Nutritional Supplements

A great deal of nonsense has been written about the advantages of natural vitamins. First of all, many products claiming to be natural simply aren’t. By law, ^-a certain percentage of a product must be natural for the product to be declared `natural‘. The percentage varies from country to country. By means of careful wording on the labels, some supplements sound natural but really aren’t. For instance, ‘vitamin C with rosehips’ invariably means synthetic vitamin C with added rosehips, although it is often confused with vitamin C from rosehips. So which is better?

By definition, a synthetic vitamin must contain all the properties of the vitamin found in nature. If it doesn’t, then the chemists haven’t done their job properly. This is the case with vitamin E: natural d-alpha tocopherol succinate is 36 per cent more potent than the synthetic vitamin E called dl-alpha tocopherol (in this case the ‘1′ dictates the chemical difference). So natural vitamin E, usually derived from wheatgerm or soya oil, is better.

However, synthetic vitamin C (ascorbic acid) has the same biological potency as the natural substance, according to Dr Linus Pauling. No one has yet shown that natural vitamin C is more potent or beneficial to take. Indeed, most vitamin C is synthesised by taking a ‘natural‘ sugar, such as dextrose, and two chemical reactions later you have ascorbic acid. This is little different from the chemical reactions that take place in animals that convert sugar to vitamin C. Vitamin C derived from, say, acerola cherries — the most concentrated source — is also considerably bulkier and more expensive. Acerola is only 20 per cent vitamin C, so a 1000mg tablet would be five times as large as a normal tablet and would cost you ten times as much!

It is true that vitamins derived from natural sources may contain unknown elements that increase their potency. Vitamin E — d-alpha tocopherol — is found with other tocopherols (beta, gamma and delta tocopherol) in nature, so the inclusion of these with a measured amount of d-alpha tocopherol may be of benefit. Vitamin C is found in nature together with the bioflavonoids — active nutrients that appear to increase its potency, particularly in its role of strengthening the capillaries (tiny blood vessels). Good sources of bioflavonoids are berries and citrus fruit, so the addition of citrus bioflavonoids or berry extracts to vitamin C tablets is one step closer to nature.

It is possible that yeast and rice bran, which are excellent sources of B vitamins, also contain unknown beneficial ingredients, so these vitamins are best supplied with yeast or rice bran. Brewer’s yeast tablets or powder are far less efficient ways of taking B vitamins than B complex vitamin supplements with a little added yeast — one would have to eat pounds of yeast tablets to get optimum levels of B vitamins. However, watch out for yeast — some people are allergic to it, so if you react badly to any vitamin supplements, it could be yeast that is causing the problem. For this reason many supplements are yeast-free.

There are many other potentially helpful substances that may be provided with nutrients in a complex. Included here are co-enzymes that help to convert the nutrient into its active form. Vitamin B6, for example, needs to be converted from pyridoxine to pyridoxal-5-phosphate before it becomes active in the body. For this reason a number of B6 supplements contain zinc which helps this process. There are now supplements of pyridoxal-5-phosphate which should, theoretically, be more usable. Time will tell how much of an advantage such innovations will prove to be. But the key point is to make sure you get enough of each of the essential nutrients.

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