WHOLE FOOD VITAMINS: ASCORBIC ACID IS NOT VITAMIN C

May 23, 2006

A VERY interesting article on Whole Food Vitamins and isolated

vitamins! Dr. Tim O'Shea is a big advocate for autism caused by

vaccines (mercury) and has written many articles. The source is at

the bottom, which goes to his website. He is referenced by many

noteworthy specialist including Dr. Mercola.

Because of this article, we only supplement with whole food sources.

Roe

WHOLE FOOD VITAMINS:

ASCORBIC ACID IS NOT VITAMIN C

- Tim O'Shea

This will be a short chapter, but after you're finished with it, you

will know more about vitamins than 95% of clinical nutritionists,

doctors, supplement sales force, or bodybuilders. If that sounds

arrogant or overstated, it really isn't my fault. I'm just a

messenger; a purveyor of information. Either I'm right or the 95%

are right; can't be both.

Without further ado, here's the kernel: ascorbic acid is not vitamin

C. Alpha tocopherol is not vitamin E. Retinoic acid is not vitamin

A. And so on through the other vitamins. Vast sums of money have

been expended to make these myths part of Conventional Wisdom. If

you have several college degrees and all this is news to you, don't

feel bad. Unless you think your education ended at Commencement.

Which is generally true.

WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS

Vitamins are not individual molecular compounds. Vitamins are

biological complexes. They are multi-step biochemical interactions

whose action is dependent upon a number of variables within the

biological terrain. Vitamin activity only takes place when all

conditions are met within that environment, and when all co-factors

and components of the entire vitamin complex are present and working

together. Vitamin activity is even more than the sum of all those

parts; it also involves timing.

Vitamins cannot be isolated from their complexes and still perform

their specific life functions within the cells. When isolated into

artificial commercial forms, like ascorbic acid, these purified

synthetics act as drugs in the body. They are no longer vitamins,

and to call them such is inaccurate.

A vitamin is

" …a working process…consisting of the nutrient,…enzymes, coenzymes,

antioxidants, and trace minerals activators. "

- Royal Lee " What Is a Vitamin? " Applied Trophology Aug 1956

FORGOTTEN TRAILBLAZER

Dr. Royal Lee was the pioneer researcher in the field of whole food

vitamins. For decades he documented the basic facts summarized in

this chapter. His work has never been scientifically refuted. Anyone

who seriously undertakes the study of vitamins today corroborates

Lee's work. His story is a fascinating study in itself, a study of

indomitable perseverance in the pursuit of true principles. Jensen

tells us that Royal Lee's work will not be appreciated until the

next century. (Hasn't happened yet.)

Lee felt the full weight of organized drugs/medicine bearing down on

him. Reading like something out of Schindler's List, we learn that

the FDA not only persecuted Lee for challenging the economics of

synthetic vitamins, produced by giant drug companies, but that he

was actually ordered by a court to burn all his research of the past

20 years! Burn his research! When has that ever happened in this

country? First Amendment?

Going off on a tangent, ever wondered how the FDA attained its

present position as attack dog for the drug companies and food

manufacturers? It's another whole story in itself. The precursor of

the FDA was the Bureau of Chemistry. Up until 1912 the Bureau of

Chemistry was headed up by a man named Dr. Harvey W. Wiley. Here's a

quote from Dr. Wiley that illustrates where his interests lay:

" No food product in our country would have any trace of benzoic

acid, sulfurous acid or sulfites or any alum or saccharin, save for

medical purposes. No soft drink would contain caffeine or

theobromine. No bleached flour would enter interstate commerce. Our

foods and drugs would be wholly without any form of adulteration and

misbranding. The health of our people would be vastly improved and

the life greatly extended. The manufacturers of our food supply, and

especially the millers, would devote their energies to improving the

public health and promoting happiness in every home by the

production of whole ground, unbolted cereal flours and meals. "

- The History of a Crime Against the Pure Food Law,1912

Now obviously we can't have a dangerous lunatic like this in charge

of the public nutrition, can we? Dr. Wiley actually filed suit

against the Coca-Cola company in an attempt to keep their artificial

product out of interstate commerce, and off the market. Fortunately

Wiley was eventually replaced by a saner individual, more attuned to

the real nutritional needs of the American people, as determined by

the experts who knew what was best for us: the food manufacturers.

This was Dr. Elmer , and in his words we get an idea of the

change in philosophy that marked the transformation of the Bureau of

Chemistry into the FDA:

`It is wholly unscientific to state that a well-fed body is more

able to resist disease than a poorly-fed body. My overall opinion is

that there hasn't been enough experimentation to prove that dietary

deficiencies make one susceptible to disease. "

- Elmer MD

Washington Post 26 Oct 49

Bernard Jensen illustrates how the tobacco industry and the food

giants like Coke were indirectly behind the legal persecution of

Royal Lee. Cigarette ads in the 40s and 50s showed medical doctors

promoting the digestive benefits of smoking Camels. Or the

advertising of Coke and other refined sugar foods stating

that " science has shown how sugar can help keep your appetite and

weight under control. " (Empty Harvest)

During this same period, Royal Lee was kept in courts for years,

fighting to keep the right to advertise his vitamin products,

because he was a threat to the food manufacturers. Lee knew they

were poisoning the American public. He proved that refined sugars

and devitalized, bleached flours were destroying the arteries and

the digestive system, causing heart disease and cancer.

WHOLE VS. FRACTIONATED

OK, natural vs. synthetic. Let's start with Vitamin C. Most sources

equate vitamin C with ascorbic acid, as though they were the same

thing. They're not. Ascorbic acid is an isolate, a fraction, a

distillate of naturally occurring vitamin C. In addition to ascorbic

acid, vitamin C must include rutin, bioflavonoids, Factor K, Factor

J, Factor P, Tyrosinase, Ascorbinogen, and other components as shown

in the figure below:

_____________________A s c o r b i c A c i d______________

ascorbinogen

bioflavonoids

rutin

tyrosinase

Factor J

Factor K

Factor P

____________________________________________________________________

A s c o r b i c A c i d

____________________________________________________________________

V I T A M I N C

In addition, mineral co-factors must be available in proper amounts.

If any of these parts are missing, there is no vitamin C, no vitamin

activity. When some of them are present, the body will draw on its

own stores to make up the differences, so that the whole vitamin may

be present. Only then will vitamin activity take place, provided

that all other conditions and co-factors are present. Ascorbic acid

is described merely as the " antioxidant wrapper " portion of vitamin

C; ascorbic acid protects the functional parts of the vitamin from

rapid oxidation or breakdown. ( Somer p 58 " Vitamin C: A Lesson in

Keeping An Open Mind " The Nutrition Report)

Over 90% of ascorbic acid in this country is manufactured at a

facility in Nutley, New Jersey, owned by Hoffman-LaRoche, one of the

world's biggest drug manufacturers(1 800 526 0189). Here ascorbic

acid is made from a process involving cornstarch and volatile acids.

Most U.S. vitamin companies then buy the bulk ascorbic acid from

this single facility. After that, marketing takes over. Each company

makes its own labels, its own claims, and its own formulations, each

one claiming to have the superior form of vitamin C, even though it

all came from the same place, and it's really not vitamin C at all.

FRACTIONATED = SYNTHETIC = CRYSTALLINE = FAKE

The word synthetic means two things:

· manmade

· occurs nowhere in nature

From the outset, it is crucial to understand the difference between

vitamins and vitamin activity. The vitamin is the biochemical

complex. Vitamin activity means the actual biological and cellular

changes that take place when the stage is set for the vitamin

complex to act.

Think of it like gas and a car. Pumping the gas into the tank

doesn't necessarily mean the car is going anywhere. Other conditions

and factors must be also present, in order for Activity to occur.

The gas line to the carburetor must be clear, the carburetor jets

must be set, there must be an exact mixture of air flow, the

ignition must be turned on, the spark plugs must be clean, the exact

amount of gas must reach each spark plug right before it fires, no

gas must be left over in the cylinder after the plug fires… Getting

the idea? If any of this stuff is missing, there's no Activity: the

car doesn't run, or at least not very well.

Amazing as it may sound if you're hearing this for the first time,

vitamins are more than the synthetic fractions we are commonly

taught they are. The ascorbic acid you buy at the grocery store

every few weeks, thinking you are buying Vitamin C, is just a

chemical copy of naturally occurring ascorbic acid, which itself is

still only a fraction of the actual Vitamin C. Real vitamin C is

part of something living, and as such, can impart life. Your

synthetic, fractionated chemical ascorbic acid never grew in the

ground, never saw the light of day, never was alive or part of

anything alive. It's a chemical, a cornstarch derivative, a sulfuric

acid by-product. In your body it's just another drug. Synthetic

vitamins have toxic effects from mega-doses and actually can

increase the white blood cell count. Vitamins are only necessary in

minute quantities on a daily basis. Whole food vitamins, by

contrast, are not toxic since the vitamin is complexed in its

integral working form, and requires nothing from the body, and

triggers no immune response.

DEFICIENCY

Scurvy is a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. Scurvy is

characterized by bleeding gums, slow wound healing, softening bones,

loose teeth, ulcerations of the mouth and digestive tract, general

weight loss and fatigue. From 1650 to 1850 half of all seamen on

transoceanic voyages died of scurvy. It was discovered by ship

surgeon Lind in the early 1800s that British sailors were

spared the disease altogether simply by a diet rich in citrus

fruits. Since limes travelled well, they were the common choice

during the early years, and thus the _expression " limeys " was coined

to describe British sailors. It was later found both at sea and in

prison fare that potatoes were equally successful in preventing

scurvy, and much cheaper to obtain. (Lancet. 1842)

We find that there is less than 20 mg of ascorbic acid in a potato.

Yet this small amount, since it is complexed in a food source, is

all the body needs not only to prevent scurvy, but also to cure it,

even in its advanced state. Such a remedy is described in detail in

Dana's amazing journal Two Years Before the Mast, written in

1840.

Whole food vitamin C as found in potatoes, onions, and citrus fruits

is able to quickly cure any case of scurvy. By contrast, the

fractionated chemical ascorbic acid has been shown to be

insufficient in resolving a scurvy condition, simply because it does

not act as a nutrient. (Lancet 1842)

Ascorbic acid simply cannot confer vitamin activity, as taught by

the discoverer of vitamin C himself, another Nobel Prize winner, Dr.

Albert Szent-Georgi.

Szent-Georgi discovered vitamin C in 1937. In all his research

however, Szent-Georgi found that he could never cure scurvy with the

isolated ascorbic acid itself. Realizing that he could always cure

scurvy with the " impure " vitamin C found in simple foods, Szent-

Georgi discovered that other factors had to be at work in order for

vitamin activity to take place. So he returned to the laboratory and

eventually made the discovery of another member of the vitamin C

complex, as shown in the diagram above: rutin. All the factors in

the complex, as Royal Lee and Dr. Szent-Georgi both came to

understand, ascorbic acid, rutin, and the other factors, were

synergists: co-factors which together sparked the " functional

interdependence of biologically related nutrient factors. " (Empty

Harvest p120) The term " wheels within wheels " was used to describe

the interplay of co-factors.

Each of the other synergists in the C complex has a separate

function:

- P factors for blood vessel strength,

- J factors for oxygen-carrying capacity of red cells,

- tyrosinase as an essential enzyme for enhancing white blood cell

effectiveness.

Ascorbic acid is just the antioxidant outer shell – the protector of

all these other synergists so that they will be able to perform

their individual functions.

Now I can hear you asking, what about Linus ing, double Nobel

Prize laureate, and his lifetime espousal of megadosing on ascorbic

acid – up to 10 grams per day? He lived to be 93. Are we saying that

he took a synthetic vitamin all that time? Yes, that's exactly

right. Bernard Jensen suggests that ascorbic acid has an acidifying

effect in the body, making an unfriendly environment for viruses,

Candida, and pathogenic bacteria. " Most infectious pathogenic

bacteria thrive in an alkaline pH. " ing's good health was not

the result of synthetic vitamin activity. Good genetics and the

acidifying effect are likely what brought longevity to Linus

ing. He eventually died of cancer.

Dr. Royal Lee's phrase " biological wheels within wheels " always

comes up in any discussion of whole food vitamins. Essentially it

means that individual synergists cannot function as a vitamin in a

chemically isolated form, like ascorbic acid. Vitamins are living

complexes which contribute to other higher living complexes – like

cell repair, collagen manufacture, and maintenance of blood

circulation. Ascorbic acid is not a living complex. It is a copy of

a part of a living complex known as vitamin C. Ascorbic acid is a

fractionated, crystalline isolate of vitamin C.

Why are you a high school graduate or a college graduate or a

doctor, and you don't know this? Because drug manufacturers like

things clean and simple and cheap to produce. To this simple fact

add the politics which always comes into play when anyone mentions

the word " billions, " and you are beginning to get the idea about

where to begin your investigation. Burned his research???

DIETARY SOURCES,

Most vitamins cannot be made by the body. They must be taken in as

food. The best sources then are obviously whole foods, rich in

vitamins. Because of soil depletion, mineral depletion, pesticides,

air pollution, and erosion, it is common knowledge that foods grown

in American soil today have only a fraction of the nutrient value of

50 years ago. That means a fraction of the vitamins and minerals

necessary for normal human cell function. Royal Lee described the

American diet as the cultivation and production of " devitalized

foods. " Dr. Weston Price describes these empty products as

the " foods of commerce. " Think it's gotten better or worse since

their time? Thus the necessity for supplementation.

Vitamins and minerals are not functionally separable. They make each

other work. Example: vitamin D is necessary for the body to absorb

calcium. Copper is necessary for vitamin C activity. And so on.

Mineral deficiencies can cause vitamin deficiencies, and vice versa.

Epidemic mineral deficiency in America is a well-documented result

of systematic soil depletion. (See Minerals

chapter:thedoctorwithin.com)

So that is the other prime difference between whole food vitamins

and synthetics: whole food vitamins contain within them many

essential trace minerals necessary for their synergistic operation.

Synthetic vitamins contain no trace minerals, relying on, and

depleting, the body's own mineral reserves.

FUNNY FARMS

Following the German agricultural methods of Von Leibig in the mid-

1800s, American farmers found that NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and

potassium) was all that was necessary for crops to look good. (Frost

p7) As long as NPK is added to the soil, crops can be produced and

sold year after year from the same soil. They look OK. But the other

necessary trace minerals vital for human nutrition are virtually

absent from most American soil after all these years. Many of these

minerals, such as zinc, copper, and magnesium, are necessary co-

factors of vitamin activity. Depleted topsoil is one simple,

widespread mechanism of both vitamin and mineral deficiency in

American produce today. This doesn't even take into account the tons

of poisonous herbicides and pesticides dumped on crops. According to

the UN, two million tons of pesticides are used worldwide annually.

(Jensen, p69)

American agri-business has one motive: profit. Such a focus has

resulted in an output of empty produce and a nation of unhealthy

people. The earth's immune system is its soil. To be vital and

capable of growing vital foods, soil must be rich in both minerals

and soil-based organisms - life forms. Healthy produce naturally

resists insects. Insects are like bad bacteria in the body: they are

attracted to diseased tissue, though they do not cause it.

THE FOODS OF COMMERCE

And we're still only talking about people who actually eat raw

fruits and vegetables, which is a minority. Processed food composes

the majority of what most Americans eat. The only nutrients in most

processed foods are " enriched " and " fortified " as described below.

When a doctor says that food supplements are all unnecessary because

we can get everything we need from our food, that doctor is lacking

basic information published and agreed upon by his own peers.

Whether or not we need supplementation is no longer an issue, except

for one who is totally out of touch. The issue is what kind and how

much. Vitamin and mineral deficiency can be tagged to practically

ANY disease syndrome known to man. DW Cavanaugh, MD of Cornell

University actually concluded that

" There is only one major disease, and that is malnutrition. "

(Jensen, p8) Malnutrition of the affluent is the natural result of

the foods of commerce.

WEBSURFING

The best vitamins are called whole food vitamins. You won't find

this out on the Internet, however, because the Web is dominated by

mainstream nutritional theory. In the area of vitamins, the Internet

is 99% marketing; 1% actual information.

There are 110 companies who sell vitamins in the US. Less than 5 of

them use whole food vitamins. The reason is simple: whole food

vitamins are expensive to make. A few of the largest pharmaceutical

firms in the world mass produce synthetic vitamins for the vast

majority of these 110 " vitamin " companies, who then put their own

label on them, and every company claims theirs is the best! It's

ridiculous! Americans spend over $9 billion per year for synthetic

vitamins. (Frost p2)

Whole food vitamins are obtained by taking a vitamin-rich plant,

removing the water and the fiber in a cold vacuum process, free of

chemicals, and then packaging for stability. The entire vitamin

complex in this way can be captured intact, retaining

its " functional and nutritional integrity. " (DeCava p.23.) Upon

ingestion, the body is not required to draw on its own reserves in

order to complete any missing elements from the vitamin complex.

Mainstream marketing of vitamins and minerals has successfully

created the myth that vitamins and minerals may be isolated from

each other, that correct amounts may be measured out, and then we

can derive total benefit from taking these fractionated chemical

creations. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Vitamins and

minerals, and also enzymes, work closely together as co-factors for

each other's efficacy. If one part is missing, or in the wrong form

or the wrong amount, entire chains of metabolic processes will not

proceed normally. Result: downward spiralling of health, probably

imperceptible for long periods of time.

MARKETING AND PROMOTION

What is the marketing philosophy behind the prevalence of the type

of synthetic vitamins available in the supermarket and mall vitamin

stores? Simple: profit above all else. Once the public is shown that

vitamin supplementation is necessary, the rest is marketing.

Marketing is the art of persuading by suspending logic and twisting

data into junk science. Example: what's the actual difference in

composition between Wheaties and Total, two cereals put out by the

same company? Total is advertised as being much more nutrient-rich

than " ordinary " Wheaties. Look at the labels. What justifies the

extra $1.30 for a box of Total? Answer: 1.5¢ worth of synthetic

vitamins sprayed over the Wheaties. That's it! That's what " vitamin

enriched " always means. The other trick word is " fortified. "

Generally that means that the food itself is devoid of nutrients or

enzymes, so they tried to pump it up a little with some " vitamins. "

Cheap synthetic vitamin sprays are all that is required for the

manufacturer to use labels like " enriched " and " fortified. " These

words are red flags – if a food needs to be fortified or enriched,

you can bet there wasn't much there to start with.

The mega-vitamin theory doesn't really hold when it comes to

synthetics: If A Little Is Good, More Is Better. Macro doses of

vitamin E, and also vitamin D have been shown to decrease immune

function significantly. (DeCava.) It stands to reason. Vitamins by

definition are necessary in phenomenally small doses. The discoverer

of thiamine, a B vitamin, and the man who came up with the word

vitamin , Dr. Casimir Funk, has this to say about synthetics:

" Synthetic vitamins: these are highly inferior to vitamins from

natural sources, also the synthetic product is well known to be far

more toxic. "

Nutrition authority DeCava describes it;

" Natural food-source vitamins are enzymatically alive. Man-made

synthetic vitamins are dead chemicals. "

-- The Real Truth About Vitamins p 209

Oxymorons: military intelligence, rap music, synthetic vitamins.

The marketing of fractionated crystalline synthetic vitamins has

been so successful that most nutritionists and doctors are unaware

that there is something missing from these " vitamins. " Vitamin

manufacturers compete for customers with identical products – they

all bought their synthetic vitamins from the same couple of drug

companies. To differentiate their product, each makes claims

of " high potency. " Our vitamins are higher potency than theirs, etc.

The point is, the higher the potency, the more the druglike effects

are present. Natural whole food vitamins are very low potency.

Remember the 20mg of vitamin C in a potato that was able to cure a

patient of scurvy? That was low potency. Low potency is all we need.

Low potency is enough to bring about vitamin activity. High potency

overshoots the mark – the chemical is very pure and refined, like

the difference between white sugar and the type of sugar that's in

an apple.

THE MILLIGRAM GAME

Generally speaking, if milligrams are being discussed at length, the

author has no clue about vitamins. Synthetic vitamins are refined,

high potency chemicals, and therefore may be accurately measured in

milligrams, just like drugs. This has nothing to do with vitamin

activity or nutrition, except in a negative way.

HALF THE STORY

The same type of incomplete action can be seen with any synthetic

vitamin. Let's take beta carotene for a minute, which the body can

turn into vitamin A. Now you'll remember that vitamin A is necessary

for good eyesight, DNA synthesis, and protects cells from free

radicals. A study reported in Apr 94 in the NEJM of some 30,000

Finnish subjects showed conclusively that synthetic vitamin A had no

antioxidant effect whatsoever. A true antioxidant helps to protect

heart muscle, lungs, and artery surfaces from breaking down

prematurely. In this study, the subjects who received the synthetic

beta carotene actually had an 8% higher incidence of fatal heart

attacks, strokes, and lung cancer than those who got the placebo

(sugar pill). Stands to reason: the synthetic brought no vitamin

activity to the tissues that needed it. As a dead, purified chemical

introduced into the body, the synthetic further stressed the immune

system, the liver, and the kidneys which all had to try to break

down this odd chemical and remove it from the body. It would be bad

enough if they were harmless, but synthetic vitamins actually have a

net negative effect.

Vitamin A

was first discovered in 1919. By 1924, it had been broken down and

separated from its natural whole food complex: " purified. " By 1931,

LaRoche – one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world,

even today – had succeeded in " synthesizing " vitamin A. That means

they had created a purely chemical copy of a fraction of naturally

occurring vitamin A. Naturally occurring vitamin A is found

associated with an entire group of other components:

· Retinols

· Retinoids

· Retinal

· Carotenoids

· Carotenes

· Fatty acids

· Vitamin C

· Vitamin E

· Vitamin B

· Vitamin D

· Enzymes

· Minerals

Vitamins and Minerals Somer 1992

Isolated from these other factors, vitamin A is a fraction which

cannot perform its biological functions. Taken as a synthetic, it

must then draw on this list of resources already in the body in

order to complete its make-up. Whole food vitamin A, by contrast, is

already complete and ready to go.

Most synthetic vitamin A consists only of retinal, retinol, or

retinoic acid. The well-publicized potential for toxicity with mega

doses of vitamin A involves one of these three. Vitamin A toxicity,

known as hypervitaminosis, always results from an excess of

synthetic, " purified " vitamin A, and never from whole food vitamin

A. (DeCava, p 86) Effects of vitamin A toxicity include:

· tumor enhancement

· joint disorders

· osteoporosis

· extreme dryness of eyes, mouth and skin,

· enlargement of liver and spleen

· immune depression

· birth defects

Beta carotene

is a precursor the body can convert to vitamin A. Unfortunately, as

a supplement, synthetic beta carotene is usually " stabilized " in

refined vegetable oils. In this trans fatty acid form, oxidation

occurs and the chemically " pure " beta carotene can no longer act as

a nutrient, because it was changed. Almost all synthetic beta

carotene is produced by the Swiss drug giant Hoffman-LaRoche. This

form can no longer be converted to vitamin A. The best it can be is

worthless, and at the worst is toxic.

Natural vitamin A and beta carotene are well known as immune

boosters and cancer fighters, in their role as antioxidants.

Synthetic vitamin A by contrast has actually brought about

significant increases in cancer. A study done in Finland provided

smokers with large doses of synthetic beta carotene. Lung cancer

incidence increased 18%! ( NEJM Apr 94 " The Alpha Tocopherol Beta

Carotene Cancer Prevention Study Group " )

These findings were corroborated two years later in another study

written up in Lancet. Pharmacologic doses of syntheric beta

carotenes were found to block the antioxidant activity of the other

50 naturally occurring carotenoids in the diet. Anti-cancer activity

was thus blocked by the synthetic. (Lancet 1996)

With the vast outpouring of wrong information about vitamins A and

C, the findings of a 1991 article in Health Counselor are no

surprise: 50% of Americans are deficient in vitamin A and 41% are

deficient in vitamin C. Synthetic vitamins cannot prevent

deficiencies.

FAKE VITAMIN B

In one experiment, synthetic vitamin B (thiamine) was shown to

render 100% of a group of pigs sterile! 100% would be considered a

significant finding. (Dr. Barnett Sure, Journ Natr 1939) Perhaps the

fact that synthetic vitamin B comes from coal tar, maybe that has

something to do with it, you think? Then there's vitamin B12, which

comes from activated sewage sludge. (Frost p 60) Been shooting

blanks since you started on those multi's?

For the licensed dieticians and clinical nutritionists reading this

in disbelief because it is too " unscientific, " consider the way

Theron Randolph MD delineated between natural and synthetic:

" A synthetically derived substance may cause a reaction in a

chemically susceptible person when the same material of natural

origin is tolerated, despite the two substances having identical

chemical structures. The point is illustrated by the frequency of

clinical reactions to synthetic vitamins – especially vitamin B1 and

C- when the [same] naturally occurring vitamins are tolerated. "

IRRADIATION

According to Los Angeles naturopath, Dr. Jack Singh, all commercial

lecithins in supplements, as well as most vitamin D, comes from

irradiated vegetable oils. That's rancid, oxidizing trans fatty

acids! A birthday party of free radicals. This is the precise

mechanism for arterial wall breakdown prior to plaque deposits, then

arteriosclerosis, then heart disease. I thought we were supposed to

be taking vitamins to stay healthy!

LOST HORIZON

Why is this information so difficult to find? It's in none of

the " alternative " health `zines, or any of the mainstream media.

Alternative-Lite guru n Whittaker, in his summer 1998

newsletter actually had the temerity to state outright " Synthetic

vitamins and whole food vitamins are identical. " I'm sure his

synthetic vitamin company and all its retailers were reassured by

this incredibly arrogant and flagrantly inaccurate pronouncement.

But who is objecting? Only those clients of the 5 companies who know

enough to take whole food vitamins, because they have become

educated to realize the difference. These are the vast minority,

having no control of the media.

Royal Lee and Harvey Wiley lost. Nobody knows who they are today,

except we few. This is no accident. What everybody does know is

Pepsi and Viagra and Wonder Bread and prednisone and Double Whoppers

with Cheese and Zantac and Baskin-Robbins and Long's Drug Store. And

grocery store vitamins: synthetic vitamins. That's America, today as

the product of yesterday. Control of information in America today is

one of the most sophisticated systems of influence ever devised. The

simple ideas contained in this chapter are simply not available to

the mass consciousness. The documentation is out there, but you

really gotta dig.

100 years ago if a medical doctor saw a case of cancer he would call

all his colleagues to come and have a look, telling them it was

unlikely they would see another case, as cancer was so rare. People

rarely died of heart attacks; in fact the term heart attack itself

didn't even exist. There was no incidence at all of atherosclerosis.

Diabetes was practically unheard of. What did they eat? Fruits,

vegetables, meat, butter, and lard. But none of it was processed

with drugs and chemicals.

Today one in three dies of cancer. One in two dies of heart disease.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. (Vital

Statistics) Is that progress? If you are a food manufacturer it is,

and especially if you are a drug manufacturer. In the 1980s the WHO

ranked the US as #22 in the world in overall health. Today we're

#98. Male sperm count is less than 20% of what it was in 1929. (1981

University of Florida report, Natural vs. Synthetic) Infant

mortality is up; birth defects are up. We spend $1.2 trillion per

year for health care, most of which goes for administration and

executive salaries. Who are the largest advertisers for TV and the

printed media? Right: drug companies and food manufacturers. Do they

want to keep the ball rolling? You bet. Will they kill you to do it?

You bet. Do they want people to take charge of their own health by

natural inexpensive foods and supplements? Negative. A cure for

cancer has been " right around the corner " since Nixon. People are

starting to ask questions; they're less inclined to believe the

slick ads coming every 10 minutes on TV and in Newsweek.

Perhaps Hippocrates did not envision doctors just as detail men or

drug reps. He most likely thought like Henry Bieler, MD:

Nature, if given the opportunity is always the greatest healer. It

is the physician's role to assist in this healing, to play a

supporting role.

- Finding the Right Cure for You

So what do you do? Well, you now have some insight that your vitamin

needs are not being met by the Safeway generics. And you want to try

a whole food vitamin. It's simple: look on the label. After each

vitamin mentioned, if it lists a chemical, the vitamin is a

synthetic. If it lists a growing plant like peppers, orange peel, or

even mushrooms, that's a whole food vitamin. After that, you may

wish to inform yourself about the processing, if possible. Even good

sources can be rendered vitamin-less by heating or cheap

stabilization processes. After you get the hang of it you'll soon

wonder why nobody told you about something this obvious years ago. I

know just how you'll feel.

Supplementation is no longer an extra; even to the generally

informed. It is essential for optimum health. That is the first

level of awareness. The next rung on the ladder is the information

contained in this chapter. It's really not a question of whether or

not you believe me, but rather whether you know about the existence

of whole food vitamins.

- Tim O'Shea

REFERENCES

DeCava, Judith-- The Real Truth About Vitamins and Antioxidants 1996

Jensen, Bernard, DC --- Empty Harvest 1990

Frost, --- Going Back to the Basics of Human Health 1997

Bieler, Henry MD--- Finding the Right Cure For You 1998

Lee, Royal--- " What Is a Vitamin? " Applied Trophology Aug 1956)

Wiley, Harvey W., MD--- The History of a Crime Against the Pure Food

Law

Robbins, --- Reclaiming Our Health 1996

, Elmer, MD --- Washington Post 26 Oct 49

Somer, --- " Vitamin C: A Lesson in Keeping An Open Mind "

The Nutrition Report

Lancet. 1842

Dana, --- Two Years Before the Mast, p 444 ff. 1840.

Lind, --- " A Treatise of the Scurvy in Three Parts. Containing

an inquiry into the Nature,

Causes and Cure of that Disease, together with a Critical and

Chronological View of what has been published on the subject. "

A. Millar, London, 1753.

Woodall, A--- Caution with b-carotene supplements Lancet 347:967,

1996

Heinonen O MD--- The effect of vitamin E and beta carotene on the

incidence of lung cancer and other cancers in male smokers " The

Alpha Tocopherol Beta Carotene Cancer Prevention Study Group---

NEJM 14 Apr 1994 330;15:1031

Barnett Sure, MD--- Journ Natr 1939

University of Florida report--- " Natural vs. Synthetic " 1981

Randolph, Theron MD--- Human Ecology and Susceptibility to the

Chemical Environment 7th ed. 1980

Price, Weston --- Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

Keats Publ. 1997

CDC --National Vital Statistics Report

Vol. 47, no.19, June 1999.

http://thedoctorwithin.com/index_fr.php?

page=articles/whole_food_vitamins.php

May 29, 2006

So what brands so you use?

A VERY interesting article on Whole Food Vitamins and isolated

vitamins! Dr. Tim O'Shea is a big advocate for autism caused by

vaccines (mercury) and has written many articles. The source is at

the bottom, which goes to his website. He is referenced by many

noteworthy specialist including Dr. Mercola.

Because of this article, we only supplement with whole food sources.

Roe

WHOLE FOOD VITAMINS:

ASCORBIC ACID IS NOT VITAMIN C

- Tim O'Shea

This will be a short chapter, but after you're finished with it, you

will know more about vitamins than 95% of clinical nutritionists,

doctors, supplement sales force, or bodybuilders. If that sounds

arrogant or overstated, it really isn't my fault. I'm just a

messenger; a purveyor of information. Either I'm right or the 95%

are right; can't be both.

Without further ado, here's the kernel: ascorbic acid is not vitamin

C. Alpha tocopherol is not vitamin E. Retinoic acid is not vitamin

A. And so on through the other vitamins. Vast sums of money have

been expended to make these myths part of Conventional Wisdom. If

you have several college degrees and all this is news to you, don't

feel bad. Unless you think your education ended at Commencement.

Which is generally true.

WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS

Vitamins are not individual molecular compounds. Vitamins are

biological complexes. They are multi-step biochemical interactions

whose action is dependent upon a number of variables within the

biological terrain. Vitamin activity only takes place when all

conditions are met within that environment, and when all co-factors

and components of the entire vitamin complex are present and working

together. Vitamin activity is even more than the sum of all those

parts; it also involves timing.

Vitamins cannot be isolated from their complexes and still perform

their specific life functions within the cells. When isolated into

artificial commercial forms, like ascorbic acid, these purified

synthetics act as drugs in the body. They are no longer vitamins,

and to call them such is inaccurate.

A vitamin is

" ï¿½a working processï¿½consisting of the nutrient,ï¿½enzymes, coenzymes,