Synthetic vitamins and supplements

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lauragreenbaum
lauragreenbaum Posts: 1,017 Member
in Food and Nutrition
A friend of mine started selling NuSkin products which include skin care, supplements, etc. She told me that I should only take "natural" vitamins and supplements because the synthetic type don't get absorbed and it's a waste of money. True?

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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,070 Member
    edited April 2021
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    I'm not even sure what that means!

    There are some vitamins that are sometimes in a somewhat different chemical form in supplements vs. how they occur in food (such as Vitamin A as retinol or retinyl ester, and provitamin A carotenoids, vs. retinyl acetate or retinyl palmitate), so can behave slightly differently in the body. Other vitamins are literally exactly the same chemical compound, whether that compound is extracted (through some convoluted industrial process) from a "natural" source, or compounded (through a different convoluted industrial process) from other raw chemical components (that came from someplace "natural", ultimately).

    Marketing, mostly. I'll bet they have "superfood powders" and herbals in them, too, to "support" various body functions. 😉 Since it's an MLM, there are probably impressive price tags, too. That usually requires some special marketing to get people to pay the $$.

    Personally, I think it's better to get nutrients from food, as much as possible - that strategy is shaped and time-tested by millennia of natural selection, among other reasons. That's about as natural as we can get, vs. some highly processed thing in a pill or powder, no matter what the pill/powder is made from.

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Your friend is trying to sell you MLM products. Everything she's telling you about vitamins and nutrition is part of the sales pitch that this company has provided to her and should be listened to with that in mind.

    I don't disagree that it's generally best to get our vitamins from food sources. That said, scores of studies and results from real life applications over the years have shown us that "synthetic" vitamins are absorbed and processed by the human body. They help reverse and prevent vitamin deficiencies. We can actually see this happening in populations where people are in situations where they have to rely on them. An example would be B vitamin deficiencies, which used to be a problem in the US until flour and cereal fortification became more common. There are dozens of other examples as well.
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,367 Member
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    Agreed with others. There are both dietary and environmental considerations to look into when you consider vitamin supplements. I live in Finland = so up north we don’t really get that much sunlight, everyone here is recommended a vitamin D supplement year round. If you don’t consume the recommended amount of dairy products, a calcium supplement is recommended and so on. Before taking supplements, you should also consider possible adverse effects. For example, the recommendations are very strongly against any vitamin A supplements for pregnant women and those trying to conceive, so steer clear if you’re trying to have a baby soon.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
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    NuSkin is a predatory MLM with a history of fraud, inaccurate supplement content, and false claims. MLM is another name for pyramid scheme. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nu_Skin_Enterprises
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    lauragreenbaum wrote: »
    A friend of mine started selling NuSkin products which include skin care, supplements, etc. She told me that I should only take "natural" vitamins and supplements because the synthetic type don't get absorbed and it's a waste of money. True?

    I'm not really even sure what "synthetic" type vitamins means. I mean, any vitamin supplement you take is going to be "synthetic" in the sense that those little pills don't grow on trees...but their compounds are extracted from foods. We don't typically absorb vitamins in supplement form as well as we do with vitamins and minerals inherent in our food...but we do absorb them to an extent and one of the reasons that vitamin supplementation is just that...supplementation...covering your bases so to speak.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 875 Member
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    OK...there are definitely sources of data to look at to see what types of vitamins/minerals/supplements/etc. work well together/not together ---and what source/version they are as far as body absorption.

    However, it's highly likely your friend is spitting out the marketing copy for this product they are trying to S E L L...and there's literally not really any consistent consensus on the pros/cons of taking vitamins/supplements anyway.

    "Natural" is a buzz word you should mostly disregard and you should always try to get the nutrients you need from whole foods instead of a supplement (barring some medical reason).
  • scarlett_k
    scarlett_k Posts: 812 Member
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    Tell her if she wants "natural" vitamins she should be getting them all from her food and the sun.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,070 Member
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    scarlett_k wrote: »
    Tell her if she wants "natural" vitamins she should be getting them all from her food and the sun.

    And not from fortified foods, either! 😆
  • VegjoyP
    VegjoyP Posts: 2,710 Member
    edited May 2021
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    hipari wrote: »
    Agreed with others. There are both dietary and environmental considerations to look into when you consider vitamin supplements. I live in Finland = so up north we don’t really get that much sunlight, everyone here is recommended a vitamin D supplement year round. If you don’t consume the recommended amount of dairy products, a calcium supplement is recommended and so on. Before taking supplements, you should also consider possible adverse effects. For example, the recommendations are very strongly against any vitamin A supplements for pregnant women and those trying to conceive, so steer clear if you’re trying to have a baby soon.

    DAIRY is NOT necessary for adequate calcium and in fast can not attributed to bone heath. The calcium myth needs to stop. We get calcium from many sources. Vitamin D is essential for bone health.
    Supportable vitamins are ideally from good and food based vitamin supplements but synthetic can be beneficial. Food first then fill in needs and gaps where you ard not ABSORBING nutritional needs. It's not just what you eat but what you absorb
  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
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    ninerbuff wrote: »

    EDIT: So the manufacturing is done in China. That means there's no REGULATION of the purity of materials that need to be met. Sve o any raw materials can have metals in them and get mixed into the products.

    That's not true, if they are selling into the USA they will still need to comply with US regulations. The risk is they are more likely to cut corners or fake their compliance.

    Most of the horror stories are about products produced for the local market or for other developing countries, not for US export. If an export factory loses it's certification then they will lose all their US export business, which they don't want to happen.

    For example the powdered milk scandal was 99% about product sold in the local market.

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