Vitamin Supplements are they Hazardous To Your Health?

What You Don’t Know About Your Vitamins CAN Hurt You

By Joan McDaniel April 18, 2013

I have been doing research and turned my attention to Vitamins and supplements. But articles from the Health Ranger (NaturalNews) on Vitamin additives that made me do a second look at the nutrition label. The article warns of harmful additives used to formulate common Vitamins and supplements. I have gathered several articles on the same subject so I decided to put together a complete list of the most common natural and synthetic additives used to formulate (make) Vitamins.

Health care officials recommend a daily multiple vitamins to cover the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA).

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Picture source

After putting this list together and finding some dangerous mind-blowing ingredients in these vitamin supplements I have decided what you don’t know will hurt you! It is questionable if you’re getting any vitamin at all. Seems to me I’ll get sicker taking the vitamin then if I did without.

I also disagree with the RDA’s recommendations. Your body needs nutrients, not toxins. Every day is different and everyone’s body is different. Learn to listen to your own body not some 1950 prearranged group’s Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) – But more of that later – On with Vitamin supplements. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Picture credit

I am not a chemist and don’t have the foggiest idea what half of these ingredients mean. But some sound very familiar like nail polish (Shellac), talcum powder and sand. I now understand why many natural food enthusiasts recommend getting vitamins from the actual natural food source rather than by synthetic pill form.

Shellac is nail polish

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

This research has made me do a complete double take on what exactly I put into my body. For example; I decided I needed the Vitamin magnesium so I bought a magnesium supplement only to find it (and a lot of other processed foods like baby food, hard candies, and soap scum) contain Magnesium Stearate.

Magnesium Stearate – a lubricate used as a filler when manufacturing vitamin supplement pills. It is derived from cottonseed which makes it a hydrogenated saturated fat. This fat allows the particles to flow or slide quickly during manufacturing speeding up the manufacturing process. It speeds up manufacturing process, but once consumed by the human body it slows if not prevents absorption of nutrients. Magnesium stearate melts at about 120 degrees C, is not soluble in water. Your body cannot dissolve it or the vitamin that comes with it. It is expelled as a foreign substance.

Three sources for additives

Plant (e.g. starches, sugars, cellulose)
Animal (e.g. lactose, gelatin, stearic acid)
Mineral (e.g. calcium phosphate, silica)

There is a big difference between Synthetic vitamins and natural vitamins. In the mid-1930s, multivitamins became available in grocery stores and pharmacies. These supplements were made from natural, dried and compressed vegetable and fruit concentrates. In the early 1940s Synthetic tablets began being produced and the games began. Synthetics are man-made in the lab to look like the real thing. Synthetic may be derived from toxic sources such as coal-tar, glue, nail polish, petroleum, talcum powder, or other known carcinogen sources.

Synthetic additives interfere with the delivery and absorbing of any vitamin or mineral. In many cases the vitamin you take is simply expel from your system as a foreign substance. That is the good part. Some of these additives get stored in the muscle and cells as toxins and free radicals which in time can create inflammation and illness.

Natural Ingredients for Vitamin Additives include:

When and if you can find a provider of natural vitamins these are the additives plus others that you should find on the label. There are reliable manufactures that provide a safe product, you just have to search for them.

Bioflavonoids – naturally occurring plant compound

Cellulose – A bulking agent also referred to as dietary fiber.

Citric acid – Natural acid causes foods to taste sour. Lemons contain large sources of Citric acid.

Dulse – used as an organic base non-synthetic foundation.

Magnesium ascorbate – Neutral salts

Magnesium activator of Amino acid chelate

Medium chain triglycerides –

Natural flavors

Potassium sorbate – Used in fermentation occurs naturally in some berries.

Purified Stevia Extract – Natural Plant sugar alternative supplement

Purified water –Mechanically filtered water

Sodium Alginate – Food thickener

Sodium ascorbates – Water-soluble vitamin, known as vitamin C.

Vegetable glycerin (palm) – Natural lipids known as triglycerides

Xanthan gum – Natural Food thickener

Xylitol – A naturally occurring pentose sugar alcohol sugar substitute

Multi Vitamins example

Seems to me these ingredients do more to protect the product than they do to give me anything natural. An example: Centrum “C” vitamins made from the Coal Tar, Silicon, and petroleum distillate. Below is a label from Centrum C – I could not find petroleum but boy I sure found a lot of other stuff. None of it sounds too natural to me. The ingredient Soy is not organic therefore is GMO.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Note – Wyeth is a Pfizer’s subsidiary Pfizer owns Centrum and Bayer owns One a Day.

Ingredient additives that inhibit the effectiveness of Vitamins are:

The follow is a list of Excipients. These items inhibit the function of the vitamin if not completely prevent the vitamin absorption in the human digestive system. These can be classified according to their function. Some serve multiple functions:

Binders – Glue
Coatings and Glaze (Shellac)
Colors
Compression Aids
Disintegrates
Extenders
Fillers
Flavors
Flow Enhancers
Film formers
Lubricants – Fatty acids from hydrogenated vegetable oils
Preservatives
Suspending/dispensing agents
Sweeteners

Excipient additives that inhibit the effectiveness in supplements:

Picture source Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Calcium Stearate – main component of soap scum, a white solid that forms when soap is mixed with hard water

Corn Starch – preservative encapsulate, binder
Crospovidene – preservative
Dicalcium phosphate – acutally decrease absorption
Microcrystalline cellulose – lubricant provider

Ethylcellulose
Flavors or Natural Flavors
Food dyes – FD&C Food dyes are made from coal tar that may retain carcinogenic impurities.
Glaze – A glassy film covering. Like a glace for pottery or for a ham.
Hydoxy Propyl Methylcellulose – cellulose preservative
Lactose – Sugar from milk
Magnesium Stearate – Animal based filler saturated fatty acid also used to make candles, soap and softening rubber. It also makes “bathtub rings.”

Palmitate – Palmitic acid is also used to produce cosmetics, release agents and soaps
Potassium Sorbate
Shellac – Nail polish
Silicon Dioxide – derived from quartz used in the production of computer chips, ceramics, glass and is also called sand.
Stearic Acid – Animal based filler saturated fatty acid also used to make candles, soap and softening rubber
Sodium Borate – The common name for this additive is borax which is a detergent.
Sodium Benzoate – also used in vinegar, carbonated drinks (carbonic acid), and fireworks.
Sodium Glycolate – A Starch
Sucrose – Table Sugar
Talc – talcum powder
Titanium Dioxide – White pigment

This is a partial list. The next time you see a different ingredient look it up in a search engine and be amazed.

Look out Vitamin supplements may be hazardous to your health.

After this article I will take a longer look at getting most of my vitamins from the actual natural food rather than an artificially produced vitamin pill. To quote the health ranger again – “No matter what the FDA says or wants you to believe, organic vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, prebiotic, and enzymes are “MEDICINE,” and synthetic vitamins are simply ANTI-MEDICINE – disease and disorder breeding health criminals. Get smarter. Read the labels. Ask questions. If your vitamins are not organic, then they’re probably making you sick.” Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.