Some vitamin manufacturers add food powders to “improve” their products and give them a marketing edge. You might even see the word “Natural” emblazoned on some of the bottles in this category, but keep in mind that a vitamin or mineral has to be made with only 15 percent natural ingredients—such as food powders—for it to be labeled “Natural.”

 

While vitamins made from USP isolates and food powders are marginally better, studies as well as anecdotal evidence have shown that USP vitamins of any stripe do not dissolve well enough to be absorbed by the body in high concentrations. The reason why is because vitamin manufacturers use binders and lubricants to hold the pill or tablet together, which prevents it from dissolving completely.

 

 

We are now entering a stratum of food-based vitamins derived from vegetable, mineral, or animal sources. This initial category—Food Concentrates—are certainly preferable to USP vitamins. When vitamins and minerals are produced from food-based sources, they have the ability to bring food to the cells, where they can be recognized and utilized.

 

Examples would be extracting vitamins A and D from fish liver oil; vitamin E from soy oil; and lecithin from soybeans. Cereal grasses such as barely grass, wheat grass, oat grass, and alfalfa grass contain a broad array of enzymes, vitamins, minerals, proteins, and chlorophyll, which is the green pigment found in plants. The nutritive density found in barley or other grasses such as wheat, rye, corn, rice, oats, sorghum, millet, and spelt is exceptional.

 

Historically, the older school of thought regarding nutritional supplementations dates back to the 1930s, a time when there was an emphasis on the utilization of whole food concentrates as a source of essential nutrients. Before synthetic USP vitamin supplements were available, concentrated foods such as wheat and barley grass were considered our first multivitamins. Doctors gave “grass tablets” to patients with nutrient deficiencies or for specific health conditions. Because the vitamin content of cereal grass was much higher than vegetables, they suggested that using cereal grass as a human food supplement would be an economical way to provide the nutrients commonly lacking in the American diet.