Sorry! The site is closed for renovation! Once it is completed, we will continue our work. We apologize for the inconvenience! Regards the site.

Your Vitamins May Be Killing You!
by Dr. James McHale

"A rose is a rose is a rose. But is a vitamin a vitamin?"

Today, one can almost buy vitamins on the street corner. In fact, it is hard to imagine vitamin consciousness being any higher. Millions take one or more vitamins daily.

Is the FDA laughing at us? Let's inquire.

In June 1995, we did an article entitled THE VITAMIN CONSPIRACY. It made many glad and some mad. Many inquired further. I have come to believe that we live longer or die shorter depending on whether we take natural complexes or synthetic vitamins (chemicals).

One caveat here is that a natural isolated vitamin may not be much better or any better than a synthetic or manmade chemical vitamin. So keep in mind that we are emphasizing whole natural complexes or whole natural foods.

Both the recent Finnish study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Agnes Faye Morgan experiments at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1940's proved that taking synthetic vitamins is worse than starvation! The synthetic vitamins will kill you quicker. In the Finnish study, there was a statistically significant loss of protection from lung cancer, stroke, and all other forms of death.

So beware of so-called vitamin "enriched" bread and other foods as they are "enriched" with synthetic chemical vitamins. Actually, these chemicals should not be called vitamins. They are not vitamins, and they are not food. This is part of the deception.

I suspect that by far, most vitamins sold are synthetic, causing sickness and death to unsuspecting people who believe that they are health conscious and doing the right thing.

The synthetic vitamin producers and sellers all claim that synthetic vitamins have the same molecular structure as the natural, and are therefore the same or at least have the same effect. They never mention that the polarity of the synthetic is opposite to the natural and has the opposite effect. Synthetic vitamins always refract light the opposite of the natural vitamin complexes. This suggests that you do not get protection from synthetic vitamins. In fact, the studies above show an actual loss of protection.

Dr. Royal Lee, founder of the Standard Process Company, discovered the light refraction attributes of vitamins in the 1930's. Though synthetic vitamins have the same molecular structure, they are a mirror image of the natural.

This suggests that they are identical in every detail. But a mirror image is the exact opposite of the real thing, in this case, the natural vitamins. Try to shake hands with yourself in the mirror. Everything is opposite. Bet you thought a mirror image is an exact duplication.

Our vitamins need to be whole food, natural biological complexes. They should not be isolated factors, either natural or chemical. Whole food complexes are true food supplements that support health.

You Are What You Absorb

Over the last twenty years, the concept of disease prevention really grew up. In the late 1970's people who took vitamins and ate organically grown foods were often referred to as "health nuts". But all that is changing. In 1993 a startling fact regarding alternative medicine emerged. For the first time ever, Americans made more visits to alternative health practitioners than to "traditional" physicians (medical doctors and osteopaths).

Leading the charge for alternative medicine was the idea of consuming nutritional supplements. The American diet consists of very little fresh fruits and vegetables. We find convenient foods-microwaved, frozen, pasteurized, and canned items don't contain the necessary nutrients to help us lead vibrant, healthy lives. That is why vitamins and minerals are no longer taboo. In fact, the best selling pill in 1997 was not aspirin, Prozac, or the stimulant Ritalin. Centrum and Theragran M vitamin pills were the LEADERS and have contributed significantly to the multibillion dollar nutritional supplement industry. Now for the bad news. The problem with these pills is that they are poorly absorbed into the body.

Undigested vitamin/mineral pills don't help us to receive the intended benefit-to fuel the body toward health, and may create other snags. Each month in Tacoma, Washington 165 thousand pounds of undigested vitamin and mineral pills are pulled out of the sewers. The filters in Salt Lake City, Utah are clogged with over 150 gallons of these pills each month. The reason: metal based minerals (like oyster shells), and essentially mini "rocks" are in the pills, and our bodies can't digest them efficiently. According to the Physician's Desk Reference, only about 10-20 percent of pills are absorbed. What does that mean to you, the consumer? If you spend $50 dollars a month on vitamin/mineral pills, then $40-$45 of it is may end up in your septic system!

So now that we know that the vitamin pills are not well absorbed by the body, what do we do? Our bodies are able to absorb 98 percent of liquid nutritional supplements! Folks with digestive disorders like ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel, diverticulitis, and hernias ca n tolerate the liquids because they are easily absorbed and don't irritate the digestive tract.

The best sources are derived from sea vegetation that is organic-no pesticides or toxins should be used on them. Our bodies contain water that is very similar to sea water. The sodium, calcium, potassium, and sulfur contents of sea water is very easily recognized and absorbed by our systems. Our money is much better spent on those products that get into our blood streams to help us lead healthy, productive lives. The old saying "you are what you eat" is becoming outmoded. "You are what you absorb" seems to be more accurate.

Dr. James McHale is a chiropractic physician, writer, and researcher. He lectures extensively in the United States and Canada about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Osteoporosis, and Alternative Medicine.
- James A. McHale D.C.