Are All Multivitamins Created Equal?

Catalyn, a product from Standard Process, is a “True High Potency Multivitamin!” The term “potency” is often misunderstood, especially in the world of nutrition, but the terms “high impact,” or “high effectiveness” can help to clarify the confusion.

Today, many will visit their local health food store in a desperate search for an energy aid, as they just want to feel better. They believe that a multivitamin might do the trick, so they diligently read the labels for the most impressive high potency multivitamin with the latest fads in isolation and chelation of nutrients. For some, they begin to feel better and feel positive about making a good choice of their multivitamin. Unfortunately, however, in many cases they are again searching for something new in about a month’s time as their energy again begins to decline and their sense of wellbeing slips away.

What they do not realize is that these high potency multivitamins are not providing them with the health impact or effectiveness that their bodies really need. The body’s nutritional requirements are dependent on too many factors and cannot be satisfied by merely combining a simple, easily made synthetic/isolated blend.

Agnes Fay Morgan (1), an early pioneer in nutritional research, conducted a test using high potency vitamins like those used to “enrich” and “fortify” foods such as white flour. In this test the animals eating the “enriched” and “fortified” foods with these high potency vitamins did not live as long as those eating the “un-fortified” foods.

The truth is that true high potency comes from real food, which contains all of its synergistic components. An example given by Dr. Royal Lee in Vitamin News (2), is that 99% of the potency of vitamin E is lost when separated from its natural synergists, such as tannins, fatty acids, phospholipids, etc.

Another important fact that is not widely known is that taking large doses of isolated or synthetic vitamins can actually have an opposite result from its intended purpose. In nature, vitamins and minerals work together synergistically but if taken separately and isolated from its original synergistic family, can cause imbalance over time. An example of this could be bone loss caused by high doses of alpha tocopherol (2), or damage to the DNA by taking ascorbic acid over 500 milligrams.

“Vitamin C is used as a dietary supplement because of its antioxidant activity, although a high dose (500 mg) may act as a pro-oxidant in the body. Here we show that 100 g of fresh apples has an antioxidant activity equivalent to 1,500 mg of vitamin C, and that whole-apple extracts inhibit the growth of colon- and liver- cancer cells in vitro in a dose-dependent manner. Our results indicate that natural antioxidants from fresh fruit could be more effective than a dietary supplement.” (3).

Catalyn, however, is a multiple vitamin and trace mineral product with enzyme source containing 12 raw foods. Let’s look now at the value of Catalyn for patients:

“We believe the first and commonest symptom of deficiency requiring Catalyn is Fatigue.” –Dr. Royal Lee (4). He goes on to say, ”Truly, we consider Catalyn as fine food for fatigue. Often, one or two tablets will afford a great relief in fifteen or twenty minutes. Two or three tablets a day often mean the difference between enjoying one’s work, or finding it unbearable drudgery.”

When it comes to nutritional support with vitamins and minerals, looking for whole food ingredients is a much better option than trying to identify the isolated nutrients through international units or miligrams. I often tell patients if their 5th grader can not read the ingredients in the supplement, then it is probably not made from food, but came from a scientist’s lab.

When you look at the ingredients in these pictures, which one appears to be food based?

*Special thanks to Curt Hamilton of Standard Process of North Texas for helping with this post.