HUmineral Healthy Share – All About the Vitamins
These days, your health is more important than ever, but at the same time, health science is going through many changes. Long-held ideas are now being questioned, and more misinformation is circulating online than ever. The result is that there is a lot of uncertainty about the best ways to take care of yourself.
To combat this uncertainty, is to understand how our body works, including the importance of vitamins and minerals to our body.
Vitamins and minerals are some of the most critical sources of nutrients for your body. So are whole foods and a healthy diet. Vitamins and minerals can maintain and supplement nutrition to your bones, organs, and skin. However, there are a lot of misconceptions about them that we thought we would look at in this HU Healthy Share.
Want to know more, keep reading. You’re in for what we hope is a treat, not a trick.
Defining the Terms
Before going any further, we need to define some terms. Often Vitamins and Minerals are used interchangeably which leads to a lot of misunderstanding about what they do. Starting with what they have in common, both vitamins and minerals are meant to support and maintain your body’s health. They can do this either by providing a boost in health or by maintaining basic bodily functions.
Some of their uses include boosting cell production, correcting nutritional deficiencies, and allowing efficient organ function.
Both vitamins and minerals are divided into different categories that serve other purposes. For vitamins, you have things like the well-known Vitamin A, Vitamin B, and Vitamin K, while some well-known minerals are Iron, Zinc, Magnesium, and Calcium.
At HUmineral sourcing and manufacturing these life-giving minerals to market is paramount to us.
ARE VITAMINS & MINERALS THE SAME? HOW DO THEY DIFFER?
Vitamins and minerals are different categories of nutrients that help support overall health. Both are often considered micronutrients and often grouped. These compounds have very different roles.
VITAMIN PRODUCTION
From 1912 – 1940 Vitamin inception and production were consistently making their way onto the map. Starting about 1912 doctors and scientists at Yale and the University of Wisconsin discovered vitamins while studying animal diets. Full-scale vitamin production started during the 1930s with widespread distribution after World War II. Now, about 1/3 of Americans use vitamin supplements.
Supplements can be derived from plant or animal products. For example, a lab will take a fruit and extract a vitamin from it.
In the synthetic production of supplements, a vitamin (like Vitamin A) can be synthesized from an organic compound (like acetone).
Nature-identical nutrients (NIN) are completely manufactured in a lab with a molecular structure identical to the same nutrients occurring in nature. Many manufacturers often prefer this manufactured process of vitamins due to the cost efficiency and scarcity of natural resources today. Most standard vitamin supplements on the market today are this type.
Did you know that when a vitamin is marked “natural”, it only must include 10% of actual natural plant-derived ingredients? The other 90% could be synthetic.
WHAT DOES NATURAL SOURCE MEAN?
Natural source means the supplement will include nutrients from vegetable, animal, or mineral sources. But before making it into the supplement bottle, they undergo significant processing and refining. Some examples include vitamin D from fish liver oils or vitamin E from vegetable oils.
Consider the following information on these commonly used vitamins that can usually be found in our cupboards.
VITAMIN B:
Cyanocobalamin is a synthetic form of vitamin B12 found only in supplements, while methylcobalamin is a naturally occurring form you can get through food sources or supplements.
VITAMIN E:
Can be extracted from vegetable oils (soybean, as it is inexpensive). The soybeans are crushed, and the protein is removed by precipitation. The resultant oil is distilled to become bottled vegetable oil. The remaining materials are solubilized to remove any carbohydrates. Vitamin E is a solvent, extracted away from the remaining waxes and lecithin.
Synthetic alpha-tocopherol is a combination of eight isomers, while natural alpha-tocopherol is just one isomer. Consuming various and multiple isomers mixed can decrease bioavailability.
Isomers: are compounds that contain the same number of atoms, i.e. they have the same empirical formula, but differ from each other by how the atoms are arranged.
VITAMIN D:
The manufacturing process starts with 7-dehydrocholesterol, which is the basic raw material for the synthesis of vitamin D, (usually from wool oil), which turns into cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) when exposed to ultraviolet light.
Cholecalciferol – a sterol that is formed by the action of sunlight.
Sterol – the third lipid class, also regulates biological processes and sustains the domain structure of cell membranes where they are considered membrane reinforcers.
VITAMIN C:
Most vitamin C currently manufactured is synthetic, coming from China. The most popular form of synthetic vitamin C is ascorbic acid. Naturally occurring vitamin C is the same molecule as synthetic ascorbic acid. But in food, ascorbic acid is found within the vitamin C complex among other compounds. The ascorbic acid in supplements is often derived from corn starch, corn sugar, or rice starch, and is chemically dependent upon volatile acids. Many supplements use salt forms (sodium ascorbate, calcium ascorbate, magnesium ascorbate) to decrease acidity.
The method for vitamin C synthesis using two-step fermentation was developed by China in the 1960s.
Pure Vitamin C is known as L-Ascorbic Acid. The “L” in front of Ascorbic is a reference to how the molecule itself rotates to light and refers to its source and a specific structure of vitamin C. Ascorbic acid is the name of vitamin C in the body. L-Ascorbic Acid comes from natural sources such as citrus fruits – oranges, lemons, tomatoes, and green vegetables.
HUmineral’s ResCue Antioxidant, mixed product Trans-Resveratrol, and Vitamin C is made with L-Ascorbic Acid with essential fatty acids for increased bioavailability. 100% food-based.
SYNTHETIC PRODUCTION
Synthetic nutrients are manufactured in a lab and are different from the same nutrients found in nature. Synthetic vitamins can have the same chemical constituents, but still have different shapes (optical activity).
This is important because some of the enzymes in the human body only work properly with a vitamin of the correct shape. When we give the body concentrated forms of synthetic nutrients, it doesn’t always appear to have an appropriate delivery system.
The shape of an enzyme is very important because it has a direct effect on how it catalyzes a reaction. An enzyme’s shape is determined by the sequence of amino acids in its structure, and the bonds which form between the atoms of those molecules. Some vitamins act as these “coenzymes” while others metabolize, or break down, to supply the coenzyme needed.
Starting materials for strictly synthetic supplements can be anything from coal, tar, and petroleum to acetylene gas. These supplements are made in facilities via chemical manipulations with the goal of duplicating the structure of the isolated vitamins.
An example is vitamin B1. Coal or tar is a widely used foundational substance for this vitamin — typically a crystalline yellow coal tar (yes, from coal, a fossil fuel). Hydrochloric acid is often added to allow precipitation. Then fermentation, heating, cooling, and other steps are completed until a final synthetic vitamin is created. It’s then dried and tested for purity before being shipped.
Are you wondering what it takes to get a natural Vitamin B1 supplement? For starters – a very different process.
The food or botanical containing the desired Vitamin is harvested and cleaned (wheat germ for instance). It’s then placed in a vat, mixed with water, and filtered to create an extract and remove fiber (unlike in whole foods, where you want fiber). The post-filtration extract of the sourced food contains the nutrients found in the original whole food. It’s then dried and ready for packaging. At HUmineral, we believe whole food supplements should be a priority.
CULTURED FOODS
Nutrient-dense supplements are often grown in yeast or algae. Culturing in and of itself creates nutrients and can make them more bioavailable.
Raw materials (minerals and some synthetic nutrients) are added to yeast/algae suspensions where they concentrate within cells. The yeast/algae are then harvested, ruptured, and made into a vitamin supplement. The theory is that yeast/algae contain the nutrients they’re fed in a whole food complex.
Sometimes food cultured vitamins are combined with synthetic vitamins to increase potency.
One way for a food-based supplement is by enzymatically reacting synthetic and natural vitamins, with extracts containing vegetable proteins, and then making this into a supplement. This is not food cultured, because the nutrients are not grown into a whole food, as in the yeast/algae suspensions.
Most manufacturers don’t often use concentrates or extracts derived from whole food sources because of low nutrient potency, fluctuating nutrient levels, limited shelf life, or supply issues. Nutrients are easily degraded by heat, pH changes, light, and oxygen.
FOOD BASED VITAMINS
One way for a food-based supplement is by enzymatically reacting synthetic and natural vitamins, with extracts containing vegetable proteins, and then making this into a supplement. This is not food cultured, because the nutrients are not grown into a whole food, as in the yeast/algae suspensions.
Most manufacturers don’t often use concentrates or extracts derived from whole food sources because of low nutrient potency, fluctuating nutrient levels, limited shelf life, or supply issues. Nutrients are easily degraded by heat, pH changes, light, and oxygen.
BACTERIAL FERMENTATION
This includes nutrients produced by genetically altering bacteria. Genetically altered bacteria can produce nutrient by-products.
Examples include CoQ10, amino acids, ergocalciferol (vitamin D2), menaquinone (vitamin K2), riboflavin (fermentation of ribose), cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12; this is exclusively obtained via fermentation processes, as the naturally occurring source of B12 is bacterial metabolic activity, think animal tissues/meat carrying bacteria), and melatonin.
For instance, vitamin D2 is made by artificially irradiating fungus. It’s not a naturally occurring form of vitamin D. The starting material is ergosterol, a sterol compound present in many fungi, mushrooms, and membranes. Steroid alcohol converts to vitamin D2 when irradiated with ultraviolet light. Ergosterol is turned into viosterol by ultraviolet light and then converted into ergocalciferol (vitamin D2). When sunlight hits our skin, UV radiation transforms a type of cholesterol under our skin into a form of vitamin D called vitamin D3.
We can also create synthetic vitamin D by mimicking the biological process of the sunlight hitting our skin. Vitamin D can also be obtained from the diet. Most foods except for fatty fish contain little vitamin D unless fortified. The vitamin D in fish is D3, whereas that used for fortification is often D2 (ergocalciferol).
HUMIC/FULVIC ACID MINERAL IS A FOOD
After long periods, when the decaying matter has been eaten, transformed, and defecated, what remains is called humus. Humus is a general term that refers to highly complex, stable compounds that are resistant to further decomposition. When the decaying matter reaches this state of humus, it is referred to as recalcitrant organic matter (humic/fulvic acid mineral), due to its resistance to further decomposition. Humus is vital to the soil and stimulates microbes and plants while they consume other nutrients in the ecosystem. “Humic Acid” is a broad term that refers to a complex multi-mixture of plant based minerals that are soluble in alkaline solutions. They exist naturally as part of mother nature’s life cycle in soils, oceans, and streams. For HUmineral sourcing and manufacturing these life-giving minerals to market is key.
Humic/Fulvic Acid minerals are fully decomposed remains of organic plant life. It differs from a vitamin, as it is a mineral food that benefits our cellular health.
HUmic/Fulvic Acid Mineral encompasses every mineral the body requires. The HUman body must have water and minerals to sustain. HUmic mineral is special because it understands how each body needs to utilize these important minerals, literally working on every single biological process of the body. HUmic mineral aids all nutrient uptake (even vitamins), avoiding deficiency, which is essential.
HUmineral non-diluted, non-separated Humic Fulvic Raw Liquid and Raw Powder Mineral supplements aid vitamin uptake. Vitamins do not work without minerals.
Important to note, vitamin supplements cannot replace a healthy diet. Research indicates that most of the vitamins you get from the food you eat are better than those contained in pills. However, supplementation of vitamins can be essential over time and for those on the go or not consistent with healthy whole food, organic healthy diets.
Many vitamins and minerals interact with each other and certain pairs work to create beneficial nutrient synergy.
Humic/Fulvic Acid mineral provides life-giving electrolytes and polyphenols (antioxidants). Importantly, it makes nutrients bioavailable. Molecules of Humic Acids are negatively charged because they have lost positively charged hydrogen ions, this occurs because Humic Acid has a colloidal nature. This creates spaces on the molecules, where positively charged particles, such as iron, copper, zinc, and manganese (which are part of the 90+ chain mineral panel) can attach. The negative charge can boost your body’s energy. Humic/Fulvic Acid Mineral nourishes and hydrates the body. To know more about HUmineral Humic/Fulvic Acid, click here.
Summary and recommendations
The American Dietetic Association (ADA) recommends that the best nutritional strategy for optimal health and reducing the risk of chronic disease is whole foods. At HUmineral our motto is 1. We must eat as well as possible. 2. We must exercise, and 3. As we age, we must supplement.
At HUmineral we believe in living and practicing a healthy lifestyle. The main three core steps we focus on are healthy eating, working out and nutrient supplementation as we live out every stage of our life. Yoga is one of our healthy lifestyle “workout” choices.
Our favorite yoga training certification platform is YOGAFIT. Beth Shaw is one of the nation’s leading women entrepreneurs in fitness and wellness. Beth, who is a best-selling author in the yoga and wellness arena, has served as the creative visionary force at YogaFit for more than two decades. Through the continuous development of her company and ventures from authoring books to her clothing line, she remains at the forefront of the industry, offering innovative fitness programs, certification courses, specialty trainings and intimate wellness retreats nationwide, in small groups. Beth has brought awareness to the power of yoga through her passion as well as her tremendous entrepreneurship.
We love attending her location based wellness events and training courses; where support, connection, education, wellness and growth are all part of the program.
If you have never tried yoga. Now is the time. You work out your body, your mind, and your spirit/energy. Some of the best things about yoga; there is no competition, after a basic class you are generally relaxed head to toe, you go at your own pace, choosing a class that meets you where you are. Start now. Healthy is a LIFESTYLE!
REFERENCES:
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