What do people mean by “whole food” vitamins? Aren’t all vitamins the same? The answer is no. For the better part of the last century, the majority of vitamin supplements and multivitamins sold in stores have been produced in laboratories using processes that were borrowed from the pharmaceutical industry. To this day, the majority of vitamin supplements continue to be produced by “big pharma”. These traditional lab synthesized vitamins haven’t changed much in 100 years and make up the majority of products sold on the shelves in pharmacy, grocery, and mass merchandise stores.
But within the last few decades, we’ve seen growing research indicating that these mass-produced laboratory synthesized vitamins may not be delivering the same benefit as the natural vitamins in food. In response, a number of companies set out to develop a new class of vitamin supplement that is not chemically synthesized. These “whole food” vitamins are either grown in live food cultures (yeast) or gently extracted from plants and then concentrated into supplement form.
Difference Between Whole Food vs. Synthetic Vitamins
While big pharma is quick to argue that synthetic and whole food vitamins are chemically identical, their argument fails to take into account exactly what happens when we separate vitamins from the thousands of naturally occurring phytochemicals that surround them in nature. Some of these phytonutrients have only recently been discovered in the last few decades. Now, a growing body of research indicates that these natural chemicals like carotenoids, flavonoids, and glucosinolates have critical chemical relationships with these vitamins that contribute to their nutritional value.
Whole food vitamins are concentrated from actual plants. By harvesting the nutrition from the plant rather than synthesizing it in a lab, you’re also getting these critical phytochemicals that surround the primary vitamins in nature. Therefore, is preserves those natural relationships, making these whole food vitamins much more similar to what you would find in food. This is very important.
Are Whole Food Vitamins Plant-based?
Whole food vitamin research and methods used to produce these premium whole food supplements is progressing very quickly. There are a few suppliers that now offer plant-based, vegan source vitamin supplements, however sometimes manufacturers of the vitamins are not as transparent as they should be. If a vitamin supplement label doesn’t clearly state the plant source of the vitamin, then you should ask. I’ve provided a clip from the label of a popular meal shake claiming that 100% of the vitamins in the product are from plant-based whole food sources. In this case you can see the list of ingredient sources of those vitamins. This is a good indicator that the vitamins are in-fact really from whole foods.
Whole Food Sources of Vitamin D and B12
Vitamin D and B12 are both common in many of the foods we eat such as meat, dairy, and fish. But finding natural plant-based whole food vitamin D supplements and plant based vitamin B12 supplements can be challenging. As described above, this is typically when you have to ask a manufacturer specifically about the source. The most common source of plant-based vitamin D is from a plant organism called lichen. Lichen is a very complex symbiotic organism – part mushroom and part algae. Lichen is very nutrient-dense. One of those nutrients is natural vitamin D. When looking at vitamin labels, you’ll want to specifically look for the term “lichen” or the trademark ingredient name which is Vitashine™ vitamin D3 .
Plant-based vitamin B12 is also very difficult to find. As of the publication date of this article, the only reliable source of supplemental vitamin B12 is from bacteria (yeast). The B12 is cultured in the yeast and then isolated. So, while it is plant-based, it’s still technically not considered “whole food” source vitamin B12 because it’s not extracted from a whole plant. Still it’s not a bad option for people on a vegan or vegetarian diet who may struggle to get this nutrient in their diet.
How Do I Make Sure I’m Getting the Best Whole Food Vitamins?
Do your homework - make sure that you’re eating nutrient-dense foods that are chock full of these critical vitamins. OK, I know what you’re thinking: who wants to do all of that homework to carefully identify all of these nutrient-dense foods? Don’t worry, we’re going to do the homework for you! Later this year, we’ll be publishing a free guide and offering it to our subscribers. Be sure to sign up below.
Qualify your supplements – if you’re looking for quality whole food supplements, the key word is transparency. Stick with companies who openly disclose all of their ingredients and who are very specific about what food source the vitamins come from. Also, look for trademarked ingredients. One example is the Vitashine™ D3 ingredient referenced above. If you follow the link to the website, you’ll see that the company that makes VitaShine™ D3 has special processes for sourcing and manufacturing their D3. That’s why it is trademarked. Generally, trademarked ingredients have more stringent quality control and more research to support them.
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