Here again,i come across various opinions by youngkies, jerk and entrymen from LYN which i think everyone of us should really ponder.
I always believe that the public has the right to know about what they are putting into their mouth but could this backfire on the public?
Most of the time, when someone walks into a pharmacy, they are expecting some relieve for the symptoms they are experiencing. So as pharmacist, i believe the roles plyed by them is to ensure the right doses and the right prescriptions are to be given to them.
Entrymen quotes a good point there:
Research indicates that synthetic vitamins may actually cause nutritional deficiencies. When you take a synthetic vitamin, it needs the co-factors normally found in the whole food, in order to complete its action. If they are not in the foods you eat, it will draw the co-factors from your body. You may feel good for a while but when the co-factors run out, you will begin to feel worse. The prolonged action of the synthetics imitates the action of drugs; they over-stimulate rather than feed your body. Science does not even come close to duplicating nature. Many illnesses, pain and suffering are the result of our dietary ignorance.
Take Vitamin C, for example. The FDA has allowed ascorbic acid to be called Vitamin C. Ascorbic acid, however, is the anti-oxidant protector of the Vitamin C complex, much like the eggshell that protects the egg. The C complex consists of Vitamin P, J and K. Most people have not even heard of vitamins P or J. Vitamin J carries the oxygen and vitamin P is the anti-fragility factor. There is another element in whole food vitamin C called terrosenase, which is a copper enzyme. It is needed to make hemoglobin and prevents anemia. Ascorbic acid, on the other hand, is this chemical teased-out portion which is deficient in all these co-factors and will never have the effect that vitamin C has. It has no effect on the common cold or other conditions that vitamin C has. Studies show that people who eat a diet rich in vitamin C do much better than those taking ascorbic acid. In fact, the body has an enzyme that gets rid of ascorbic acid. Nature knew that we needed the egg and not the eggshell.
Vitamin E is similar. It also has an anti-oxidant protector called tocopherol. There are alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-tocopherols. They protect the center of the vitamin, which is the mineral selenium. In addition to selenium, they also protect some essential fatty acid factors, which are needed to transport calcium. Many people who get muscle cramps rush out to get calcium when the problem is simply that they are taking high doses of this teased-out portion of vitamin E called tocopherol. The whole food form of vitamin E contains Vitamin F that moves calcium from the bloodstream to the tissue therefore preventing cramps. Also, involved in vitamin E are other E fractions that are important to heart health that synthetic E will have no effect on. Check your vitamin bottle. Natural vitamin E is d-tocopherol, while synthetic vitamin E is dl-tocopherol.
If any of these parts are missing, there is no vitamin C, no vitamin activity. When some of them are present, the body will draw on its own stores to make up the differences, so that the whole vitamin may be present. Only then will vitamin activity take place, provided that all other conditions and co-factors are present. Ascorbic acid is described merely as the "antioxidant wrapper" portion of vitamin C; ascorbic acid protects the functional parts of the vitamin from rapid oxidation or breakdown. (Somer p 58 "Vitamin C: A Lesson in Keeping An Open Mind" The Nutrition Report)
Over 90% of ascorbic acid in this country is manufactured at a facility in Nutley, New Jersey, owned by Hoffman-LaRoche, one of the world's biggest drug manufacturers (1 800 526 0189). Here ascorbic acid is made from a process involving cornstarch and volatile acids. Most U.S. vitamin companies then buy the bulk ascorbic acid from this single facility. After that, marketing takes over. Each company makes its own labels, its own claims, and its own formulations, each one claiming to have the superior form of vitamin C, even though it all came from the same place, and it's really not vitamin C at all.
The final decision is in their hand, as long as they are being informed.
Quotes from entrymen:
I agree with what you say that in the end it's still the customer's decision. However, the factors that influence his decisions, in this case, as referred to in the above quote in the spoiler, is due to gross misinformation. As I said I can't comment on the use in treating medical conditions, as I'm not qualified. I can only focus on the notion of synthetic vitamins being used widely to promote one's health and vitality, due to misinformation. So, as you mentioned above [The final decision is in their hand, as long as they are being informed], I believe it is necessary to provide accurate information on the potential risks of synthetic vitamins rather than letting it go and allowing these misinformed people to believe that multivitamins are 100% safe and beneficial.
Jerks then reply:
the misinformed society are a big part due to direct to consumer advertising and marketing. and to make it worse, not many knew the debate of synthetic vs organic if they exist. for now, they are still the minority.
a big part of those articles are foreign to me neither i am an expert in this field, so i am going to let it past for now. if i claim that the moon is made of cheese, i bet i could find some article online to support me. of course that is just an example.
http://www.agroservicesinternational.com/A...anic%20hoax.pdf
http://www.biblelife.org/organic.htm
take the pdf above as an example, when the mass amount of articles each with conflicting truth circulating online, how do you know which is the real one?
I really agree with that seeing the facts that always there is an conflict between the debates of organic versus the synthetic supplements.
let's put it into a scenario like this:
scenario 1: you are a pharmacist working alongside with the owner who is a pharmacist as well. If you refuse sales of synthetic vitamins, you might lose the job. conflict of interest.
scenario 2: customer comes in asking for a specific vitamins because he read an article on the newspaper, and that they are very good. you, the pharmacist is not to question his intelligence in making that decision.
Food nowadays are really tainted with all sorts of chemicals , growth hormones and peticides, the growing and preparations methods lead to low amount of nutrients present in the food. We all never know whether the food we taken either be it organic or non organic, is cleaned and free from all these contaminants. All these are very subjectives.
well, it stir me up to be a biochemist to do testing, analysis and improvements on the quality food concerned. XD
