Many people take supplements of one form or another to ensure they are getting what may be deficient in the food they eat. To be useful to the body, a supplement must be of an organic origin and contain enzymes. It must be derived from natural food sources. Vitamins and minerals must be delivered in trace amounts, as they are in whole natural food. This way, the body can utilize them to correct deficiencies without causing other problems.

What food on earth can you think of that contains 500 mg of any vitamin or mineral? Nature only provides nutrients in small and balanced combinations. Any supplement that comes in mega-doses stimulates the body and creates an imbalance in the system.The body has to work hard to eliminate the excess, and in the process, further depletes its supply of other essential nutrients.

A person might ask, "How can that be? When I take certain vitamins in larger doses I feel better." That may be true; the good feeling comes from stimulation, just like when people who drink coffee are stimulated by the caffeine. You feel better because the body has increased metabolism in order to eliminate the supplement, which in that form and quantity, is toxic.

Over time, such doses cause more deficiencies and wear the body down. The same stimulative situation applies to some herbal supplements and treatments. The body cannot use, and does not accept, isolated nutrients. It requires specific combinations working together synergistically before they can be recognized as food.

Bottom line-synthetic vitamins are harmful. Tests with rats fed synthetic vitamins found that they died sooner than rats given nothing to eat. The synthetic, incomplete supplements stimulated the animals' systems, increasing their metabolic rates and literally causing them to "burn up" or wear out at a faster rate.

Despite the preceding caveats, supplements can play an important role in paying back deficiency debts to the body created by years of nutrient deficient food consumption.

When selecting vitamin and mineral supplements, make certain they come from whole organic food sources, contain enzymes, and have been made with minimal processing. Such supplements may work with the body slowly, but they also work surely and continuously, without the stress of increased metabolism to remove unnatural, incomplete, and toxic substances.

A diet of natural, raw, organic, ripe, and fresh or undercooked foods provides the body with vitamin and mineral supplies with their complete synergistic components. Good supplements can help make up for nonorganic foods that are mineral deficient.

BlueWaterArticles.com: - Food SupplementsHelpful or Harmful Part One

About the Author

Ron Garner, BEd, MSc, is the author of "Conscious Health - Choosing Natural Solutions for Optimum Health and Lifelong Vitality." Conscious Health takes the mystery out of how the body operates and how health problems can be reversed. To learn more visit: http://www.conscioushealth.ca