What's The Difference Between Synthetic Vitamins and Natural Wholefood Vitamins.

One of the first things you need to understand is that most products that are available contain vitamins that are fractionated, isolates or synthetic.

What this means is that you are either not getting the actual vitamins but a synthetic form of it, or you are only receiving a part of, or fraction, of the actual vitamin.


The body does not like synthetics.  In fact, over years of use, synthetics can be harmful to your health.  (Please see attached chart).

An example is vitamin C. Most products list Vitamin C as Ascorbic Acid. Ascorbic acid is only one seventh of the vitamin C molecule. In essence your body in not receiving 6/7 of the potential of the Vitamin C and yet it is perfectly legal to claim a product as having or being Vitamin C when its source is ascorbic Acid.

Do you know that most vitamins being purchased are sourced from petroleum esters, coal tar derivatives, ammonia, formaldehyde, Fumaric acid, etc. (see chart)

The other important point to be made regarding whole food products like those we offer through Touchstone Essentials is that not only do you get the full complement of the specific vitamin offered by that plant, fruit, vegetable, but you get all of the other enzymes and complimentary components that make the vitamin C more effective and available to the body.

Our bodies are extremely intelligent, they know what they need and in what form. Nature is and always will be the best source for what our bodies need. When you use organic, whole-food products your body is getting exactly what nature offers and exactly what your body needs. 

The reality is that all studies showing health benefits from vitamins are done on whole foods.  Whole food nutrition is shown to be protective against cancer, to be good for your heart, soothes your joints and much, much more.

Touchstone supplements are grown and “harvested,” not “manufactured."  Whole foods—with all their vitamins, minerals, enzymes and phytonutrients intact—are uniquely equipped to nourish cells, with a complete nutritional profile that can access the “locked” ion channels found in cells.

Most multivitamins are derived from chemicals (not food) and represent a single component of a vitamin molecule. In essence, they have only one number of what is a combination lock. The complex ion channels found in cells do not recognize most synthetics and isolates, making most “vitamins” ineffective.

Our proprietary whole food formulas come from carefully selected farm-fresh fruits and veggies, minerals, herbs, natural enzymes and probiotics. In fact, each 3 capsule serving of our Essentials product is a rich blend with antioxidants in complete whole fruit and vegetable form that is the equivalent of 33 servings of farm-fresh fruits and veggies.

Hundreds of clinical and peer reviewed studies show health benefits from antioxidant-rich foods, while “vitamins” show little to none.

Check your supplement label against this scary chart to see what’s in your vitamins.

So, as you can see it is very difficult to answer your question simply with numbers or amounts because there is so much more in a whole food product that makes it more effective and more bio-available to our bodies. 

I suggest you review the attached charts and compare them to the source of the products you are currently using. I would welcome an opportunity to have a conversation about this to answer any additional questions you might have so you can make the best informed decision possible.

Thanks so much for your interest and your commitment to better personal health.


Barbara is a qualified nutritionist offering Health, Nutrition & Lifestyle Counseling.
She gives Healthy weight loss advice and promotes the Mediterranean diet.

Barbara is also the author of the Med Life Diet - creating healthy eating and healthy  lifestyle habits and attitudes for life !

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