Are Organic Vitamins & Nutritional Supplements Necessary?
 

When you go shopping for a natural vitamin or other nutritional supplement, it is important that you look for one that is made of highly potent ingredients.  Depending on the richness of the soil in which it was grown, and how it was harvested and preserved, the nutrient content of various plants can vary by over 900%!  This means you can get something that runs from barely containing the nutrient that you are looking for to something that is spectacularly potent.  Always ask about how the ingredients were grown and harvested.  Organic produce tends to have higher concentrations of nutrients in it, as we will discuss in the next section:
 

Organic Means More Minerals
 

Not only do organic foods have fewer chemicals like pesticides in them, but they have been shown in many studies to have higher levels of various nutrients, including vitamins and minerals.  This would of course apply to organic vitamins & nutritional supplements as well.  An article in the Journal of Applied Nutrition studied the mineral content of organic vs conventionally grown apples, pears, wheat, potatoes and corn.  In general, the organic foods in this study had much higher levels of minerals:

Organic Means Fewer Toxic Metals
 

In addition, this study showed that organic produce had much lower levels of toxic metals:

Mercury, lead and aluminum are all toxic heavy metals with various dangers.  Mercury can cause neurological problems, lead lowers IQ levels in children, and aluminum has been implicated in Alzheimer’s.  It is important to reduce heavy metal intake, especially in vitamins or nutritional supplements that you are taking for your health!
 

Organic Means More Vitamins
 

Other studies have compared vitamin levels of organic vs conventional foods.  These studies showed that when certain pesticides are applied, it lowers some vitamin levels – especially the B and C vitamins and beta carotene.  These are all known as antioxidants and are necessary for our bodies to properly deal with all the chemicals that we are exposed to in our environment today.  (hmm, perhaps the plants used up some of the vitamin B and vitamin C and beta carotene in order for them to deal with the onslaught of the pesticides…)  In any case, eating organic foods or taking orgain nutritional uspplements means getting higher levels of vitamins.
 

Organic Means Fewer Pesticide Residues
 

It goes without saying that there are fewer pesticide residues on organic foods, since pesticides are not being used on them.  It is sad to say, however, that some pesticides are found even on organic foods because of pesticides in the water used for irrigation and from drift from adjacent fields.  However, the amounts of pesticides are much lower if the crop is grown organically, and this will apply to vitamins and nutritional supplements as well.

Although it has been difficult to prove the adverse health benefits of consuming small amounts of pesticide residues on our foods, and some people don’t need a study to tell them that chemicals that kill living things are not good for them.  Recent studies have shown a clear relationship between pesticides in women’s fat cells and an increased risk of breast cancer.  Although we cannot always control our breathing in chemicals or what is in our water, we can choose to eat more organic food and use organic whole food based nutritional supplements so as to reduce our risk.

Most whole food supplements are concentrated – they are usually dried out and converted to a powder form and either put into a tablet or a capsule.  This concentrates the nutrients, but will also concentrate any toxins like pesticides or heavy metals.  So besides having a higher vitamin and mineral content, organic whole food nutritional supplements will be lower in toxins like heavy metals and pesticide residues.  It is worth seeking out organic vitamins and minerals for your best health.
 

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