nutrients, whether from the diet or from other supplements. They can
also interfere with over-the-counter or prescription drugs.
As an example of the difference between HSAIDS and truly nat-
ural nutrients, consider vitamins C and E. Dietary sources of natural-
ly occurring vitamin C, for example, have biological effects, acting as
antioxidants and protecting DNA from oxygen damage. The dose in
the best of meals may be 100 mg of vitamin C or less. However, the
synthetic counterpart (ascorbic acid), found in almost all dietary sup-
plements, may function differently. High doses of synthetic vitamin
C, typically 500 to 1,000 mg tablets for example, can perform as an
antioxidant, but can also transform to a deadly pro-oxidant — which
can cause excess free-radical activity and inflammation.
Another illustration of the difference between HSAIDS and truly
natural nutrients is found in vitamin E. A natural dose of vitamin E is
really quite small. For example, the amount of naturally occurring
alpha-tocopherol in a loaf of whole-wheat bread — a relatively high
source of natural vitamin E — may be only 2 to 4 IU. In contrast, vita-
min E supplements typically come in extremely high doses of 400 to
800 IU. You’d have to eat 200 loaves to reach these supplement doses.
This unnatural dose of vitamin E can interfere with other more effec-
tive antioxidants and is discussed later in this chapter. And worse,
these doses of vitamin E have been shown to significantly increase
mortality!
Vitamins C is often sold under the “natural” label as are many
other synthetic vitamins. In nature these vitamins occur with other
chemical components and with associated phytonutrients as dis-
cussed later in this chapter. These supplements don’t have the same
function as nutrients that contain all complementary components as
they occur in real food. In addition, synthetic supplements have lower
bioavailability. Synthetic vitamin C, for example, is not as biological-
ly available, and the body gets rid of it more quickly, in comparison
to vitamin C in real foods. Studies have shown that vitamin C from
food was 35 percent better absorbed, and excreted more slowly, than
synthetic vitamin C.
There are also many potential side effects associated with
HSAIDS. Consider the following:
132 • IN FITNESS AND IN HEALTH