Every once in a while a debate rages on news group forums about whether Ascorbic Acid is Vitamin C or not. Purveyors of whole food supplements make a ridiculous argument that vitamin C is more than just ascorbic acid and must include bioflavonoids and other co-factors.  I just want my readers to understand that this is nothing more than a marketing scheme to get people to buy expensive products which have limited or no additional benefits.

In order to justify their higher prices, whole food supplement sellers have to concoct wild stories that sound good on the surface but in reality are hollow claims with little or no scientific basis to them. 

Having said that, is it beneficial to get your nutrients from a food source over a pill?  Of course it is. This is the absolute optimal way to get nutrients into your body.  Is buying supplements that are made from whole foods more beneficial than synthetic nutrients?  A qualified yes.  Is it worth the added expense?  Absolutely not.  In fact, if the whole food supplement companies were telling you the whole truth, they’d have to tell you that many of them use synthetic vitamins to bolster their whole food supplements because the cost of having pure food extracted vitamin C of say 500 mg you’d be paying 100 times the amount you are now.  It’s that expensive.

Save yourself some money and stay away from those whole food derived supplements and use synthetic when necessary.  But don’t forget to eat right as there is no way to make up for a lousy diet with pills no matter how “food based” they are.