The Return to Natural Health Products: Why More People Are Ditching Synthetics

Step into a health food store today and you’ll see something different from a decade ago. A plethora of natural supplements, herbal concoctions, whole-food based vitamins. And more than ever, the people shopping in these stores include not just the average, health-obsessed zealot, but the everyday man – the person who used to stop in the grocery store on the way home, pick up a bottle of multivitamins from the check-out aisle and call it a day.

Thus is the shift away from synthetic supplementation and toward natural health products. It hasn’t been a trend. It’s been an interest to forgo assumption about what goes into natural health products for an awareness of everything going into our bodies (or at least, what we’re intended to) when it comes to vitamins and supplements.

What’s Causing the Change

There are many levels from which the transition away from synthetic supplementation has emerged, but the greatest cause is an immense level of distrust. People are reading labels. They’re asking questions. It’s one thing to stick with multivitamin because you’re told it’s good for you. It’s another to take a gander at the ingredient list that’s filled with composition due to chemical reactions and petroleum byproducts that make it seem fabricated out of a chemistry set rather than easily attainable from a garden.

Synthetic vitamins are disgusting, according to some. But that shouldn’t dissuade someone from taking them. People have simply accepted synthetic vitamins their entire lives, thinking them cheap, easy access and effective since they flooded the market on a mass scale for decades.

However, now that information about how items are made – and ultimately absorbed in the body – has been gleaned over time and virtually right at our fingertips through Internet searches, synthetic vitamins aren’t quite as enticing.

When Susie looks at her synthetic multivitamin and wonders what Kynurenine is, it’s far too easy for her to learn that it’s a component of an amino acid that is a side product found from combining amino acids with petroleum.

The Body and Bioavailability

Which brings us to the science portion. Bioavailability refers to how much of a nutrient your body can actually use versus how much subsequently ends up in the toilet.

Synthetic vitamins often boast no bioavailability because they’re not constructed with food-based cofactors. Vitamin C is one example in which the ascorbic acid component is only part of what lends itself to vitamin C content when eating an orange.

But what happens is you eat an orange, you’re getting bioflavonoids and enzymes as well as ascorbic acid, enhancing your body to recognize vitamin C as part of your natural makeup. A tablet of ascorbic acid? Just ascorbic acid, with your body wondering what happened upon ingestion.

Natural health products seek to bridge that relationship based upon food sources. For those who seek to adhere to alternatives based upon functional food sources or historical wellness options, Barbara O’Neill Endorsed Products exist as a champion of working with the body instead of against it.

The statistics show it. Studies take a look at vitamin E retention duration and find that natural vitamin E is retained in the body nearly double in time than the synthetic variant. Patterns like this emerge across nutrients – vitamins sourced through foods retain longer than those synthesized.

What People Are Actually Experiencing

Yes, this may make scientists cringe, but anecdotal evidence runs wild. Across various online forums and social media groups dedicated to natural health, people report better experiences with natural health products as opposed to their synthetic counterparts.

For example, common experiences related to synthetic vs. natural comparison include lack of digestive distress (often when vitamins are too harsh on stomachs), consistent energy levels and the illusion that products are "working better."

Are they? Is there a placebo effect? Or chemical benefits? A little bit of both? It’s debatable; however, word gets around enough that these assessments can’t be completely discounted.

One experience that emerges far too often is speed – people note better changes more quickly, meaning when Susie transitions from synthetic iron to food-based iron she’ll find her energy returns along without constipation which slowed her down before; her friend notes that her stress level differs greatly thanks to a whole-food based B complex instead of synthetic.

The Price Is Right (Well, Wrong)

Let’s be honest. Natural supplements cost more – sometimes exponentially. A bottle of ten-dollar synthetic vitamins at CVS may last someone three months; a comparable (if effective) natural supplement may run someone thirty or forty dollars and take three months.

It’s frustrating; it becomes an obstacle. Natural supplementation is not immediately accessible for many people; those who need them most – fewer incomes struggling with poor quality diets – are priced out. Those who can afford good quality are often those who can afford good quality at the grocery store in their entire diets as well.

However, if people find natural supplementation works better, sometimes fewer doses or lower doses are all that’s needed. Stocking shelves in bathrooms or kitchens evens out with time if products truly work without expensive urine along the way.

The Regulation Void

An interesting factor is that most people don’t realize that supplements have little regulation in comparison to pharmaceuticals – and whether synthetically made or natural, often it’s on good faith that people’s labels are what’s inside the bottles.

Therefore, when sourcing matters – natural products from established companies boast third-party testing and quality assessments – it’s harder to disguise raw materials coming from an actual plant or food than it is for chemical synthesis.

"Sourcing" is not synonymous with "all good." After all – arsenic is naturally occurring; poison ivy is naturally occurring. Therefore, due diligence still matters and people must research companies with certifications worth their costs and fees because higher price doesn’t always mean better quality.

Where Traditional Medicine Comes Into Play

When traditional practitioners suggest supplements – which isn’t often – they suggest synthetics. Generally speaking, medical schools don’t focus on nutrition – let alone the difference between forms; thus, many people feel stuck on their own trying to decide whether natural or synthetic is better.

Research that’s done comparing synthetic forms versus whole food based/synthetic versions usually comes backed by synthetic research because that’s what’s been readily available.

Over time – in light of advanced functional medicine and integrative medicine increasing interest levels in traditional healing methods (and subsequent whole-food nutrition) compared to its once conventional options – more practitioners become familiarized with holistic options alongside their suggestions.

Making The Switch: What To Expect

If someone decides to switch from synthetic products to natural products, it’s best not to take everything away at once; feedback may be necessary for frequency adjustments over time. It’s best to ditch one supplement at a time instead of all-of-a-sudden and overhaul one’s routine.

Additionally, it’s critical to read labels – natural doesn’t necessarily mean anything – but looking for food cultivated options or specific plants in ingredients make it easier to decipher if those words come from the lab floor instead.

Most importantly – don’t expect miracles over night – in fact – and don’t feel bad if a person doesn’t have that immediate boost on their energy levels – which is probably just filler and binder dissuading them anyway.

Natural alternatives work incrementally compared to synthetics which often boast fillers – even vitamins – acting like candy on the way up through a hole. Instead, benefits keep compounded over time for real effects.

The Bottom Line

People are moving away from synthetic supplements for their ease out of convenience because people have undergone fundamental changes in how they relate to health.

There’s more focus on preventative wellness now than overriding what people think might work; there’s growing understanding that multiple factors coalesce for wellness instead of isolated nutrients.

At present it’s critical to understand whether natural products are actually better than synthetic counterparts amidst research – which some studies show mixed findings – quality varies among worlds – and people respond differently based upon individual differences.

What’s clear is that people vote with their dollars – choosing products that resonate more with their values pertaining to food and natural world in addition to wellness approaches they feel more naturally aligned than swallowing chemically manufactured edibles.

Returning products back to nature isn’t challenging science – but questioning whether synthetic has truly proffered further than what we can get already.