So I had the pleasure of meeting a gentleman who sells “natural” vitamins. He claims that the supplements you buy off the shelf do more harm than good, and that the body does not effectively take up the synthetic versions of, say, vitamin C.
My argument was that the origins of two simple, purified samples of L-ascorbic acid are indistinguishable in the lab, let alone the digestive tract.
As a counter, he said that the body knows the difference, and he’s been on the natural vitamins for many years now, and he hasn’t been sick once. It made me think of the “water has memory” stories. He promised to send me some bumf on the research done on the topic of natural and synthetic supplements. But my hopes aren’t high.
No one who eats a modern, balanced diet needs any supplements to begin with, but if it makes him feel better, I guess he is welcome to pop as many pills as he likes.