Surprise! Food-based, Plant-based, & Extract is just another marketing ploy.

Trigger words: “Food-based”, “Plant-based”, and “Extract” should alert the consumer that the product is not a wholefood product.

As more and more people become aware of the necessity for wholefood nutrition, there are several companies that are purposely misleading consumers that may be unaware of the true differences and definitions that define a true wholefood product. They are falsely mislabeling their products as wholefoods, when in fact they are not.

Recently, a well-known, so-called “wholefood” company just began disclosing that they were in fact adding synthetic ascorbic acid to their vitamin C product, along with their usage of vitamin C containing foods. Their label now indicates what I have known for quite some time; that this company was simply mixing in synthetic ingredients disguised as nutrients, and labeling the product still as a wholefood product. By doing this, they allowed themselves to piggy-back on the claim that they are offering a wholefood product, while at the same time they list an increased RDA percentage for that nutrient declared on the label. This leaves the unaware consumer deceived. Now they are not only denying themselves wholefood nutrition; but furthermore, they could be causing damage to their bodies by allowing synthetic chemicals into their daily diet regime.

In order for a product to be a true “wholefood” nutrient it must follow the following three principles:

The nutrient must be delivered within a food ingredient
The nutrient must be a bonded part of that food ingredient
The nutrient must be disclosed as such on their label.

For example, Vitamin C in orange concentrate as found with Grown By Nature. People say, what form is your Vitamin C? We respond, Vitamin C. It’s just that simple.

Look out for these trigger words: “Food-based”, “Plant-based” and “Food Extract”. These terms, to the untrained ear, will have the consumer believing they are purchasing an actual wholefood product, when it is not.

The term “Food-based” or “Plant-based” implies that yes, there is food in their supplement tablet and/or capsule. However, the “Base” portion of that word also reveals that the food powder in their product is an actual “base”, or food foundation. That base/ foundation is great for their marketing efforts, but the truth is revealed as the company will then add in undesirable isolated and synthetic chemicals to increase RDA at the risk of your health.

The term “Extract” defines a process for which a portion of the food has been removed out of its natural packaging, as it was “extracted” away from the whole. The problem that accompanies these extracts is that very integral parts of that plant, or food delivery system, have been left behind. One of the classic examples is with Curcumin, which is extracted out of Turmeric. You see, there was a great deal of research that went into the discovery of one of the key components of Turmeric, which was named Curcumin. When Curcumin is left unadulterated within the Turmeric root, it has shown to be extremely beneficial in terms of health properties. However, upon further research into the extracted process and removal of Curcumin out of the Turmeric, the effectiveness of the isolated Curcumin has greatly suffered.

When an active substance is found within a wholefood, it is part of a network. There are components within that food that help the active substance flourish. When this active portion is extracted, it is cut free of its natural packaging, and support mechanisms within that food.

Back to Vitamin C and ascorbic acid. When Ascorbic acid is isolated or extracted away from the wholefood vitamin C complex, it will now be missing important amino acids, branched-chain amino acids, enzymes, fatty acids, rutin, tyrosinase, factor K, factor J, and several other “team members”. I am personally aware (studies cited below), that there are several studies which have been peer reviewed that demonstrate how the wholefood vitamin C complex far surpasses isolated or extracted ascorbic acid in terms of absorption, retention, and most importantly utilization. [i]

So, as the market becomes more aware of the advantages of ingesting nutrients in their wholefood form vs. isolated and synthetically produced nutrients, we will continue to see companies trying to deceive. Please share this article with your friends and family so their health does fall victim to deception.