Dangers of Artificial Vitamins and Minerals

“The topic of vitamins (and trace minerals) is actually larger than the degree of bioavailability. As an example, how do all the wild canids throughout the eons of history manage to thrive and reproduce without ever consuming the first molecule of micronutrient from a commercial source? …All live well without any vitamins added to their diet. Insight to this situation is gained from research done by pioneer vitamin investigators of the 1920s and 1930s. They could not produce a vitamin deficiency unless feeding a diet high in soluble carbohydrates.”

-Dr. Richard Patton (Ruined By Excess, Perfected By Lack: The Paradox Of Pet Nutrition)

Vitamin and mineral supplementation is common in the general population. Not only do we humans take multivitamins daily, but our companion’s pet foods are loaded with a long list of them as well. In our fast paced society, where healthy eating and whole foods often are not the focus, vitamin and mineral supplements are added to “fill in the gaps”. Sadly there is a danger to vitamin and mineral supplementation, reasons too harmful to ignore.

Once World War II ended, vitamin supplements became much more common despite its

“invention” in 1912 (1), a time where food was scarce but nutrients were needed. Today over 1/3 of people use vitamin and mineral supplements (2). In the last decade alone there has been an 81% increase in their use as many consumers assume they are a safe alternative to a balanced diet and the fact that they are easy to obtain.

In 2020 the human supplement market was valued at $140.3 billion (3) covering tens of thousands of products (4). The pet supplement market was valued at $800 million (5) representing 10-33% of dogs and cats that consume a vitamin or mineral supplement (6, 7). In addition, a majority of pet owners use one or more human supplements in their companions home prepared diet or to supplement their already supplemented commercial pet food.

In reality the way drugs move and work in the body differ from humans and animals, even between species of animals, so cross species comparisons can be difficult to make conclusions from (8). That being said, you may notice we refer to a lot of human supplements or studies with human participants throughout this article. While you may not find this applicable, a large majority of supplements used for companion animals are marketed for humans and tested on animals, manufactured by the same companies and given to our companion animals by their owners.

Most people who use vitamin and mineral supplements assume that all supplements are just as safe, contain warning labels (9, 10) and are regulated like medications that you can get at a pharmacy. In addition many correlate the ability of a supplement to perform its job wth great results simply based on personal opinions and assessments, not based on clinical trials or more scientific modes of evaluation (11).

While, due to modern farming and livestock practices including the use of pesticides, fertilizers and

other factors, nutrient content in fruits, veggies (12), livestock and soil (13) is more depleted causing a huge range of bioavailability. While these sources are not as nutritious as they used to be, it is juvenile to assume they are completely devoid of nutrients.

Manufacturers of our companion pet foods like dry food or canned food on the other hand have to add in artificial vitamins and minerals because their products are exposed to high temperatures during processing, most of the available nutrients in fresh ingredients including meat, fruits, vegetables and grains are altered, denatured or destroyed (14). In order to make their product “complete and balanced”, manufacturers then add artificial vitamins and minerals. Other commercial foods available like frozen or freeze dried raw often add nutrients to meet AAFCO standards (15). Manufacturers must either perform expensive feeding trials to prove the product is sufficient as is or add a vitamin premix that is already pre approved (16).

It kind of defeats the purpose of all those whole food ingredients to begin with. It just sounds fancy to state that the companies used real fruits, veggies and “fresh” meats in the food to get you as the owners to purchase the product for your companions. For those that don’t buy a commercial product, it is becoming more commonplace to add artificial vitamin and mineral supplements to raw food diets as well.

TYPES OF VITAMIN AND MINERAL SUPPLEMENTS (2)

Food Cultured

Supplements are “created” via a fermentation process. Similar to fermented products like kefir, these supplements involve the growth of yeast or algae to make the product. The goal in using this method is to create a supplement that is more bioavailable or easier to digest and be utilized by the body as much as possible (17).

While this method may sound great, always be aware that synthetic vitamins can be mixed with food cultured supplements.

Food Based

This type of supplement is a little misleading as it can combine both natural nutrients and synthetic nutrients. The base of the supplement may be a whole food but the overall product is not as it needs to contain fillers and binders to come together. These nutrients tend to be very sensitive when exposed to light, air, heat and changes in pH levels which can render them denatured or even dead(18).

Bacterial Fermentation

This involves genetically modifying bacterial organisms (GMO) that are designed to make a by-product that is then used as a supplement such as some probiotics or prebiotics (19).

Nature-identical Synthetic

While the name is slightly deceiving these supplements are still 100% synthetic and unnatural (20). They are made in a lab setting and only resemble the natural nutrient in that they are molecularly structured the same (21). Note: THIS DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE THE SAME.

Strictly Synthetic

Similar to Nature-Identical Synthetic supplements these products are also made in a lab setting and while they can be chemically similar they do not resemble what is found in nature at all (22, 23).

SYNTHETIC

Many vitamin and mineral supplements as mentioned above are synthetic. Often they do not come from natural or whole food sources and those that may, can be treated with ethanols, other solvents, originate from tar or petroleum or come from materials that have been radiated to extract the nutrients from the original source (24, 25, 26, 27, 28)

B vitamins are one of the most prevalent vitamins that come from

coal and tar. Supplements derived from these sources are obviously not something natural the body ingests so it is hard and taxing to the body to break down the components of these supplements. Not only are they cancer causing agents, petroleum, coal and tar contain over 10,000 harmful chemicals, only 50% of which have been identified and understood (29).

Unfortunately many health professionals including doctors and veterinarians assume that the body is unable to tell whether a nutrient is natural or synthetic (30). This is untrue.

1. Particle size of the nutrient is a very important factor for proper utilization. Natural vitamins have small particles, synthetic vitamins do not (31).

2. Absorption is also based not only on the nutrient individual but how they interact with other nutrients and components in the complex (32).

3. The physical and chemical form of the nutrient affects its absorption (33).

4. Structure affects the nutrient for example synthetic vitamins have an isolated crystalline structure or 3-D arrangement whereas natural vitamins do not (24).

Many synthetic vitamins and minerals are also 50-70% less able to perform properly in the body (34, 35) which could be an advantage as the best case scenario is that they will pass right through. No nutrients are absorbed and you just wasted money on pretty packaging with hopeful benefits. That being said, the body DOES have to remove the toxins. It ISN’T as simple as in and out. The liver (32, 36), skin, kidney (38) and spleen are responsible for removing them, overworking these organs, preventing them from doing other jobs they need to do.

On the other end of the spectrum your companion’s body may now be loaded with compounding toxins that are resulting in some serious side effects and long term health concerns (39). Due to the synthetic nature of many vitamins and mineral supplements, these “gap fillers” are actually causing people to live shorter lives. Some studies suggest that supplementation can actually cause cancers (40, 41, 42) kidney failure (43), cardiac arrest (44) and bone fractures (45).

While artificial vitamins and minerals may look molecularly similar or designed like a natural vitamin or mineral they aren’t. It is very hard to recreate what nature has designed. Therefore when created in the lab, vitamin and mineral supplements are often created by isolating and purifying to create the “beneficial” component of the nutrient. These supplements often are different in their structure, how they absorb, are metabolized (39) and their effect on the body. One individual vitamin or mineral is not one single component, they are complexed meaning they are made up of many components including enzymes, buffers, cofactors and other parts that help the body recognize the nutrient, break it down and utilize it within the body (46, 47). If one component is missing, the function can not proceed. This very quickly results in mineral deficiencies (48), disease and long term poor health.

LABELING

How can you tell if a product contains synthetic supplements? If the package states “with added vitamins and minerals” or “natural with added vitamins and minerals” it is NOT a natural product. In fact anything labeled with natural means virtually nothing as the government has no standardized definition for the word “natural” in pet foods or supplements (49).

When it comes to supplements, labeling laws are a moot point. As it stands currently over ⅓ of products do not contain the active ingredient the manufacturer claims and another ⅓ included ingredients that weren’t even listed (50).

Aside from the label, how can you tell if your vitamin or mineral supplement is synthetic and derived from coal, tar or petroleum? It's as simple as placing your product on aluminum foil in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for 10 minutes. If the supplement you put in the oven is now black, bubbly and smells, your supplement definitely was derived from coal, tar or petroleum (39). YUCK!

OTHER SOURCES

We all know Vitamin C is plentiful in fruits, but Ascorbic Acid, the most common form of Vitamin C on the market, is derived from corn products like starch, sugar or rice (51, 52).

Calcium supplements are often from rocks. Rocks contain minerals but obviously carnivores don’t eat

them, but rocks are cheap. Nutrients are inexpensive to produce by manufacturers via these sources (53) As you can imagine though, consuming rocks can cause digestive concerns. The most common form of calcium is calcium carbonate which is the main ingredient in antacid products like Tums. Antacids work by reducing the stomach acid (54) however in the process it prevents the body from being able to properly break down food items so common side effects include constipation, gas, bloating (55) and other digestive concerns (56).

Natural selenium is sourced from organ meats like kidney (57) but can also be found in fish, red meats and eggs (58). Selenium is important for proper thyroid function and reducing the likelihood of mercury toxicity. In addition it is classified as an anti-mutagenic and removes free radicals (59, 60). The synthetic version is sodium selenite which is a toxic inorganic salt, created by combining sodium hydroxide (commonly called lye)(61) and selenous acid which is part of the process to purify industrial copper. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), states “prolonged exposure to sodium selenite may cause paleness, coated tongue, stomach disorders, nervousness, metallic taste and a garlic odor of the breath. Fluid in the abdominal cavity, damage to the liver and spleen and anemia have been reported in animals.” (61)

Synthetic Vitamin D is derived from radiating (the process of using radiation) vegetable oil (62).

Many vitamin and mineral ingredients are sourced from or made in China. China has more than

monopolized the vitamin and mineral supplementation industry (63). 95% of Vitamin C supplements for example are produced in China (64). This country has had many issues with their products containing heavy metals (65) or other harmful contaminants (66). It is also one of the most polluted countries. Not only is their air toxic, but their soil and water that many products are grown in are as well. The 2007 recall of over 150 brands of pet food due to melamine contamination was found to have originated in wheat gluten from China. Hundreds if not thousands of cats and dogs died from health complications sustained while eating these contaminated foods. The damage was so severe in not only the animal industry but human as well that those responsible for the contamination were beheaded as punishment (67). Even if the supplement is not from China consumers have no idea where the ingredients came from as there are no labeling laws regulating or enforcing manufacturers to label country of origin on their products (68).

The following is a list of supplements that are all classified as synthetic (you can find a more complete list here)

• Vitamin A: Retinyl Palmitate

• Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): Thiamine Mononitrate, Thiamine Hydrochloride

• Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): Riboflavin

• Pantothenic Acid: Calcium D-Pantothenate

• Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine): Pyridoxine Hydrochloride

• Vitamin B12: Cyanocobalamin

• PABA (Para-aminobenzoic Acid): Aminobenzoic Acid

• Folic Acid: Pteroylglutamic Acid

• Choline: Choline Chloride, Choline Bitartrate

• Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid): Ascorbic Acid

• Vitamin D: Irradiated Ergosteral, Calciferol

• Vitamin E: dl-alpha tocopherol, dl-alpha tocopherol acetate or succinate

NOTE: The "dl" form of any vitamin is synthetic (69).

Again this is not an exhaustive list of unnatural sources of vitamins and mineral supplements, but you get the idea that cheap and easy is the slogan of this industry.

Dangers of Vitamins and Mineral Supplements

“Synthetic vitamins and other substances are added (to kibble) in an effort to compensate for this nutrient loss. However, these additives create ongoing metabolic stresses that, coupled with the limited ingredient selection and processing of foods, leads to situations in which cellular nutritional status can be compromised, causing tissue malnutrition.”

-Ron Carsten DVM MS, The Benefits of Whole Food Nutrition in Veterinary Medicine,Whole Food Nutrition Journal

Unlike whole food sources, synthetic vitamins are very concentrated sources of nutrients. Many products anticipate to supply higher levels of nutrients than recommended for daily intake. Synthetic fat soluble vitamins such as Vitamin A, D, E and K are stored in fatty tissues and the liver so it is very easy to produce a toxicity. In addition, because many people believe more is better, they use a product or take one in higher doses in the hopes of preventing any illness, disease or condition inadvertently harming their companion (70). In one review of almost 50 clinical trials it was found that synthetic Vitamin A and E that was

consumed at higher levels than what would be found in an appropriate healthy diet (71) actually risked higher rates of death (72, 73, 74). This is often where the worry of too much Vitamin A comes from in a raw diet. This actually originates from information concerning synthetic sources of Vitamin A versus natural sources like liver that is regularly gorged with no problem in the wild. In fact domestic cats and dogs have a great ability to safely consume large amounts of liver. The most common problem with supplements are issues with the liver because it is one of the main organs for toxin removal. Many of these supplements are extremely hard to break down so it heavily taxes the liver and other organs causing inflammation, organ failure or other complications.

Generally speaking “Naturally-occurring whole-food vitamins are not toxic since the vitamin is complexed in its natural whole integral working form, and requires nothing from the body to "build" a vitamin.”

Despite the following being a common problem in cats and dogs, high calcium levels, bone loss (75), calcification of the heart (76) and kidneys (77) is an issue due to synthetic Vitamin D. It is almost impossible to get too much natural Vitamin D from whole foods.

One study showed that the synthetic supplement Niacin or Vitamin B3 was correlated with an increased risk of death from any cause (78) and another study showed that over 25,000 people put on Niacin were not any less likely to suffer from heart attacks, strokes, death or other causes of heart problems, but that it increased chances of problems with the liver, infections and internal bleeding (79).

In another study performed on pigs, Vitamin B rendered every subject sterile. (80)