Our new, Whole Food Supplements are Organic, Non-GMO, and Vegan, and crafted to emulate the way nutrients are found in nature.
This podcast discusses our new suite of whole food supplements. Read the full transcript here:
Hello, I’m Ramona Billingslea, educator for Betsy’s Health Foods, and on today’s episode, I’m going to discuss a new line of products we’re now carrying in our store brand, Betsy’s Basics, and this is our whole food supplement suite.
Our new, Whole Food Supplements are Organic, Non-GMO, and Vegan, and crafted to emulate the way nutrients are found in nature.
The vitamins and minerals in these formulas have been individually cultivated in a base of whole food fruits and vegetables in order to combine the best of nature and science. These products use only the cleanest ingredients in order to meet Organic, Non-GMO, Vegan, and Whole Food standards, and are designed to be free of all major common allergens.
The source of the Organic WF Blend in this new suite of products is derived from organic plant ingredients, such as moringa, amaranth, carrot, sunflower seed , spinach, amla berries, holy basil, lichen, green tea, curry Leaf, parsley, annatto, garlic, marigold, coconut and Shitake and Oyster mushrooms, to name just a few. This broad spectrum of vitamins-rich extracts are standardized from organic greens and fruits to attain RDA levels. The food based blends are fully natural, organic, kosher and vegan, and, again, free of all common allergens..
We first realized the need for supplements of any kind in the early 1900s, when the germ theory of disease led to the idea of sterilizing foods, perhaps making them safer, but robbing them of nutrients at the same time. Scientists eventually identified the nutrients and figured out a way to synthetically re-create them in a lab.
In recent decades, there has been a slow and steady change in the way Americans eat and produce food. We have migrated toward a diet made up largely of highly processed and refined foods that have had much of their nutrients destroyed. This trend has contributed to a high increase in chronic health conditions such as diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. The need for supplemental nutrients has never been higher as we have started to realize that we have sacrificed health for convenience. As a result, there has been an emergence of “healthier”, “more natural” products on the market.
There are several types of manufacturing processes that can be used to create vitamins, minerals, and other dietary supplements. The ingredients in these formulas can be sourced from whole foods, plants, or even animals, or they can be produced synthetically in a laboratory through a series of chemical reactions and processes.
Whole Food Supplements are at the top of the list of products available when we are looking to reclaim some of our “lost”, beneficial nutrients, but there’s certainly a lot to know about them!
Whole Foods supplements are made from primarily plant-based foods that are processed and refined as little as possible, if at all, before being consumed. They are typically concentrated and/or dehydrated plants, such as whole grains, tubers, legumes, fruits, and vegetables.
The extraction process of whole foods and herbs does not use chemical solvents, which means that new and complex methods need to be perfected in order to obtain the nutrients from the source. Whole food supplements are also less processed than the other types of supplements, which means sophisticated processes such as freeze-drying herbs or growing nutrients into a fermentation matrix must be employed. Also, appropriate quality control and testing measures must take place in order to ensure that all product specifications are being met.
Here are 3 REASONS TO CONSIDER WHOLE FOOD SUPPLEMENTS
- Bioavailability. In general, the term bioavailability relates to how easily a component (vitamin, mineral, enzyme, etc.) is for the body to absorb and utilize. Food-based supplements are much more likely to supply the bioavailable forms of these nutrients, because they are made with the most natural sources: food or food concentrates.
- Complexity. Because they are made with food-derived compounds, these types of supplements include the valuable phytonutrients, cofactors, and other elements that deliver nutrients as a whole rather than as a fragmented piece, making the actives more effective and efficient. In fact, a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that the synergistic effects of these components as a whole are responsible for their potent antioxidant and anti-cancer activities.
- Transparency. In a post-COVID world, and even before, there has been a growing demand for transparency in supplements. This has only been magnified by the focus on maintaining a healthy base in an effort to not get sick and has resulted in a growing awareness of the added health benefits provided by “whole”, “natural” ingredients. Our non-synthetic formulas provide the assurance that these products are healthy and beneficial for you.
Technically, a supplement can be marketed with terms like “whole food based” or “Natural” if it contains as little as 10% of natural, plant or food-derived ingredients. Typically, a brand would be a little more careful about calling a product “Whole Food” than it would “Natural”, though, as natural carries so many different inclusions whereas whole food is more specific. For true whole food-based supplements, the process for most of the formula might involve freeze-drying herbs, or growing nutrients into a fermentation matrix such as yeast or algae. The raw materials are added to the yeast/algae suspensions where they combine and concentrate, and this culturing of the nutrients makes them more bioavailable. Sometimes in order to achieve a well-established, efficacious potency within a product, it is necessary to supplement the naturally occurring active ingredients with a synthetic form. When required, the ideal solution would be to ferment the synthetic ingredient with the Whole Food base, so it is integrated and better recognized as food.
The nutrients in several of these different types of supplements may have quite similar molecular structures, whether they have come from natural sources or were created in a lab. Although there are multiple viewpoints regarding whether or not the whole food-based forms of these supplements are “better”, there is supportive research showing that in many cases, they are. Sometimes this is because the natural forms of these ingredients include various phytonutrients and cofactors which make the ingredient more bioavailable, or ready for the body to use, than their isolated, synthetic forms. At other times, it might be that certain individuals simply do not metabolize the synthetic forms as well as they do the natural ones. For example, scientists found that although synthetically created vitamin E is safe, it is also less effective than naturally occurring vitamin E. This may be because there is a slight difference in the molecular structure of the synthetic form which allows some of it to pass through the body without being used.
Our Betsy’s Basics Certified Organic Whole Food Supplements Are WHOLE FOOD SUPPLEMENTs made WITH INTEGRITY
We know our customers want to be able to trust that the products they consume are made of the healthiest and most natural of ingredients. The demand for label call-outs such as “Organic”, “Non-GMO”, and “Whole Food” to ensure that the product contains clean, pure ingredients is of upmost importance. This explains why, out of all the different types of supplements available, the ones we’ve chosen to focus on are the whole food supplements.
To attain our Certified USDA Organic and/or Non-GMO Project Verified status, , each ingredient in the formula must be traced back to its origin and identify exactly how they were created. We’re excited about the sourcing, extraction, processing and testing steps for our whole food supplement suite
Sourcing – The quality of a whole food supplement is determined by its ingredients. Most of the concentrates used in these formulas will contain the whole food form of the nutrients included in the supplement. Maintaining a fully traceable raw material supply chain for a whole food supplement is an intricate and comprehensive task — especially when managing complex formulas which have a lot of different ingredients.
Extraction – The extraction process of whole foods and herbs does not use chemical solvents, GMO alcohol or hexane. Recent developments use methods such as water or Non-GMO alcohol instead, to allow for the preservation of the complete phytochemical profile of the plant, keeping the organic complexes of nutritional value intact while separating out the unusable portions of the whole.
Processing – Our Whole food supplements are also less processed than the other types of supplements. Whether it is through freeze-drying herbs for capsules or growing nutrients into a fermentation matrix such as yeast or algae, the goal of processing delicately is to preserve the full spectrum of nutrients available in the whole plant.
Testing – At each step of the manufacturing process, beginning with each raw ingredient, quality control measures ensure that all specifications are met. Storage conditions are monitored for temperature and humidity, and finished products are subjected to additional testing to verify their potency and purity. Only after the finished product has been tested and approved will it be released for shipment.
Our high-quality whole food supplement is manufactured in a cGMP (Certified Good Manufacturing Practices) certified USA facility employing advanced research, development, and quality control methods. Rigorous Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are implemented in order to assure that customers are purchasing safe, efficacious, and consistent formulas, and the finished products have clear, transparent labeling to indicate which type of supplement it is (ie. 100% synthetic versus whole food based).
KEY TAKEAWAYS
There are several types of manufacturing processes that can be used to create vitamins, minerals, and other dietary supplements, but, there is supportive research showing that the whole food / natural forms are generally more bioavailable.
Our whole food supplement suite includes:
- A Women’s Multi
- A Men’s Multi
- A Prenatal Multi
- A plant calcium
- A B-Complex, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D3
- A Magnesium Powder and
- An Iron Chelate
We’re confident that this supplement suite is offering the very best whole food products currently being offered in our industry. To have these supplements in our store brand just has us super excited because of the innovation we’re being able to offer you here.
We look forward to answering your product questions about our new supplements or any of our products. Thanks for listening. Visit us at betsyhealth.com b-e-t-s-y-h-e-a-l-t-h-.com for more information. Betsy’s Health foods is always taking your health and your budget to heart, since 1993.
Ramona Billingslea is a health blogger and educator with more than twenty years' experience in the health foods industry. She is not a licensed healthcare provider. The statements in this podcast are for educational purposes only and are not designed to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease and have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Consult your healthcare provider.
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