Whole Foods & Synthesized Nutrients

Food first

Getting nutrients from food should be the priority. But it’s not as easy as it seems. Between busy lives and depleted soils, getting nutrition from food alone can be a big challenge.

Bridge the gaps

Supplements with synthesized nutrition help fill in the gaps left from diet. Essential nutrients are the basis for better health. Proper nutrition affects every system in the human body, including neurological, cardiovascular, reproductive, and detoxification systems.

But I can get what’s needed from whole foods, right?

Many people think it’s possible to get all the nutrients you need from food in a few tablets or capsules. We get it. There are so many bottles and packages that misleadingly say “whole food” on them. They show pictures of gorgeous fruits and veggies. Yes! We want it. And why wouldn’t you be able to get what’s needed from mother nature and package it?

The answer is: some things only come from the human body or a lab. For instance, as much as we wish we could grow methylfolate in a garden, it’s just not possible. But it is so important for you.

Getting all the nutrients you need from food placed in a few tablets or capsules is impossible (1). 

“Whole foods” may not mean whole foods

“Whole foods” supplements are not the same as the fresh, whole food we buy in the grocery store. Just look at the back label. Most “whole food” supplements start out with a food base and add lab-created, lab-made, USP vitamins and minerals to these bases.

You’ll see claims like: “made with real food, wholesome nutritional yeast and added nutrients. Each vitamin or mineral is paired with an ideal whole food using our unique process…”

When you do, it’s important to understand what all that means. And it can be confusing! In this case, the claim is saying that they are mixing lab-grade nutrients with some fruits and vegetables and yeast. They may want us to believe the vitamins and mineral potency of their product is from whole food. Some of it is, but not all of it, like we believe.

And why be confusing in the first place? Marketing maybe? They know “whole-food” sounds better than “lab”? Legally, a vitamin can be marketed as “whole-food-based” as long as 10% of its ingredients are from natural, plant-derived ingredients—the other 90% can be made in a laboratory.

Then what does my body prefer?

A lot of people think that plant or food-based nutrients in multivitamins are better just because they’re found in nature. And we often assume that synthesized nutrients are extracted in a lab from yucky chemicals. This is far from the truth.

A plant-based nutrient and an identical synthesized nutrient made in a lab look the same to your body. And in some cases, synthesized nutrients can be designed to be easier for your body to absorb, in the more active-form, and more efficient.

Here are some helpful examples:

Food folate refers to the various tetrahydrofolate derivatives naturally present in foods. The body converts food folate into the active form, 5-MTHF. Both 5-methyltetrahydrofolate calcium salt and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate glucosamine salt are lab-synthesized forms of folate that are more bioactive and efficient in the human body than both folic acid and folate from food because they don’t have to go through multiple steps to be converted to 5-MTHF, the active form.

Certain nutrients, like vitamin B12 are generally not found in plant-based sources (vitamin B12 in some sea greens and mushrooms may be usable by the human body, but there isn’t yet enough evidence for this), (2). In such cases, a lab can create vegan-friendly forms of nutrients that are identical to the same nutrients found in nature. Best Nest Wellness vitamin B12 is made from microorganisms and sourced from bacteria cultures. It is not from animal products, so all of the vitamin B12 in our products is vegan-friendly.

Best Nest Wellness: the best of nature and science
At Best Nest Wellness, all of our vitamins are backed by science. That means we believe in a whole-foods, varied, and healthy diet as the basis for the nutrients our bodies need. And we source from and formulate with these when it makes sense.

Most importantly, we evaluate each nutrient in each formula and choose the form based on neuro-nutrition: how it, along with the other nutrients in the formula, best serves the brain. 

To guarantee we are always bringing you our best, we test for purity and potency at 3 levels—(1) individual nutrient, (2) the final product, and (3) 3rd-party testing. We are always committed to giving you the best ingredients in their best forms for your body and your health.