It is important to know that 95% of supplements on the market are synthetic, i.e. they are created in a lab. You will find that regular synthetic vitamins cost less on the shelf but since you are only getting 10% of their value, in the end, you will find that vitamins made with whole foods are a much better choice. Whole food supplements are made from organic, animal and plant tissues.\n\nMulti-nutrient supplements that contain organic whole food vitamins therefore have just the correct amount of beneficial ingredients. These phytonutrients are just a few examples of natural molecules known to aid in promotion of health and make the case for the use of Whole Food Supplements.\n\nAlso, synthetic vitamin supplements often contain other additives and dyes. On the other hand, synthetic vitamins contain no trace minerals and are forced to use your body’s already existing resources and mineral reserves to perform like the whole food, natural supplements.\n\nAs our diet has changed from an agrarian society’s nutrient rich food supply to the urbanized highly processed, artificial foods, our total food consumption has risen. Whole foods are more than the sum of the nutrients they contain. During the 4 years of the study, researchers found that the closer people followed the so called “Mediterranean diet”, the less likely they were to die from either heart disease or cancer.\n\nThe best multivitamin has real food sources such as vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices that still have all the nutrients in the real food – not just a blend of vitamins and minerals. The efficacy of many of these synthetic zinc supplements is questionable. We use only whole foods as a source of vitamins in our Optimal 2 Whole Food Vitamin • Mineral supplement.