Thursday, April 03, 2008
FAQ's from NOW
As a natural health consumer, I have been led to associate anything synthetic with chemical, and chemicals with unnatural drugs that cause side effects, since they are foreign to the body. Since Carnosine and Zinc Carnosine are partially synthesized, are these safe?
There is a distinction between the natural and synthetic forms. We believe that 'natural is better' and will always prefer the natural form. However, the natural form can be extracted or synthesized, with either method producing identical molecules of the natural substance. The synthesized form is called "nature-identical" if it has the exact same molecular and chemical structure of the substance found in nature. Some companies use the term "bio-identical" as equivalent to "nature-identical".
Often the synthesis of nutrients in laboratories is obtained by growing benign bacterial cultures that produce nature-identical nutrients by natural fermentation. Other nutrients are very simple molecules that can be obtained utilizing basic chemical reactions, such as reacting specific starches with acids.
Many, if not most, nutrients are synthesized or partially synthesized just like Zinc Carnosine, and are considered just as safe: Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), Mineral Citrates, Amino acids, B-vitamins, etc. The safety and efficacy of nature-identical nutrients have been proven over many years. These are the exact same forms as would be produced by isolating specific nutrients from food or other natural sources. Synthesized nature-identical nutrients often are of higher purity and are more cost-effective than is possible when obtaining isolated nutrients from natural material sources.