Is Synthetic Vitamin C as Good as the Natural Vitamin A clai

Is Synthetic Vitamin C as Good as the Natural Vitamin? A claim put forth by some purveyors of health foods is that vitamins obtained from natural sources are more healthful than those obtained by chemical synthesis. For example, pure L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) extracted from rose hips is better than pure L-ascorbic acid manufactured in a chemical plant. Are the vitamins from the two sources different? Can the body distinguish a vitamin\'s source?

Solution

Chemically and molecularly both natural and synthetic vitamin bears the same composition. It\'s just that the synthetic vitamin mimics the way natural vitamin acts. But there are minor differences that may be a reason why we should prefer natural vitamin. Synthetic vitamin lacks transporters and co-factors that are present in natural vitamin. Example: Co-factor of Vitamin C are various bioflavonoids, which is usually not found in the synthetic vitamin C. As a result of which our body often fails to absorb synthetic vitamin properly and they are just deposited into tissues for storage. This might cause stomach disorder and other gastrointestinal issues.