It is certainly true that supplements are a poor replacement for nutrition from food. Vitamin C for instance, does not exist in the form that is in as a supplement. It has many other compounds, boiflavinoids, etc when in food. It does not exist as an isolate, so it is more like a drug in that respect.
It is always possible that the supplement varies quite a bit from batch to batch, depending on what it is. Ginsing grown in my back yard will not have exactly the same compounds and properties as the same plant grown in a different environment. That also goes for food, which varies in nutrition also. That is normal, but it can be measured and tested so that it is consistent in potency when put into a supplement.
The reason supplements are not under the same regulation as drugs is because they are not drugs. They are not laboratory creations that have never existed before, or used by humans. They do not have unknown potential for harm that drugs do. We have thousands of years of prior use for supplements. Vitamins can be created in the laboratory and often are, but they are creating isolates of known vitamins and minerals.
I do think there should be stricter regulations regarding the contents of vitamins and supplements. Simply to make sure it has what it says it has, and in the listed amounts.
Vitamin D-3 varies widely in potency, even though the dosage is listed as the same on the label. I really do not see why this should happen, but it does.
Vitamins rarely will have a drug like effect, unless you are so deficient you have Scurvy or something of that nature. Some supplements can help a lot, if you are really deficient. When I started taking Krill Oil my blood cholesterol drastically improved. I could not feel it, but it showed on the blood test. It will have the effect of preventing Heart Disease over time.
Dan
