Everyone knows that vitamins are essential for life. All human beings, whether we live at Smith Mountain Lake, Australia, or Timbuctoo, require these vital nutrients to sustain all body functions. The bigger question is, what kinds of vitamins really work to improve our over-all health.

Most of us know we are not getting adequate nutrition from our food the way it’s grown and processed these days. But there are literally thousands of vitamin companies out there pushing their brand of pills. How can we choose the ones that are best absorbed by the body?

I have discovered an easy rule of thumb for understanding vitamins. Basically there are 2 types of vitamins: the kind that come from food and the synthetic kind that are made in a laboratory. I don’t know about you, but common sense tells me that food is much better utilized by the human body than synthetic substances. For me then the problem is solved, I take vitamins that are whole food or food based.

Unfortunately, the food based vitamins are more expensive, but when you consider that you may absorb only 25% of synthetic vitamins, and 100% of food sourced ones, at least you get your moneys worth. I have found several companies who make whole food vitamins that seem to be high quality. You can visit your local health food store and ask for these brands, or you can look them up online and read more about their philosophy. Check out, Megafood, New Chapter, Garden of Life and Nature’s Way (only their ‘Alive’ multivitamin) for some excellent vitamins that come solely from food.