Multi-vitamin mineral: Inorganic or Organic. Which to Choose?

Question

Is it true that the human body can only asimilate about 10% of an INORGANIC multi-vitamin mineral supplament, or it this just hype put out by companies who sell organic supplaments?

Give your opinion. Also do you have a link to any independant studies which have been done on this issue? Independant, meaning by someone who does not benefit financilly for a biused report.

It's difficult to wade through all the hype these days.

Answer 1

Organic is much better for the body, doesn't have all the chemicals in it which hurts your body. Also eating a whole foot like a carrot instead of just the center part of it gives you all the nutrients of that food. The medical world likes to take a portion of something that helps people instead of the entire food, so it doesn't work half as well.

Answer 2

Organic minerals are absorbed much better than inorganic minerals.

For example, inorganic calcium such as calcium carbonate is very poorly absorbed whereas organic calcium such as calcium citrate or calcium gluconate is absorbed much better.

Answer 3

You're absolutely right... there IS a lot of marketing hype out there. That makes it tough sometimes to look past the hype, but hopefully I can help with that. For the purposes of this (to minimize confusion), I'll just call the plant-based minerals Organic and the non-plant-based minerals Inorganic.

I know some of the marketing I've seen for the "Organic Minerals" (which is a bit of a misnomer since most plant-based mineral supplements aren't from organically grown plants) tends to say how much better they are absorbed than Inorganic. 10% is probably just a random number for marketing, but I have no proof one way or the other of that... it's a low absorption rate in any case. Now, technically, it's true because your body doesn't absorb pure minerals very efficiently... but that's why the inorganic minerals are always bonded with some other organic molecule so they mirror the organic form.

For example, you'll never see Calcium in a supplement's listing unless it's Calcium Citrate, Aspartate, Carbonate, etc.

That being said, the major difference between the different minerals is not the source (organic vs inorganic), but it's the form of the mineral that you take and often what other nutrients are taken to help the absorption of that mineral.

Also, not all minerals are available from plant sources in any sufficient quantities that they can get out without getting other nutrients from the plant. What that means is that some of the "organic multivitamins" either short you on certain minerals (which would be listed in the ingredients) or they use some inorganic sourced minerals and bond them with an organic compound/molecule (which all other mineral supplements do anyway).

[edit]:  Actually, we sell both. I was just giving you the major distinction between them so you could make an easier decision and be able to see through some of the hype easier. I totally understand how it could seem like I'm trying to promote the inorganic, but I figured you already know the benefits that organic minerals were claiming  ;-)