A Formative Opinion on FORM

When it comes to world rankings, South Africa is at the top of the list in at least two categories – rugby and tax collection. I know… of all the things to be great at, tax collection had to be one of them! On the flipside of that however, is our national micronutrient status, an area where we’re not so remarkable. In 1999 the department of health launched a national food consumption survey to get to grips with the problem and based on those dismal results, issued a mandate that required all manufacturers of maize and wheat products to fortify their fare with the key micronutrients: Vitamin A, Iron and Zinc. A few years later the survey was repeated to determine how effective the fortification program was, and some of the notable results were as follows: Two out of three children and one out of four women nationally have poor vitamin A status. One out of five women and one out of seven children had a poor iron status. Nationally, 45% of children had an inadequate zinc status. These stats alone are cause for grave concern – but what was most disturbing, was that when compared to results from the first survey the prevalence of poor vitamin A and iron status in children appears to have gotten worse! So despite the government’s best efforts to reverse the deficiencies in our people through a food fortification program, the problem has been exacerbated … and judging by the recommendations in the report, they’re not sure what to do about it. For instance they’re suggesting the introduction of a national day for single high dose vitamin A supplements! It’s not enough that we have Workers day, Women’s day, Youth day and more – we now need Vitamin A day too …? The reality is, no amount of food fortification drives or reminders via SMS to take your vitamins (another desperate suggestion) are going to make any difference in correcting the micronutrient deficiencies in South Africa unless they understand the most fundamental aspect of supplementation … and that is simply that “form matters.” Form matters? Sure, just ask the All Blacks – who’ve been off form for a few years, or Roger Federer who knows that ranking means nothing on the day of the Wimbledon final – it’s all about whether you’re on form or not. Ok, that may be stretching the illustration a little too far, so bringing it back to the subject at hand – the form in which you take your supplements makes all the difference in the world. In nature, vitamins occur in fruits and veggies in a biological complex – molecularly bound to a whole range of co-factors which are vital for their proper functioning as vitamins. Vitamins cannot be isolated from their complexes and still perform their specific life functions within the cells. When isolated into artificial commercial forms, like the form used in the food fortification program - vitamins are unable to function effectively, and according to some scientists should not even be called vitamins… and that’s a reason why the program hasn’t worked! The same could be said for minerals too (think iron in spinach) which is why your mother always told you to eat your greens. She may never have explained it to you this way, but she knew that unless vitamins and minerals were molecularly interwoven into a food complex there was just no way your body could absorb and use them effectively. OK … it was probably more maternal instinct than scientific knowledge – but she just somehow knew it was true, even if she didn’t know exactly why. The problem we’re faced with today of course is that most of the “fresh” fruit and veggies we’re picking off the shelves (instead of off the tree) are deplete of many of these micronutrients, thanks to intensive farming on nutrient-depleted soils or storing ‘fresh’ food for longer. Refining food (turning brown into white) also strips away valuable nutrients. Today the emphasis is on appearance, storability and transportability, with far less stress on the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables. How times have changed. We think of an orange as a constant, but the reality is it isn't… you would have to eat around eight oranges today to get the same amount of vitamin A your grandparents got from a single orange, and you would need to eat about five to get the same level of iron. So now what!? Our bodies need vitamins and minerals to function effectively, but most people are not getting enough of those micronutrients from fruit and veggies today, so we need to supplement. Most vitamin and mineral supplements today however, are sold in an isolated form (outside of their natural biological complexes) and are thus not recognized or absorbed by the body Sounds like we’re in a pickle, doesn’t it? Thanks to FoodState® technology, we’re not. Food-what? FoodState® technology is the name given to a proprietary process that re-natures vitamins and minerals into a biological complex, similar to the form that they occur in nature and in so doing vastly improves their absorption, retention and utilization by your body. That’s what separates Sportron’s range of supplements from all other supplements on shelf these days… pure and simple. Most other brands of vitamins use formulas, packaging and pricing to differentiate themselves in an over saturated market … Sportron’s differentiating factor is simply “form” - because Form Matters. Someone should tell the Department of Health.