A Vitamin is actually a group of chemically related compounds that work together to synergistically magnify their independent effects. This synergistic group is known as the Vitamin Complex. The synergistic action of the group has an effect greater than the sum of each component individually.
The vitamin complex consists of an organic component, as well as co-factors, such as enzymes, co-enzymes, antioxidants, trace elements, activators, and other unknown factors. It is most crucial to note that the vitamin complex cannot perform its biochemical operations without the proper balance of both the organic component and these co-factors. Furthermore, it has been found that there is often even a detrimental effect when an attempt is made to supplement with the components solely or individually. In other words, the organic portion is only a portion of the vitamin complex, it is not the complex in and of itself. These facts must be considered when selecting an effective supplement to take.
You cannot rely on fancy labeling and/or price to make this selection for you. Many vitamin manufacturers produce their products inexpensively by methods that either utilize an easy to produce synthetic, or an easy to extract portion of the complex (cheaper extraction process inadvertently destroys or fails to remove other components of the complex). Production of an inferior or non-absorbable product (inaccurately labeled as the complex) may be due to genuine ignorance or due to direct deception for financial gains. Regardless, this facsimile of nature equates, in the best case scenario, to the body failing to receive the actual bio-available nutrient, or in the worst case scenario, in receiving a potentially harmful variant.
With Whole foods (containing the natural complexes), or whole food supplements, the body is allowed to perform as it was biologically intended. This means that the body will choose what it needs for assimilation, through a process called selective absorption, and excrete what it does not require or cannot use.
With synthetic, fractionated, or isolated vitamin components, the body is forced to handle these raw chemicals in an unintended manner (without the benefit of the synergistic co-factors) which will most likely result in biochemical imbalances and toxicity. Synthetic or fractionated vitamins are not actual food that the body can utilize as nutrients. They are processed as any foreign chemical and disrupt normal biochemistry.
Effects of nutrition occur over time. It must be remembered that garbage in equals garbage out. One cannot habitually consume poor nutrition without it manifesting in the body. Laws of nature prevent the body from being forgiving because of poor choices, intentional or not.
Feed your body right!