More and more people today are complimenting their diet with supplements — whether it's for more energy, better focus, or for hair, skin, and overall health. But with so many different kinds to choose from — how do you know which supplements are actually worth taking?
Many supplements on the market have lists of impressive-sounding nutrients, but not all vitamins and minerals are created equal. While the nutrients may sound familiar — like vitamin A or vitamin B12 — the form they come in can make a difference in how your body absorbs and uses them.
Most supplements contain synthetic vitamins and minerals, which are made in a lab to mimic the real thing. Unless they’re part of a multivitamin formula, they’re often packaged alone or combined with just one or two other nutrients. In nature, nutrients don’t exist in isolation. They exist within whole foods, alongside enzymes, co-factors, and other factors that help your body recognize and absorb them.
In this article, we’ll break down the difference between synthetic and natural vitamins, why bioavailability matters, and how to optimize your nutrient intake from real food sources.
What Are Synthetic Vitamins?
Synthetic vitamins (and minerals) are artificial, produced in a laboratory to mimic the structure and functionality of naturally occurring nutrients. These lab-made forms can be found in supplements, beverages, and processed foods. Common examples include vitamin C tablets, multivitamins, energy drinks, and cereal. It’s not just vitamins and minerals that can be synthetic, antioxidants and amino acids may also be artificially produced.
Unlike naturally occurring nutrients, artificially made vitamins and minerals often lack essential cofactors or other components that can improve their absorption and effectiveness in the body.
What Are Natural Vitamins?
Natural vitamins, and other natural nutrients, are found in whole food sources. Unlike synthetic vitamins, natural ones aren’t isolated — they’re accompanied by compounds that your body expects to find with them, creating a synergy that can support absorption and how they’re used in the body. They’re also available as supplements — made from dried whole foods like freeze-dried organs or plants. Freeze-drying is one of the most gentle ways to preserve food and pack it into a more convenient form, while retaining its nutrients.
Why Bioavailability Matters
It’s relatively unclear how well synthetic nutrients are absorbed in the body because they’re often consumed as single compounds. In contrast, when you eat real food, you’re not consuming an individual nutrient, but rather a wide range of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other compounds like enzymes and co-factors.
Beef liver is a great example of how nutrients naturally exist in a complete and bioavailable form in whole foods. It’s naturally rich in vitamin A, vitamin B12, iron, folate, zinc, and copper — all of which work together in the body. For instance, vitamin A depends on zinc for its metabolism, which makes it convenient that beef liver contains both. Zinc and copper also have a significant relationship, as high intakes of one can interfere with the absorption of the other. The fact that beef liver provides them together in a natural, balanced ratio may help prevent imbalances and support optimal absorption. These organic synergies help explain why nutrients from whole foods are often better absorbed and utilized than artificial ones. Another example is synthetic folate (labeled as ‘folic acid’), which is commonly used in supplements and fortified foods. Before the body can use it, it needs to be converted into its active form, 5-MTHF. This conversion happens primarily in the liver and is relatively limited, which means that not all folic acid is effectively used by the body. In contrast, natural folate, like the one found in beef liver, is easier for the body to utilize.
Don’t like the taste or texture of beef liver? It can be taken as a whole food supplement in capsule form — just make sure that it’s freeze-dried to retain the nutrients, and free from fillers or additives. DENSE’s Beef Liver capsules are made from 100% freeze-dried, grass-fed beef liver — a convenient way to get these naturally occurring nutrients, like they exist in food, and without any additives. Plus, the freeze-dried powder is packed in gelatin capsules which are easier for the body to digest than plant-based capsules.
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The same thing goes for minerals. Calcium carbonate, one of the most common synthetic forms of calcium found in most supplements and plant-based “milks”, isn’t well absorbed and may even cause digestive issues. On the other hand, calcium hydroxyapatite from bone is more bioavailable and comes with naturally occurring phosphorus, collagen, and other nutrients — closely resembling the way calcium naturally exists in the human body. In fact, hunter-gatherers are believed to have had higher calcium intakes than modern humans, mainly coming from animal bone, cartilage, and tendons. This is the same form found in DENSE’s Bone Matrix capsules, made from grass-fed beef bones — containing 100% calcium hydroxyapatite. It’s a convenient way of obtaining this bioavailable form from a natural source.
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In the table below, you’ll find a quick side-by-side comparison between nutrients from food and synthetically made nutrients.
|
Feature |
Synthetic Nutrients |
Natural Nutrients (from Food) |
|
Source |
Made in a lab |
Found in whole foods |
|
Form |
Isolated, single compounds |
Naturally combined with cofactors, enzymes, etc. |
|
Absorption |
May vary, sometimes incomplete |
Generally better absorbed |
|
Synergy with other nutrients |
Co-factors are often missing |
Comes with naturally occurring synergistic nutrients |
|
Commonly found in |
Multivitamins, energy drinks, cereal |
Foods like beef liver, eggs, bone broth, and fruits, as well as natural supplements |
Are Synthetic Vitamin Supplements Always Bad?
Artificial vitamin supplements don’t necessarily have to be bad. They can help in situations when people are deficient in certain nutrients and need a high, concentrated source. However, for long-term use, food sources are usually preferred for optimal absorption and function.
Another reason to be cautious with supplements made from synthetic ingredients is that they’re not always well-regulated, and their quality may vary. There’s also some scientific evidence suggesting that synthetic folic acid — unlike naturally occurring folate — may increase the risk of cancer when consumed in excess.
Why DENSE Only Uses Naturally Occurring Nutrients
DENSE aims to offer convenient, nutrient-dense supplements made from natural food sources like freeze-dried beef organs — with nothing isolated or artificially added. When organs are freeze-dried, their nutrients remain intact. The result is capsules filled with vitamin A, B-vitamins, selenium, iron, protein, and more — just like they exist in nature. We only use organs from grass-fed, pasture-raised cattle and avoid additives, fillers, and flow agents. What you get is simply 100% beef organs.
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Conclusion
Your body is built to use and recognize nutrients from food. Foods, or supplements made from natural foods, contain a wide range of nutrients, enzymes, and co-factors, which all create a synergy that contributes to better absorption and function. On the other hand, synthetic supplements often come in isolated forms and in high doses, which could interfere with the absorption of other nutrients in the body. DENSE offers bioavailable nutrients in the way that nature intended, from nutrient-dense, whole animal sources — not from isolated lab-made forms.