Why don the labels give elemental or milligram values for the vitamin content of products like Essentials for Life and Insure Plus?
The FDA regulations for supplement labels require that vitamins listed in the upper portion of the label only include amounts for the fractionated portion of the specific vitamin with an RDA (ascorbic acid for vitamin C or alpha-tocopherol for vitamin E). Whole food vitamins do not fit the model used by the FDA labeling system. The concept of milligrams and units of vitamins simply has no meaning when applied to whole foods. For example, Essentials for Life does not use ascorbic acid, but instead provides whole food sources of vitamin C, such as acerola cherry and orange peel. These ingredients provide ascorbic acid and all the other members of the natural C complex that function in the body, such as ascorbigen A, ascorbigen B, erthorbic acid, dehydroascorbate, the K factors, etc. Similarly, instead of supplying just alpha-tocopherol, Essentials for Life provides whole food sources of vitamin E so that you receive all of the components of the natural Vitamin E including alpha, beta, ga
