Synergy – the Essence of Health!

Synergy – the Essence of Health!

Marcus Stewart Ettinger DC, BSc.
Chief Science Officer (CSO)
California Academy of Health

Copyright © May 23, 2006, By Dr. Marcus Ettinger and California Academy of Health, Inc.

A 100% pure, nothing added, nutritional juice or nutritional supplement sounds great when advertised and looks good on paper but the plain truth is, it’s not as impressive as it looks or sounds. For one thing it lacks synergy.

Synergy or synergism (from the Greek synergos meaning working together) refers to the phenomenon in which two or more discrete influences or components acting together create an effect greater than the sum of the effects each is able to create independently. Synergy can also mean: A mutually advantageous partnership where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Synergy is one of the most powerful forces in the universe.

I am asked on a daily basis, “is a 100% juice or supplement better than a blend?” Here is the long answer: in relation to a nutritional juice, such as a mixture of say Goji and/or Mangosteen or a vitamin supplement such a B-Complex, all of the component parts aid and enhance the overall benefits of the complete product. A 50/50 Goji and Mangosteen mixture for example, is synergistic and thus more beneficial than a 100% Goji or Mangosteen product is alone. A B-Complex supplement is more synergistic than say B-1 or B-2 is alone, thus it is better utilized and ultimately more beneficial.

Our bodies can’t thrive and flourish with the consumption of a single vitamin any better than it will on a single mineral, amino acid or antioxidant. Our complex organism known as the human body requires vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and essential fatty acids – A through Z. That’s synergy!

It would be close to malpractice for me as a doctor to say that an individual would only require or need one of the above to stay healthy and disease free.

As far as antioxidants go; xanthones are great, flavonoids are fantastic, phenols are terrific and polysaccharides are phenomenal. So are Vitamins A, C, E, sulfur containing amino acids and thousands of other natural substances. They are all amazing in their own right and only with synergy will they produce their truest benefits.

Most experts agree that consuming a variety of fruits and vegetables everyday is the best way to insure that we are getting a full spectrum of vitamins, minerals and antioxidant-phyto-nutrients (xanthones, flavonoids, phenols and polysaccharides). If an individual consumed a salad made of just celery or apple, it would leave his or her body wanting for more life sustaining nutrients.

Markers of nutritional juices and supplements would love for us to believe that purchasing their highly touted and advertised 100% nothing added products are the only way to go and the most advantageous for us, the consumer, to buy. It is totally false and at best it’s only this way for a small percentage of consumers: the rich and those seeking only that one specific product and not interested in the concept of synergy.

For the rest of us who are truly interested in staying healthy and getting the biggest bang for our buck, it’s all about synergy. As an example: a fruit salad made with 10 different fruits will yield more health benefits than a salad made with just one, that’s synergy! Or a freshly juiced vegetable blend made with 5 fresh vegetables will yield more health benefits than a juice made from just one, again that’s synergy!

It is disingenuous for any producer of a nutritional product or products to advertise or claim their 100% nothing added product as a panacea, (A remedy for all diseases, evils, or difficulties; a cure-all). No one product has ever been or will ever be such a thing. Only through synergy can we ever come close.

Ultimately, it is the educated consumer who will reap the benefits from the products that possess synergy and it will be the easily led or the rich who will spend their hard earned dollars on many unique 100% pure, nothing added products that could have been gotten with fewer products utilizing synergy.

Authors note: I am not saying that a 100% pure, nothing added product is bad or has no health benefit. There is a time and place for everything. What I am saying is that if I had the choice of a 100% pure, nothing added product or a blend, I would choose the blend.