I think Michael Pollan described it well when he said food in America was undergoing a process of 'nutrification', i.e., breaking it down into its nutrients, and trying to create supplements with those nutrients.
The studies in the book, though, say that we haven't yet cracked the code. I.e., taking the equivalent of one apple's nutrients isn't the same as eating an apple. The reasons weren't quite known yet. I read the book a long while back, so my recollection may be spotty.
I read that in the case of C vitamin, for instance, the body simply doesn't recognise it as C vitamin when it doesn't come directly from fruit. Just ignores it and passes it onto urine.
A nootropicist friend I have suggested that C vitamin only works in combination with Magnesium supplements ... etc. It gets pretty complicated. I'd rather just eat a stupid piece of fruit. It's tasty, efficient, and awesome. Why complicate things with dystopian future pills?
> I read that in the case of C vitamin, for instance, the body simply doesn't recognise it as C vitamin when it doesn't come directly from fruit. Just ignores it and passes it onto urine.
If it's getting absorbed but excreted, it sounds like you're taking more than enough. Usually absorption is limited by cofactors. Allusions to fruit being better than isolated Vitamin C should be backed up by evidence.
I've been struck by the decades-long change "health food stores" have made from raw bulk fresh/dried produce to endless rows of little white plastic bottles.
