How Vitamins Are Made and Why They’re a Huge Scam

Most people assume vitamins have been around forever, but the word itself is barely a century old. Researchers in the early 1900s identified compounds that prevented specific deficiency diseases like scurvy and rickets, and from there the concept of “vitamins” was born. Once scientists realized they could isolate and synthesize these compounds, pharmaceutical companies saw an opportunity to turn nutrients into a product. Pills and powders quickly flooded the market, promising health in a capsule. Rather than relying on traditional food sources, society was convinced that lab-made versions of nutrients could do the job just as well.

That mindset created a booming industry that now generates billions each year. The problem is that these capsules are not pulled from the earth or grown on a farm, they are built in laboratories that often produce pesticides, plastics, and fertilizers on the same lines. Consumers believe they are buying health, when in reality they are buying the output of the chemical industry dressed up as wellness. Supplements are often marketed as safe, effective, and even superior to food, yet the truth is that many of them are manufactured using processes that bear no resemblance to nature. Understanding how they are made is the first step in seeing why the promise of multivitamins does not hold up.[1][2]

Where B Vitamins Really Come From

Vitamin B12 is often marketed as essential, particularly for individuals who do not consume meat. The catch is that supplemental B12 rarely comes from food. Instead, it is produced by fermenting genetically modified bacteria, usually grown on a base of corn syrup. To extract the vitamin, chemical agents including cobalt and cyanide derivatives are introduced, leaving behind a crystalline form that is packaged into pills. On paper, it may look identical to the nutrients in beef or fish, yet the complex cofactors and natural companions that occur in food are missing.[3]

Even when people take large doses of synthetic B12, the body may not recognize or utilize it in the same way as food-based B12. Studies show that absorption depends on intricate factors like binding proteins and digestive enzymes, many of which are supported by eating whole foods. Without those cofactors, absorption can be inconsistent, and much of the vitamin may pass through the body unused. It becomes clear that the process of creating B12 in a vat of GMO bacteria fed corn syrup is a far cry from obtaining it through steak or salmon. Nutrients in meat arrive prepackaged with everything needed for the body to use them, while supplements often deliver little more than an isolated compound.[4]

B1 and Folate: Industrial Roots

Thiamine, or vitamin B1, provides another example of how unnatural this industry has become. The synthetic version usually begins as coal tar, a thick byproduct of burning coal. Chemists treat it with ammonia and hydrochloric acid to create thiamine hydrochloride, which is then pressed into tablets. Folate follows a similar path, produced through reactions involving petroleum byproducts. These origins reveal how far removed synthetic vitamins are from anything naturally occurring in the human diet.{5}

Consumers rarely consider that the same raw materials used in plastics, fuels, and industrial solvents are also used to produce vitamins sold in health stores. After production, these compounds may look similar to natural vitamins on paper, yet they arrive stripped of the enzymes, minerals, and fats that help the body actually use them. Missing those natural partners, absorption drops, and the body struggles to fit the vitamin into its normal pathways, the way it would with nutrients from real food.

A piece of meat or an egg provides B vitamins in a complete package that includes protein and fat, which aid in digestion and utilization. A pill cannot replicate that complexity, no matter how closely it resembles the chemical structure of the nutrient on paper.{6}

Vitamins as an Extension of the Chemical Industry

Looking deeper into the supplement supply chain reveals an uncomfortable truth. Many vitamins are produced in the same facilities that manufacture pesticides, solvents, and plastics. The global vitamin industry is dominated by chemical conglomerates, not farmers or food producers. Capsules labeled as health boosters often share origins with industrial products that most people would never willingly consume. What seems like wellness is often just a different division of the same chemical industry repackaged for profit.[7]

This overlap highlights why supplements can never be a true replacement for food. The human body evolved to obtain nutrients from complex natural sources, not isolated chemicals created in a factory. While labs can create molecules that look identical on paper, they cannot recreate the subtle interactions between nutrients, enzymes, and fats that occur in real food. Those interactions determine whether a vitamin is absorbed and used or simply excreted. When compared side by side, a steak or Carnivore Bar delivers nutrition in a form the body immediately recognizes, while a pill delivers something the body often struggles to use.[8]

Why Nutrients in Food Are Superior

Synthetic vitamins face a fundamental problem: isolation. When nutrients are pulled out of the food matrix and produced in a lab, they are stripped of the natural cofactors that aid absorption. Calcium, for example, is absorbed more effectively when paired with vitamin D and certain fats, all of which naturally occur together in animal foods. In supplement form, calcium is often presented as a chalky tablet without the companions that make it usable. The result is poor absorption and little benefit to the person taking it.[9]

Real food offers a built-in delivery system that ensures nutrients reach the body where they are needed. Meat contains heme iron, which is absorbed at far higher rates than the non-heme iron in vegetables or pills. Zinc and selenium in beef or fish bypass the absorption blockers found in plants and arrive in forms that cells can use immediately. Protein and fat in meat create the perfect environment for these nutrients to be digested and transported effectively. Capsules and powders cannot reproduce the synergy found in a simple meal of animal foods.[10]

How Our Ancestors Got Their Nutrients

People lived in vibrant health long before grocery stores stocked shelves with bottles of vitamins. Daily meals supplied everything the body required through simple, whole foods. Butter, eggs, meat, and raw dairy offered the fat-soluble vitamins needed for energy, strong immunity, and healthy reproduction. Organ meats and seafood rounded things out with B vitamins and minerals in amounts and forms that modern supplements cannot come close to matching. People did not need to count milligrams or swallow pills, because their diets supplied complete nutrition without industrial intervention.[11]

Contrast that with the modern world, where many rely on supplements to fill gaps created by processed diets. Instead of eating nutrient-dense foods, people reach for capsules manufactured in the same labs that produce plastics and fertilizers. This approach does not honor the way the body evolved to process food. It simply provides an isolated fraction of what nature once delivered in abundance. A return to real food, including nutrient-dense animal products, restores the kind of nutrition our ancestors enjoyed without ever touching a supplement aisle.[12]

Why It All Matters

Multivitamins and isolated supplements are products of the chemical industry, not gifts from nature. B12 is made from fermenting GMO bacteria on corn syrup with cyanide and cobalt, B1 begins as coal tar treated with ammonia, and folate is produced from petroleum byproducts. These are not nutrients the body evolved with, and while they may look identical to natural compounds on paper, they lack the cofactors and companions that make nutrition truly work. Without those companions, absorption is poor, and benefits are far less than advertised. People spend billions on supplements each year without realizing most of what they swallow will never be used effectively.[13][14][15]

Real Nutrition From Real Food

Food from animals offers a different experience. Vitamins and minerals arrive complete, paired with proteins, fats, and enzymes that ensure they are digested and absorbed the way the body expects. Heme iron in red meat is absorbed far better than plant-based iron, zinc, and selenium in fish bypass absorption blockers, and fat-soluble vitamins in meat are delivered with the very fats that activate them. A Carnivore Bar offers complete nutrition in a shelf-stable, portable form that suits modern life. Real nourishment comes from real food, not a pill made in the same labs that produce plastics and pesticides.

Citations:

1. Grant, J. K., et al. “A historical, evidence-based, and narrative review on dietary supplements: origins, claims, regulation, and global market expansion.” Frontiers in Medicine, vol. 10, 2023, article 1167538. PMC, doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1167538. PMC
2. Coates, P. M., et al. “The Evolution of Science and Regulation of Dietary Supplements.” Journal of Nutrition, vol. 154, no. 8, 2024, pp. 1974-1983. sciencedirect.com
3. Microbial production of vitamin B₁₂ occurs via industrial fermentation using bacteria strains like Pseudomonas denitrificans and Propionibacterium freudenreichii to produce cyanocobalamin forms. PMC+2MDPI+2
4. Absorption of synthetic (crystalline) B₁₂ differs from food-bound B₁₂: supplemental B₁₂ is not protein-bound and is taken up via diffusion or passive binding, potentially reducing bioavailability compared to naturally bound forms. PMC+2tandfonline.com+2
5. Winkels, Renate M., et al. “Bioavailability of Food Folates Is 80 % of That of Folic Acid.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 85, no. 2, Feb. 2007, pp. 465-73, doi:10.1093/ajcn/85.2.465. PubMed
6. “All About Where Vitamin Supplements Come From.” Precision Nutrition, describes how starting materials for synthetic vitamins can include coal tar, petroleum, and related chemicals, and how vitamin B1 (thiamine) is often synthesized via coal tar derivatives. precisionnutrition.com
7. Chungchunlam, S. M. S., et al. “Comparative bioavailability of vitamins in human foods: Implications for public health.” Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 2024. Taylor & Francis Online
   Melse-Boonstra, A., et al. “Bioavailability of Micronutrients From Nutrient-Dense Foods in Humans: A Review.” Frontiers in Nutrition, 2020. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
8. Amarnath, S. S., et al. “Vitamin D and Calcium and Bioavailability.” PMC, 2023, PMC10721582. PMC
9. Piskin, E., et al. “Iron Absorption: Factors, Limitations, and Improvement Methods.” ACS Omega, vol. 2022. American Chemical Society Publications
10. Chungchunlam, S. M. S., et al. “Comparative bioavailability of vitamins in human foods: Implications for public health.” Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 2024. tandfonline.com
11. Ghosh, S., et al. “The Vital Role of Traditional Foods in Achieving Nutrition Security.” PMC, 2023. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
12. Nguyen, Phuong Thi. “Traditional Diets vs. Modern Nutrition: A Comparative Study.” Journal of Food, Nutrition and Population Health, vol. 8, no. 4, Dec. 2024. (primescholars.com)
13. Winkels, R. M., et al. “Bioavailability of Food Folates Is 80% of That of Folic Acid.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 85, no. 2, 2007, pp. 465-73, doi:10.1093/ajcn/85.2.465. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
14. Calvillo, Á., et al. “Bioprocess Strategies for Vitamin B12 Production.” Microbial Cell Factories, vol. 21, no. 1, 2022, article 81, PMC, doi:10.1186/s12934-022-01895-5. PMC
15. Lindschinger, M., et al. “Bioavailability of Natural versus Synthetic B Vitamins and Their Impact on Metabolic Parameters.” Nutrients, vol. 12, no. 5, 2020, article 1472, PMC, doi:10.3390/nu12051472. PubMed“Folate | Linus Pauling Institute.” Oregon State University, Linus Pauling Ins