Okay, so since I spent a lot of time in the previous post basically saying that man-made doesn't necessarily equal "bad" and natural doesn't necessarily equal "good" and vice versa, I can give an example or two of when natural wins out hands down, and probably gives a very powerful influence on our perceptions that shift natural to equate more with good than man-made.

FLAVORS, SCENTS, REMEDIES, and NUTRIENTS;
like found in
SPICES, TEAS, WINES, and FOOD.

Natural versus synthetic origin is extremely important in things like vanilla vs. vanillin (the synthetic version - but note that they're not called the same thing, because they are not at all, though in our ice cream this may be lost in the mix). This is because what we call natural vanilla is in fact many different compounds (hundreds) in addition to the main compound, vanillin, which is exactly the same as the synthetic vanillin. This is where the wonderful complexity of nature comes in. And, this is a case where we can draw a distinction between natural vs. man-made, because of what the compounds are. It is at this stage practically impossible to identify and duplicate the complexity of mixtures in flavors like vanilla extract and wine.

Most flavors are like this - extremely complex mixtures of hundreds of molecules that are pretty much impossible to replicate artificially.

Now, it is very natural to extend this idea that the complexity in flavors and scents resulting from the hundreds of different compounds present in plants holds secrets. So, maybe nutrients and natural remedies based on plants also contain secrets. We may not even be able to easily recognize all of the compounds in a plant, fruit or vegetable, let alone replicate the mixture, and identify what is doing what. But, this is our human lack of knowledge on what does what and what is in what, not a basic difference between what the sources are.

So, eating vitamin and nutrient-rich food or eating a lot of vitamins? Of course it would seem that in most cases it is better to eat food, because of the hundreds of compounds that come along with anything we eat. The compounds (or in other words, chemicals or molecules) that we are eating are exactly the same in both cases, it is just in the case of food, we are ingesting many hundreds more different types - In a nut you get the omega acids, protein, and any number of different antioxidants along with the Vitamin E, with a vitamin you only get the Vitamin E (which is exactly identical to the molecule in the nut).

Though before we sign off on the idea that plants are there to wonderfully nurture us (and nothing else) by the way, bitter almonds have caused deaths, because in addition to the nutrient compounds, they are a rich source of hydrogen cyanide.