WHY is it better to get vitamins through food rather than a pill?

[TrillianAstra]

And no 'because it's more natural' bullshit, I know you're all far more clever than that.

If it's the same chemical why is it better to get it in food than have it extracted and put into a handy daily dose?

think it's more easily absorbed by the body in foods

So they give you 100mg of something but you can only absorb 50? Seems foolish.

But WHY is it easier to absorb?

Oooh, that's more of the sort of thing I was looking for Starlight.