I do recommend supplements for people who wish to attain their optimal health. The reasons for this are multiple:
1. The first is that most of the food supply has been grown farm land which has been depleted by current farming methods over the past 30 years. When only simple nitrogen is added for fertilizer the plants may appear normal but are actually inferior to the organically grown counterpart in which organic matter is returned to the soil for fertilizer.
2. The second reason is that, in hunting and gathering days, it's estimated that we needed to consume between 4,000-5,000 calories to maintain. It's no problem to obtain sufficient vitamins and minerals etc, in 4,000-5,000 calories of fresh vegetables, fruits, and meat. However, it's obvious that we cannot eat this number of calories these days and maintain a reasonable weight.
3. The third reason is that most of us eat some processed foods. Since foods require vitamins, minerals and enzymes for their metabolism in the body, when we eat most processed foods, some of the nutrients that they originally contained are no longer present in amounts sufficient to provide for their metabolism. Therefore, if you do not take supplemental nutrients, your body will actually have to donate the necessary factors to metabolize the nutritionally inadequate processed food and you are likely to become depleted of some nutrients unless you supplement.
4. Some deficiencies actually cause people to crave the wrong types of food. An example of this is magnesium deficiency which often causes chocolate craving. Having adequate levels of necessary nutrients may help weight loss efforts in some cases and at least insure that persons on a restricted diet are getting the proper micro-nutrients,
In July of 2002 the AMA actually recanted it's long held stance (due to the overwhelming evidence to the contrary) regarding vitamins and actually issued a recommendation that physicians advise their patients to use vitamin supplements.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 11:54PM 
