The need for good high-potency multiple vitamin/mineral supplements for people wanting to function optimally is getting harder to deny. When multiple nutrients are recommended, many of their requirements may be met in a single multiple product. This saves the user time and expense, while providing insurance against potential unrecognized deficiencies. If the likelihood of a person being deficient in a particular nutrient, based on RDA requirements, is 2% then multiplied across 40 nutrients, the chance of being deficient in at least one of them becomes 55%. Considering that the likelihood of some nutrient deficiencies is much greater than 2%, the chance of the average person being deficient in at least one nutrient could be much higher. Taking a multiple supplement for insurance purposes is therefore wise. Additionally, if optimal health is a practical and reasonable goal, why settle for less with a marginal nutrient status?

The orthodox medical community for many years considered it nearly a crime to claim that fruit and vegetable intake would have any influence on cancer development. That changed just a few short years ago. Finally, the editors of JAMA (June 19, 2002), published 2 studies that endorsed the use of dietary supplements by healthy people as a way of reducing the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. This was the first time that the AMA officially recognized the benefits of dietary supplements in preventing disease.

Select populations will benefit from specific supplementation as in the following examples:

• Prenatal vitamins are important for pregnant women
• Folate supplementation with early pregnancy reduces the risk of neural tube defects in newborns
• Daily vitamin/mineral supplements with antioxidant nutrients can reduce infections in the elderly by enhancing immune function
• Premature infants need supplemental iron and vitamin K to maintain health
• People on poor diets or selected medications which deplete key nutrients, or who abuse alcohol or narcotics are likely to be deficient in micronutrients and should see improved health with supplementation
• A 1989 study found calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese were low in teenage girls. Calcium, magnesium and iron were low in adult women. Calcium, magnesium and zinc were low in older women. Calcium and zinc were low in the diets of two year olds. Magnesium was low in the diets of teenage boys and older men.

Supplementation does not mean you are free to eat as poorly as you like. Supplements do just that - they supplement a good diet.

Some principles for supplement selection:

• The best multiple vitamins should contain a broad range of vitamins and minerals, particularly vitamins A, D, K, all of the B vitamins, and trace minerals, like boron, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, selenium, and zinc.
• Multiple vitamins should contain about 100%, but no more than 300%, of the daily RDA for each nutrient provided.
• If you are trying to increase your calcium or magnesium intake, you will probably have to take extra supplements of these nutrients since most multiples contain low amounts.
• Multiple vitamins or supplements should contain the antioxidants vitamin C (250-1,000mg), vitamin E (100-400 IU), and beta-carotene (10-30mg).
• If you want to save money, look for supplements that don't contain unnecessary ingredients like lipoic acid or enzymes, or the 'natural' products, unless you feel there is a need for them.
• If you are spending more than $10 per month on supplements, you are probably paying for unnecessary extras.

If your desire is only to achieve adequate health then supplementation may not be necessary if your diet is very good. Optimal health, however, requires optimal nutrient intake; a diet high in processed foods and those grown in increasingly depleted soils virtually guarantees the need for supplementation.