Why you may benefit from vitamin supplements even if you eat a fairly healthy diet!

There are several reasons:

First, remember that as a society, our dietary habits have changed over the past couple of generations. A healthy diet consists of plenty of fruits and vegetables and whole grains. Fruits and vegetables should be preferably fresh. Fresh frozen is still good, but not as good as "off the farm" fresh! Recent studies indicate that the majority of meals in the U.S. are eaten in restaurants rather than in the home. Restaurant food tends to be too high in fat and sugar. Additionally, convenience foods now make up a much higher percentage of the average diet than they did in the past. In some people well over 60% of their food is from so-called "empty" calorie foods (candy, sweets, chips, or other highly processed foods that contain very little real nutritional value other than calories). Remember that the more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a low nutritional value.

Another factor is the high stresses found in today's fast-paced and busy life. The greater the external stresses, the higher the nutritional demands on the body. Eating a poor-quality diet robs you of the nutritional factors necessary to help you stay healthy.

Lastly, there is evidence that our fruits and vegetables contain lesser amounts of nutrients and minerals than they did 50 years ago, due in part to soil depletion and due in part to the length of time food is transported and stored in the super market. *article on mineral content