The Delicate Balancing Act of Supplement Use

For more than thirty years, there have been comprehensive multivitamin/multimineral tablets on the market that provide what scientists have agreed are the adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals for prevention of vitamindeficiency diseases. True vitamin-deficiency diseases are also rare in the United States today because of the wide variety of available foods and because so many staples are fortified with additional vitamins to ensure that at least the bare minimum requirements are met. Thus, researchers have identified a new purpose for multivitamins, multiminerals, and other specialized supplements — providing optimum nutrition for the prevention of chronic diseases through improved cellular nutrition.

This is an area of continuing controversy among opinion leaders in nutritional science. In fact, USDA dietary guidelines contain no recommendations for a multivitamin, instead offering an outline of which types of foods contribute which types of nutrients. Nevertheless, the public has embraced the idea of benefit in pill form, as evidenced by the continued purchase of supplements in health food stores, grocery stores, and drug stores.

Avoiding Toxicity and Overdosing

Making the Smart Choice