If you do not have the foundations of good health, like a good diet, regular exercise, keeping up your spiritual and emotional health and reducing your toxic load, no supplements are going to help you very much. But if you do have a good healthy foundation, do you still need vitamin, mineral and herbal supplements? Well, only you can answer that question for yourself, however, many people have a hard time these days finding and eating only truly superior, nutrient-dense foods. Even back in the 1930's it was recognized that our soils and consequently our foods were depleted of essential minerals. This is even more of a problem today, and even amongst many organic farmers, not all have corrected this problem with their soil.

In addition to the mineral deficiency, since 1980 there has been a 50% reduction in antioxidants in our foods, including vitamin B, C, and E complexes, and unless acquired fresh from the farm or from your own organic garden, and consumed shortly within picking, your food will be lacking in these vitamins and other antioxidants. At the same time, our world is now filled with chemicals that bombard us on all sides. This increases our body's need for nutrients, especially for antioxidants like the B, C, and E vitamin complexes, DHLA and green tea.

However, do most vitamins and mineral supplements provide your body what it is lacking? Americans now spend over $17 billion a year on various health supplements, including vitamins, minerals, and herbs. However, chronic disease rates have either remained the same, or actually increased! There are many reasons for this, but in any case it seems abundantly clear that the supplements most people consume are not helping in any significant way. We all hear about the great health effects of various nutrients, so why is this?

Well, first of all, studies show that most vitamins and supplements contain toxic poisons. Yes, that's right, a landmark research study by the University of California and the American Nutraceutical Association showed that 97.5% of so-called nutritional supplements and vitamins are labeled with incorrect information and filled with toxic ingredients! (JANA, Dec. 1999). Check your vitamin labels! Do they list magnesium stearate or stearic acid as ingredients? Natural flavors? Sodium benzoate? Gelatin?

Stearates have been shown to suppress the immune system. Natural flavors is the new term used for MSG, or monosodium-glutamate, a known brain neurotoxin. Sodium benzoate is carcinogenic. Gelatin comes from animal hooves and other animal parts. Therefore, gelatin often contains toxic preservatives, plus hormones and antibiotics that have been given to the animal. Stearates and gelatin are used in many capsules and tablets; natural flavors in lots of protein drinks, and sodium benzoate as a preservative in many liquid supplements.

Another problem is that most vitamins on the market today are synthetic, regardless of whether you buy them in a drug store, a big box store or even a health food store. Now supplement companies that make millions of dollars every year on them may want you to believe otherwise, but synthetic vitamins do not provide all the co-factors or the nutrients necessary for your body to fully utilize that supplement. In fact, since the co-factors are missing, the body often has to take them from somewhere else in order to make the synthetic vitamin work. But this can create serious shortages of these co-factors, and may cause further problems.

Do your body a favor and throw out all your synthetic vitamins today! Look for organic whole food supplements and superfoods, like camu-camu berries for vitamin C, nutritional yeast and B vitamins naturally grown on probiotics for B complex, greens for a variety of vitamins & minerals, living source coral calcium for calcium, magnesium and trace minerals, cod liver oil for natural vitamins A and D and essential fatty acids and more. Potent whole food vitamins and supplements can make a difference in your health and vitality.