Everyone should be taking a basic multi-vitamin, daily antioxidants, and extra vitamin C. Yes, there is plenty of information out there about why supplements are good for you and why they are bad for you. The most recent wave of media is definitely anti-supplement. The argument here is that you can get all the nutrients you need from whole, natural foods. Ideally, yes, it would be easier and more economical if we could get all we needed by eating the right foods. The problem is that whole natural foods are not nearly as nutrient dense as they were 40 years ago. In fact, a recent study of the nutrient content of produce in the United States revealed that our produce contains on the average 60% less nutrients than it did 40 years ago. Even today’s organic vegetables and fruits contain less than the conventionally grown produce of 40 years ago. Why? Because over the past 40 years we have depeleted our soil through the use of pesticides, monoculturing, air and water pollution. So even the farms certified as organic have not fully recovered from the damage we have done. To complicate matters even further, we are polluting our bodies everyday with our consumption and exposure to these very same pollutants. Perhaps the most toxic pollutant is stress. Because of culture has becoming faster and faster paced, we are becoming more and stressed. And we now know that chronic stress promotes a variety of degenerative diseases, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stomach ulcers and even cancer. All of these sources of pollution, including stress, deplete our bodies of the micronutrients we need to ward of disease and function optimally. Since the foods we eat are not nutrient dense enough to replace all of the nutrients lost, we need to supplement if we want to enjoy optimum health. A good quaility multi-vitamin is the first line of defense. We do not recommend the mega-vitamins because too much of a good thing is a bad thing. The best quality multi we know of is Bio-Multi Plus from Biotics. However, before you take a multi, we recommend having asking your physician to do a complete blood workup on you. This should reveal whether you have an iron deficiency. If your iron levels are optimal, you should take the iron-free version of the multi because too much iron can be quite toxic for the liver. There are similar concerns with the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, but the Biotics multi doesn’t contain near enough of any of these to be a problem for your liver. You can purchase Bio-Multi Plus on our online store. As for antioxidants, we need extra to help our body deal with the free radicals created by our stress and the pollutants we ingest. If you are particularly active or if you exerfise regularly, antioxidants are even more necessary. We also carry an excellent broad spectrum antioxidant called BioProtect. This is als available in our online store. Although vitamin C is usually found in a good antioxidant, it is a good idea to take extra doses because of the multitude of benefits associated with this powerful nutrient about which we are learning more every day. We recommend taking at least 3,000 mg of C per day, preferably in three separate doses. Again, Biotics has an excellent quality vitamin C, which we carry. These are the basics. However, many of us can benefit from additional supplements, depending on our state of health. For instance, if you experience digestive problems after meals, you may need digestive enzymes. If you have arthritis or joint pain, you may need a good glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM complex. If you are constipated, you may benefit from a fiber supplement. In any of these cases, you should consult with a qualified nutritional consultant for guidance on what exactly you need.