A well balanced diet is essential for a healthy body but, despite the knowledge that proper nutrition can help us experience good health, few of us put this theory fully into practice. Whilst the so called “macro” nutrients – protein, carbohydrate and fat- are usually more than adequately supplied by our western diets, the “micro” nutrients - vitamins and minerals- can sometimes be in short supply due to the way food is stored, cooked or processed, or simply because we do not eat enough micronutrient- rich foods, such as fruit and vegetables.

Dietary supplements are a convenient way of safeguarding our vitamin and mineral intake, and ensuring we obtain at least the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of various micronutrients. RDA’s are set only at the level that is enough to prevent clinical deficiency, with an added margin of safety. What they do not reflect is the level needed for optimal health- a concept currently of great interest to many nutritional scientists.

In fact, the idea that intakes of vitamins and minerals higher than those normally obtainable through diet may bring particular health benefits is now widely accepted. For example, it has been established that folic acid is required at twice the level of RDA to reduce the risk of spina bifida in the newborn. Many supplements on the market provide significantly more than the RDA of vitamins and minerals, as well as providing micronutrients that are known to be important to health but which have so far not been assigned an RDA VITAMINS & MINERALS- HOW THEY HELP KEEP YOU HEALTHY.