The majority of the planet, including most Americans, are malnourished; referring to a state of suboptimal health due to undernutrition. You may eat plenty of food and still be malnourished by virtue of poor absorption or that the food you're eating simply has little or no nutritional value. Attemping to stay healthy without the proper nutrition is like operating your vehicle without fluids. The machine breaks down. There are hundreds of vitamin and mineral deficiency related diseases which people suffer from unnecessarily.

    The RDI (formerly RDA) is the minimum amout of these nutrients necessary to not get a deficiency disease. The amount necessary for optimum health is generally higher. The lower overall quality of the soil means that even the healthy foods we eat are less nutritious than they once were necessitating supplements. Today's powerful fertilizers cause plants to grow but do not put micronutrients back in the soil.

    Which supplements to take is matter of much debate but in general it is agreed that whole food vitamins are preferable to synthetics. Some vitamins/minerals work together in combination so a balanced supplement is better. Here's an example. Let's say your doctor, or your own research, recommneds that you increase your calcium intake to protect against osteoporosis or relieve some other sympton. You begin to take calcium but notice no improvement. Problem is, without vitamin D and magnesium, calcium cannot be properly absorbed and utilized. In fact, you may have been getting enough calcium all along but lacking the other nutrients necessary for it's absorption. After a fair amout of research, I found Purity Products which is where I purchase my supplements.

    Other factors include age (seniors may want more vitamin K), sex (females need more iron) or conditions more personally specific. Listed below are two great books which list the minimum, optimum, and upper limt amounts of basic nutrients (excessive amounts of vitamin A or Iron are known to have deletorious effects and, of course, you can get too much of anything). They also review the function of each nutrient in the body, food sources, and the effects of deficiencies. I had orginally intentded to make this a comprehensive source but soon realized that I would just be republishing these two books. They probably wouldn't appreciate that. Not that it's original work, but they did a heck of a job compiling a lot of info into a useful reference.

Prescription for Nutritional Healing

Dietary Reference Intakes: The Essential Guide to Nutrient Requirements

    This is quite a journey as each vitamin, mineral and micronutrient has it's own complete story. You will find the beginning and the end of most ailments in these pages. There are also a large number of herbal supplements with amazing health benefits worth researching.