1. The human organism was designed for hunter gathering not farming.

For 90% of our existence, homo sapiens were hunter gatherers who picked their food directly from the root, vine, plant or bush – which ensures maximum vitamin and mineral count. The moment you pick food and begin to store/cook/transport it… it sheds nutrient value.

The reason I take a high quality vitamin, therefore, is because I want to consume the amount of vitamins I would get if I was living the way our ancestors did.

It’s not just a trope: human health really did go downhill when we switched to farming. Archaeological evidence demonstrates that it created a deluge of diseases and nutritional deficiency.

link: Were Hunter-Gatherers Healthier Than the Modern Humans?

2. For my nails, hair, bones and skin.

There’s vitamins you need to keep your body functioning and free of deficiency diseases like scurvy. But then there’s optimum vitamins which, you don’t need to survive, but to thrive.

A good example of this is hair. It’s not just my students of True Feminization that have problems with hairloss, I know an increasing amount of women who have problems with hairloss. It’s not the same v shaped thing as guys, but a kind of all over thinning. My advice to both: take a good multi-vitamin because I’m sure it’s something to do with nutrition.

link: Preventing Female Hair Loss with Nutrition

3. To Fill NutriGaps.

I eat vegetables and fruit because I know they’re good for me… but they don’t give me any pleasure. That’s why I’ll eat a certain quantity, but there’s no way I’m eating the zillion portions a day recommended by experts.

My high quality vitamin supplement fills the gap caused by my moderate intake of greens and fruits. (Notice I keep saying ‘high quality vitamin’ because as Anna K pointed out in her article on hairloss, a low quality supplement is literally worthless.)

link: Filling Nutrient Gaps in our Diet

4. Pollutants, plastics and other assorted contaminants.

I don’t know about you, but I am aghast every time I read about micro plastic particles. When I grew up, the teachers were all about the dangers of excess plastics we can see – like mineral water bottles. But now we can’t even see all the plastic… it’s everywhere. Furthermore we have chemicals in the water, pollution in the air and  pesticides on our food and hormones in our milk.

These contaminants create beastly free radicals which are associated with cancer, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and many others. This makes extra vitamins and antioxidants necessary as they help fight those free radicals.

link: From Fish to Humans, A Microplastic Invasion

5. Sometimes you just gotta roll the dice.

As a vitamin junkie, I have read many of the studies that claim there are no tangible benefits to a multi-vitamin. After all, I don’t want to waste my time and money.

However, I’m not convinced by these studies, and I have to say that part of it is pure faith… or rather… going with my gut. Scientific studies say new and contradictory things about nutrition every day. Sometimes you just gotta role the dice.

My gamble is based on the following:  the human being is powered by vitamins, and it’s clear that pollution, storage, and cooking, all degrade the vitamin content of foods that were supposed to be eaten raw and fresh.

EDITOR’S NOTE: At NovaGirl, our writers have lots of debates and differences, but one thing we all agree on is that Solgar is the world’s best muñtivitamin.