Why Healthy People Need Supplements

From eNewsletter 10/14/2026

DID YOU KNOW that a study from Proceedings of the Nutrition Society pokes a hole in the common belief that healthy people don't need supplements?

When researchers gave a daily multivitamin to apparently healthy adults, they were surprised to find that many weren't so well-nourished after all: at the start, 40% were low in folate, 34% in vitamin B12, and a striking 83% had low or borderline riboflavin (B2). After 12 weeks of supplementing, several of these B-vitamin levels improved significantly, and homocysteine - a marker tied to heart and brain health - dropped by 33%.

If hidden nutrient shortfalls lurk in people who look perfectly healthy, how useful is the standard trope to "only supplement if you're deficient" when most people never get their nutrient levels checked in the first place?

To read the rest of today's issue, please go to this page.