Did you know that the human body needs a total of 13 different vitamins and 17 different minerals every day in order to stay healthy, perform at its best, and prevent illness? While some say that this can come from food, it would take at least 7-10 servings of fruits and vegetable to come close to this amount. With busy schedules and often not a lot of planning time when it comes to meals, this seems next to impossible.
Consuming the recommended number of fruit and vegetable servings isn’t the only factor involved in proper vitamin and mineral consumption. Believe it or not, our foods no longer contain the nutrients they once did.  It is now mass-produced and farming practices have changed, reducing the nutritional value of produce. Fruits and vegetables are picked before they are ripe, not allowing their full nutrients to develop. Food processing, and the fact that foods are not often grown locally, also contributes to nutrient loss.
This is where multivitamins come into play. While many may think that they are eating a healthy well-balanced diet, it is still difficult to attain all that the body needs from food alone. The exception to this rule may be for those who live on a farm, can grow their own produce, and consume this produce within hours of it being picked. This is truly the only way to receive the full nutritional value of fruits and vegetables. The other reality is that sometimes life gets in the way. How many of us can say that we eat 100% healthy all day, every day? Sometimes we are on the run, sometimes we may skip a meal, and sometimes we may not make the best choices. A multivitamin can help make sure that our bodies are getting all of the valuable nutrients that it needs, every day.
Multivitamins may also have added health benefits such as the benefit of folic acid. Folic acid may lower the risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, and heart disease. It may also help prevent neural tube defects in newborns if women take it before they become pregnant.
Multivitamins are inexpensive and clearly beneficial for those who eat healthy as well as those whose schedules may not permit. For one’s body to perform at its best and receive all the vitamins and minerals that it needs daily, a multivitamin is essential.
Resources:
http://www.energeticnutrition.com/articles/daily-multi-vitamin.html
http://www.fitness.com/articles/558/the_importance_of_a_multivitamin.php
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/vitamins/