Principal Proposed Uses There are two main ways to use vitamins
and mineral supplements: "megadose" and nutritional therapy. The
megadose approach involves taking supplements at doses far above
nutritional needs in hopes of producing a specific medical
benefit. This technique essentially uses nutrients as natural
drugs. The individual supplement articles in this encyclopedia
explain what is known about the potential risks and benefits of
megadose therapy. This article addresses the second approach:
taking nutrients at the level of nutritional needs. We discuss
general issues regarding such "nutritional insurance" and
indicate which nutrients you should consider taking on a daily
basis. There is no doubt that it's important to get enough of
all necessary nutrients. However, the process of determining
proper daily intake levels for vitamins and minerals is far from
an exact science and the recommendations issued by experts in
various countries often disagree to a certain extent. In
general, while it is fairly e