Everyone should take a daily multivitamin and mineral (MVM) supplement. Other supplements may be helpful under certain conditions as long as they are properly targeted to specific deficiency or actual need.
Position on overall dietary supplement use and recommendations
Dietary supplement products must be 100% defensible through scientific research, not used to treat medical conditions and only recommended in support of the following goals:
• Preserving health
o Objective: potentially stave off chronic or age-related disease by improving the daily nutrient intake achieved through diet alone
• Safely enhance sport and fitness outcomes
o Objective: hasten and support fitness/weight control goals
o Objective: improve training-induced performance results
Position on use of supplements for health
Multivitamin and mineral formula (MVM): all persons of all ages should use a daily MVM to complement one’s best efforts to define and consume a proper diet. At a minimum, MVM supplementation is insurance against common and unavoidable shortcomings driven by typical daily diets and local food supply or availability. At best, the daily increased level of all known vital nutrients supplied by the MVM may indeed allow optimal cellular performance. Levels of nutrition delivered by diet combined with a MVM (significantly higher but well within a safe range) has more potential than diet alone (especially within a range of acceptable calories) to supply all cellular entities/enzymes with enough materials to operate at full capacity thus avoiding a potential triage effect that may be at the root of many chronic and age-related diseases. Calcium & Vitamin D: supplement if daily needs of calcium (1000-1200mgs/day) and vitamin D (400-1000 IUs/day) are not met by food, sunlight and multivitamin mineral formula.