You no longer get the same amount of vitamins from fruits and vegetables. For years, you may have been lulled into complacency by claims that “you can get all necessary vitamins from the fruits and vegetables in your diet.” Wrong! The truth is, the vitamin content in our fruits and vegetables has been dramatically reduced over the years because of the way they are grown and harvested. From years of reusing soil, nutrients such as magnesium, calcium and selenium have been depleted. Also premature harvesting of crops can cause a loss of up to half of the vitamin content.

Vitamins can help a variety of ailments, including cancer. Thousands of medical studies have proven this. For example, selenium, a trace mineral, has been extensively studied in the last decade. In one study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1996 that involved over 1300 patients in the United States, those individuals treated with 200 mcg a day of the organic form of selenium had a 37% reduction in cancer incidence and a 50% reduction in mortality. In another study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute from 1998, 33,000 physicians were followed; and it was found, over a 10-year period, that those individuals with the highest selenium levels had approximately a 2/3 reduction in the incidence of malignant forms of prostate cancer.

You need to drink enough water when taking vitamins. Swallowing a sufficient amount of water -- 4 to 8 ounces -- ensures that the pills will be swept into your stomach and won’t lodge in the esophagus. Although you may not have heard of it, “pill esophagitis” is surprisingly common; gastroenterologists do endoscopes frequently to confirm this problem.

Men and post-menopausal women do not need to take iron. In these two groups, iron may work as a “pro-oxidant” that increases free radicals, which harm the body.

The FDA has approved certain vitamin supplements. These include: selenium (to reduce the risk of certain cancers); omega-3 fatty acids (to reduce heart disease); vitamins C and E (to reduce the risk of certain cancers); and folic acid (to reduce brain and spinal cord defects of babies in pregnant women).

Vitamins must be taken in the proper form and amount in order to be effective. For example, in one of the selenium studies, 200 mcg of selenium in the form of selenomethinione had to be taken per day to decrease the cancer mortality rate. Many supplements don’t contain this form and amount of selenium.

Nutritional supplements have historically been extremely safe. According to Congressman Dan Burton, a maximum of sixteen deaths were attributed to nutritional supplements in 2002. However, most people don’t realize that over 100,000 people in the United States died in 2002 from prescription drugs that were properly prescribed and taken. In addition, there are tens of thousands of deaths and complications such as kidney and liver failure, from over-the-counter products such as Tylenol and aspirin.

If you’re taking Vitamin A supplements, do so carefully. The best way to do this is to take supplemental Vitamin A in the form of “Pro-Vitamin A,” which is made up of natural carotenoids, such as beta carotene. Your body will convert only as much Pro-Vitamin A as it needs. Taking Vitamin A supplements that are not made up of natural carotenoids can lead to health ailments including osteoporosis.

Natural vitamins are better than synthetic vitamins. You may have been told there’s no difference between the two, and you might as well get synthetic version, which cost less. Not true. Natural vitamins, in fact, are absorbed in the body better. For example, natural Vitamin E is absorbed 2.5 times better than synthetic Vitamin E.