Today Yahoo is running an article entitled, "Are You Wasting Your Money on Multivitamins?" The article, by Simeon Margolis, MD, was posted on 2/11/09 by Johns Hopkins Medical. The doctor cited an observational study of 161,000+ postmenopausal women who took multivitamins. Their incidences of cancer and other major diseases was the same as the general population. We do need to give the doctor credit for explaining that observational studies are not the same as research studies.

The article emphasizes eating a wide variety of healthy foods to get vitamins. The doctor says it is more important to get nutrients from food than from pills.

I am not a physician. However, I have some comments.

A large percentage of physicians have very little knowledge of natural supplements. They get little, if any, training in medical school. It seems as though only those who have a personal interest keep learning on their own. I do need to add that in the last few years some universities have begun adding a Department of Complementary Medicine to their medical schools.

Fifty or 100 years ago it was possible to get plenty of nutrients from food. Today's land is so depleted that the produce has perhaps 40-50% of the nutrients it had 50 years ago. How many of us are willing to eat twice as many vegetables? And in today's economy, many families are barely purchasing food, let alone the more expensive organic produce.

The article discusses multivitamins. There is a significant difference between synthetic and natural vitamins. Synthetic vitamins come from a chemical lab, most of which are regulated by the FDA.

Natural supplements come from living things, mostly plants. They are manufactured in plants the FDA does not regulate. How could the FDA possibly regulate something that man does not create?

Biology 101 teaches the basic premise: life begets life. If people take vitamins made from chemicals, they are getting chemical compounds, not any life-giving substances. Only natural supplements that are processed correctly are able to provide the life and health people desire.

As consumers, we need to be educating ourselves. And we need to be making wise choices for a healthy life today and tomorrow.