What is health? The dictionary defines it as “a state of being well and free from illness.” Yet good health is far more than just the absence of disease. It’s vitality, energy and feeling of happiness vibrating in every cell of your body. That state of optimal health is what I want for you and what I’ll help you obtain.

For over 20 years, I’ve specialized in helping people achieve optimal health through nutritional supplementation, dietary changes, and exercise. With the passing years, however, I have become convinced that vitamin and mineral supplements are the most powerful tools we have, not only for treating diseases, but for preventing them.

A study published in the Western Journal of Medicine in 1997 reported that if every American took only three supplements—vitamin E, folic acid and zinc—there would be a reduction in health care costs of almost $20 billion. Hospital costs for heart disease alone would be reduced by 38% if everyone over 50 years of age took vitamin E. If women of child-bearing age took folic acid, the hospital costs of caring for birth defects would be lowered by 40% and if they took zinc, the costs of caring for low birth-weight babies would drop by 60%. Think of the suffering that would be prevented by these simple measures!

I’m always on the lookout for therapies that improve patients’ and subscribers’ health and quality of life. I’ve used these proven techniques to change the lives of hundreds of patients. Many have serious diseases and most improve noticeably with my program.

Often, patients come without telling their physicians, fearing their disapproval. These same patients leave with tools to achieve dramatic improvement.

I’ll give you the same tools today. By following these recommendations, you’ll be practicing preventive medicine. It’s the most valuable health insurance you can have and it certainly costs less than the insurance you’re paying for now.

Let me start by telling you about one of my patients. When Ted first came to my clinic, he weighed 370 pounds, had diabetes and was taking 60 units of insulin a day. I started him on a comprehensive vitamin and mineral regimen, an exercise program and a low-fat diet designed to increase his body’s ability to utilize insulin.

Over the three years under my care, his enthusiasm for the program waxed and waned. But what kept him going was results. When he took supplements, stuck to the diet and exercised, he lost weight, his blood sugar level dropped and he felt better. When he didn’t, he felt worse. For the most part, he stuck with the program and three years later, Ted weighed 265 pounds, was exercising regularly, was off insulin and was feeling better than he ever had.

Ted is a typical patient. Like him, some days you’ll be disciplined and enthusiastic; other days you’ll have to battle your desire to just sit on your couch and watch TV instead of walking, or have a hamburger and fries instead of fish and vegetables.

This might sound like a lot of changes, but you don’t have to do everything at once to begin realizing benefits. To improve your health significantly and ensure longevity, start with the most important step—nutritional supplementation.

Very few people today follow a healthy diet—one that’s low in fat and refined carbohydrates, with an emphasis on whole foods rather than processed foods. While we should eat a minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables every day, most people don’t. Studies have show that on an average day, only about 20% of the population eats any fruits and vegetables rich in beta-carotene. Instead, many of us fill up on fast food and convenience items that are loaded with saturated fats, refined carbohydrates and chemical preservatives devoid of nutritional value.

Even if you try to eat a healthy diet, many factors affect the nutrients found in food. Over fertilization, heavy pesticides and prolonged storage all decrease the nutritional value in food. The soil in which it’s grown, whether it’s shipped out before it’s ripe, how it’s processed and stored and how it’s cooked also affect the nutritional value of what you eat.

Not only is our diet deficient, our exposure to environmental toxins is greater than ever. Water and air pollution, mercury from dental fillings, preservatives, aluminum in cookware and antiperspirants—the list of toxins goes on and on. And each time we are exposed to one of these harmful agents, it takes a toll on our bodies.

Given the realities of modern living, I believe our nutritional needs have overtaken what our food supply can deliver. This is why nutritional supplements are essential for optimal health. Think of the vitamin and mineral supplements I recommend as your health insurance against all the inadequacies of a modern-day diet.

Start With a Good Multivitamin / Mineral Supplement

A multivitamin is the foundation of any supplement program. You probably already take one and I want to congratulate you for that. It is one of the smartest things you can do to enhance your energy, maintain a healthy heart and immune system, feel better and live a more active life.

But do you know if you’re getting the maximum benefits from your supplement? Supplements are not all the same. The sources, potencies and quality of nutrients can vary greatly. You should know what to look for on a label to determine which supplement is best for you.

First, look for the sources, or forms, of the vitamins and minerals. This information is usually indicated in parentheses after the name. For example, minerals are best absorbed from the digestive track into your bloodstream in chelated form. “Chelated” means the minerals are bound to amino acids or other substances to make them more available to your body.

Next, watch out for synthetic fillers and additives that could hinder absorption, induce allergies, or upset your digestive system. Some supplements contain sugar, artificial food colouring and flavouring and even such additives as chlorine.

For years people have based their nutritional needs on Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs). Set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, RDAs are the guidelines for the minimum daily amounts you need. They have been the basis for all scientific research, despite the fact that they are painfully inadequate to meet nutritional needs.

If you were to base your nutrient intake on the RDAs, you’d be at risk for developing just about every degenerative disease. There is simply no way you can enjoy optimal health throughout your life by following the RDAs.

Free radicals are highly reactive molecules that interact with and destroy body components through a process called oxidation. Most free radicals are produced within the body during normal metabolism, but we also acquire free radicals through our environment and through the food and drinks we consume. The accumulation of free radicals contributes to disease processes by damaging cell membranes, proteins and even our DNA.

As we age, we become less efficient at blocking free radical damage. Research has show that unchecked free radical damage to cells is a cause of aging and age-related decline in physiological function. Free radical damage is implicated in atherosclerosis, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, cataracts, osteoarthritis, and immune deficiency.

One of the most important—and certainly one of the easiest—steps in maintaining your health is to neutralize free radicals and counteract the damage caused by the oxidative process with antioxidants. You can do this by taking nutritional supplements.

The Alliance for Aging Research has cited studies indicating a 20% to 40% reduction in the incidence of cancer, heart disease, cataracts and other diseases, simply from taking antioxidant supplements.

Different antioxidants have different functions in your body. Individually and working together, the antioxidant vitamins A, C and E, carotenoids (especially beta-carotene and lycopene) and the mineral selenium help prevent and reverse many degenerative conditions and age-related diseases.

Vitamin C works both inside and outside cells as your body’s first line of antioxidant protection. Not only does it neutralize harmful free radicals, it also prevents the formation of free radicals that initiate artery blockage by damaging artery walls.

The March 1997 issue of the British Medical Journal reported that in lab tests, vitamin C has been shown to inhibit the oxidation of LDL cholesterol that leads to the buildup of plaque in the arteries. Studies at UCLA have shown that men taking 400 mg of vitamin C daily have 50% fewer heart attacks than men taking 100 mg or less.

Vitamin C is also a key link within important enzymatic reactions. It helps regenerate oxidized vitamin E, increases the absorption of iron and is involved in the production of hormones that regulate stress and inflammation, including adrenaline and corticosteroids.

Unlike most animals, we cannot manufacture our own vitamin C. Also, stress—whether chemical, emotional, or physiological—depletes the body of vitamin C at a significantly increased rate. Supplementation will ensure that you get the right amount of this vital nutrient.

I recommend 2,500 mg or more of vitamin C per day. Bioflavonoids occur in nature together with vitamin C and high-quality vitamin C or multivitamin supplements contain vitamin C in combination with bioflavonoids, which provide additional protection.

Note: Vitamin C is safe, even in doses many times greater than what I recommend. It can cause diarrhoea and stomach upset if too large a dose is taken at once, so build up gradually over a week and spread out your intake over two or three doses during the day.

Vitamin E is a family of compounds called tocopherols that work together to protect you against the damage from free radicals. Tocopherols are the liquid (oil) form of vitamin E and are comprised of alpha, beta, gamma and delta tocopherol. Until recently, it was thought that alpha, the most common and active form, was that most important tocopherol, but research has shown that the other forms of tocopherol also help fend off free radicals.

Today most of the news about vitamin E concerns the benefits of taking it in large doses. In one study, 400 to 800 IU daily reduced the incidence of coronary heart disease by 77%.

A recent European study found that low blood levels of vitamin E were far more predictive of health disease than high levels of blood cholesterol and high blood pressure. High cholesterol levels were predictive 29% of the time and high blood pressure 25% of the time, but a low blood level of vitamin E was predictive of a heart attack 69% of the time! In 1997, the American Heart Association hailed the discovery of vitamin E as one of the top ten developments related to heart health.

Vitamin E also gives the immune system a significant boost, as reported in a 1997 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Healthy volunteers, all over the age of 65, took vitamin E supplements for 235 weeks. Afterwards, tests showed that their immune systems were much more active.

Other studies have shown that vitamin E helps protect against cancer, improves blood flow in people who have severe pain when they walk because of clogged arteries and relieves leg cramps.

When taken along with vitamin C, it helps prevent cataracts. It also slows the progression of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. And this is only a partial listing of the benefits of Vitamin E!

To get enough vitamin E from food alone, you would have to consume two quarts of corn oil and 22 cups of peanuts a day. Clearly, that isn’t possible or even advisable, given the high amount of fat you’d be ingesting at the same time. The only practical way to get the levels of vitamin E you need is through supplementation.

I recommend 800 IU of vitamin E per day, either as tocopherols (oil form) or tocopherols (powder form). There is some concern about toxicity, but I am not aware of toxicity being reported from even larger doses of vitamin E. In fact, in one study, 3,200 IU of vitamin E—along with 3,000 mg of vitamin C per day—was used for years to treat patients in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. No toxicity was reported and there was a significant slowdown in the progression of the disease.

Vitamin A, also called retinol, was the first vitamin discovered. Its importance to the function of the retina of the eye (hence the name) is well-known, but it is also important for the enhancement of the immune system. Vitamin A is also necessary for growth and repair of epithelial cells, bone and teeth formation, production of nerve cell membranes, myelin, collagen and cartilage synthesis.

Vitamin A and beta-carotene (which is converted to vitamin A in your body) have antioxidant protective properties similar to those of vitamins C and E. Studies have shown that increased levels of beta-carotene and/or vitamin A help prevent a variety of cancers and even heart disease.

About 80% of the vitamin A you consume gets absorbed, but only about 40% of the beta-carotene does. You need more beta-carotene to make the same amount of vitamin A. Vitamin A intake should be limited to no more than 10,000 IU a day. Although doses over 50,000 IU can be toxic, vitamin A is far less toxic than most prescription drugs. There has never been a reported death from vitamin A toxicity—or from any other vitamin or mineral supplement, for that matter.

Beta-carotene has no known toxicity at any dosage and recent research attests to its beneficial effects. in an epidemiological (population) study of 5,182 middle-aged and elderly people, Dutch researchers saw a strong correlation between beta-carotene intake and mental functioning.

L.J. Launer, Ph.D., of Erasmus University in the Netherlands, reported that people who consumed less that 0.9 mg of dietary beta-carotene daily were more than twice as likely to suffer from poor memory, difficulty in solving problems and disorientation, compared with people who consumed more than 2.1 mg per day of the nutrient.

According to a study by Harvard researcher Meir Stampfer, M.D., beta-carotene supplements may also reduce the risk of prostate cancer. In analyzing the risk of prostate cancer among more than 3,000 physicians, Stampfer noted that the men with higher intakes of beta-carotene—either through diet or supplementation—had a 36% lower risk of developing prostate cancer than men who consumed lower amounts.

I recommend 5,000 IU of vitamin A and 15,000 IU of carotenoids daily.

The B complex vitamins are essential for proper functioning of your nervous system, including proper mental functioning. In addition, they are necessary for metabolizing homocysteine.

You may not have heard much about homocysteine yet—but you will. Atherosclerosis (the accumulation of cholesterol and other deposits in your arteries) is actually initiated by homocysteine, a toxic byproduct of the conversion of the amino acid methionine into cysteine. When homocysteine builds up inside your cells and spills into the bloodstream, it damages arteries and reduces the integrity of vessel walls, laying the ground work for the accumulation of deposits and blockage of the arteries. Elevated homocysteine levels are likely responsible for 30% to 50% of the heart attacks and heart deaths that occur each year.

Vitamins B6 and B12 and folic acid play a crucial role in preventing the buildup of this toxic substance. Because of the interconnectedness of these three vitamins, the best approach to lowering homocysteine levels is to supplement all three.

B1 (thiamine) is essential for normal functioning of nerves, proper energy production in the brain and synthesis of a key neurotransmitter involved in memory. I recommend 50 mg.

B2 (riboflavin) is essential for energy production and in regenerating glutathione, one of the main cellular protectors against free-radical damage. I recommend 50 mg.

B3 (niacin and niaciniamide) is an antioxidant and is involved in the regulation of blood sugar and detoxification. It has been shown to exert a favourable effect on cholesterol levels. I recommend 100 mg daily for overall health. (Niacin in excess of 50 mg may cause flushing of the skin if taken on an empty stomach, so look for a supplement that has a combination of the two forms.)

B5 (pantothenic acid) is involved in energy production and is considered the “antistress” vitamin because of its importance for optimal adrenal function. I recommend 50 mg.

B6 (pyridoxine) is extremely important for the formation of proteins and structural compounds, neurotransmitters, red blood cells and prostaglandins. It is also critical in maintaining hormonal balance and proper immune function. I recommend 75 mg.

B12 (cyanocobalamin) plays a critical role in proper energy metabolism and immune and nerve function. It is essential to the manufacture and normal functioning of blood cells and production of nucleic acids which make up DNA. B12 also helps maintain proper mental functioning and mood. Only tiny doses of B12 are needed to experience its benefits, but it is essential that you get enough B12 daily. I recommend 100 mcg.

Folic Acid. Even though folic acid is not a B vitamin, it functions together with vitamin B12, and is one of the most important of these water-soluble nutrients. Like B12, it is a methyl donor that reduces homocysteine and its damaging effects. Folic acid deficiency is the most common vitamin deficiency in the world. Studies have demonstrated that it is difficult to get an adequate amount of folic acid from food alone and the folic acid obtained from food is only 50% absorbed. As a supplement, however, folic acid is 100% absorbed.

Taking 400 mcg of supplemental folic acid, along with vitamins B6 and B12 will substantially reduce our homocysteine levels. This amount of folic acid is especially important for women of child-bearing age to guard against one of the worst tragedies a new mother can face—giving birth to a child with spina bifida or other neural tube defects. Only folic acid taken as a supplement has been shown to substantially reduce this risk.

Vitamin D aids the absorption of calcium and phosphorus in the intestines, transmitting calcium from bones into the blood and then helping the kidney reabsorb the two minerals. There is mounting evidence that vitamin D deficiency results in decreased bone density and strength and predisposition toward fractures in the elderly.

The healthiest and fastest way to get an adequate supply of vitamin D is through exposure to sunlight. However, the ability to manufacture vitamin D from sunlight decreases with age, so if you’re over 50, you should be sure that your multivitamin contains 400 IU of vitamin D.

While saturated fats have gotten a bad reputation—and rightly so—not all fats are bad. Certain unsaturated fats called essential fatty acids (EFAs) are vital to the functioning of your body. The membranes of every one of your cells are made of fatty acids. When there is a deficiency of EFAs in your diet, your cells must use other fats, such as saturated fats or trans fatty acids. Cell membranes made with these other fats are more rigid and less efficient at letting nutrients enter, which contributes to many health problems.

EFAs are also precursors to prostaglandins, hormone-like substances that are important to the regulation of blood pressure, heart function, gastrointestinal function, kidney function, blood clotting, nerve transmission, steroid production and hormone synthesis.

EFAs are made up of omega-3 (alpha-linoleic acid or LNA) fatty acids. Because your body can’t manufacture these fatty acids, it is important to supplement your diet with EFAs.

This is especially true of omega-3 fatty acids, because we eat so few natural sources of omega-3 fats—cold-water fish oils and flax seed oil. Omega-3 oil supplements can reduce the incidence of high cholesterol, stroke, heart attack, angina, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.

Omega-6 fatty acids are more common. They are found in nuts, seeds, grains and most vegetable oils. However, because EFAs are so bio-chemically active, they are extremely unstable. Exposure to light, heat and oxygen—which invariably happens during oil extraction, processing and cooking—transforms therse fatty acids to toxic substances called lipid peroxides.

By substantially increasing your intake of essential fatty acids, you can get a much more favourable ratio of polyunsaturated fats to saturated fats. This can have long-lasting and often dramatic health benefits. Fish and flax seed oils are an important source of omega-3 fatty acids—eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and dodecahexanoic acid (DHA). Borage oil is a good source of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), an omega-6 fatty acid.

For healthy adults, I recommend 1,000 mg of fish oil (with 180 mg EPA and 120 mg DHA) omega-3 fatty acids and 125 mg of omega-6 fatty acids (from borage oil) daily.

If you have heart disease or lipid disorders or are diabetic, discuss EFAs with your physician before taking them.

Optimal human nutrition requires 22 different minerals. Minerals, like vitamins, play diverse roles. They are involved in the composition of our bones and blood, are required to maintain normal functioning of our cells and along with vitamins, function as components of body enzymes. The most important major minerals (necessary every day in amounts over 100 mg) are magnesium, potassium and calcium.

Magnesium is a cofactor for over 300 enzyme reactions in the body. It is important for protein formation and DNA production. It helps turn food into energy, keeps muscles from cramping, maintains intracellular potassium levels, blocks the entry of excessive calcium, increases the metabolic efficiency of the heart and decreases insulin resistance in diabetics. Magnesium helps prevent heart attacks, high blood pressure, heart arrhythmia, asthma and kidney stones. Yet, up to 40% of the American population gets less than 75% of the daily value of magnesium.

I recommend 500 mg of magnesium daily.

Potassium functions in the maintenance of water balance and distribution, muscle and nerve cell function, heart function and kidney and adrenal function.

Most Americans have a potassium-to-sodium ratio which is less than 1:2, meaning that they are ingesting twice as much salt as potassium. Numerous studies have shown that a low-potassium, high-sodium diet is a major contributor to cancer and heart disease. Reversing the ratio helps protect against these killers and is known to be therapeutic for high blood pressure. In fact, most researchers recommend a ratio greater than 5:1 in favour of potassium.

Look for a multivitamin/mineral supplement that contains potassium. The FDA restricts the amount of potassium available in non-food-based forms to 99 mg per dose.

Calcium is absorbed through your small intestine into your blood and the amount of calcium in your blood is regulated by your levels of parathyroid hormone. When calcium intake is low, the parathyroid hormone signals bone to be broken down, releasing calcium into the bloodstream to help your body perform vital functions. With adequate calcium intake, you produce less parathyroid hormone, so bone does not have to be broken down to provide calcium.

Calcium combines with phosphorus to help form hard, crystal-like substances that create the latticework for strong bones and teeth. It also assists in normal blood clotting.

The most absorbable forms of calcium are citrate, malate and ascorbate, which do not depend on interaction with stomach acid. Carbonate and oyster shell forms of calcium require adequate hydrochloric acid for absorption and many adults over 50 do not produce enough hydrochloric acid. Even with good stomach acid levels, absorption of these forms is relatively poor.

I recommend 1,000 mg of calcium daily.

Minerals you need in amounts less than 100 mg a day are called trace minerals. Even though the amounts you need are very small—less than 50 mcg in some cases—trace minerals are just as important to your health as the major minerals and a deficiency of just one of these trace minerals can result in serious disturbances in your metabolism. Your daily multivitamin/mineral should contain selenium (200 mcg), zinc (30 mg), chromium (200 mcg), copper (2 mg) and manganese (10 mg).

Selenium functions primarily as a component of the antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase, which works with vitamin E to prevent free radical damage to cell membranes.

A direct correlation has been found between low soil levels of selenium and increased incidences of cancer and heart disease. People in areas with low amounts of selenium in the soil are three times more likely to die from heart disease than those living in high-selenium areas. Selenium seems to have several mechanisms of anticancer activity.

We need only 100 to 200 mcg per day of selenium for good health. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed a 50% reduction in some forms of cancer in subjects taking high-selenium yeast. Inorganic selenium is absorbed less effectively and is not as biologically active as organic selenium (such as high-selenium yeast), so look for organic selenium in your multivitamin/mineral supplement.

Zinc appears in every body cell and is a component in over 200 enzymes. It is also necessary for proper action of many hormones, including thymic hormones, insulin, growth and sex hormones. Adequate zinc levels are essential to good health, particularly to optimal immune function, wound healing, vision, male sexual function and skin health. Zinc supplementation produces dramatic reversals of the immune function characteristic of aging.

I recommend 30 mg of zinc daily.

Chromium is essential for carbohydrate control and insulin action and is a safe and extremely beneficial supplement for specific use in the treatment of diabetes, weight loss and reduction of blood lipid levels. Chromium picolinate seems to have superior cellular absorption characteristics.

I recommend 200 mcg of chromium picolinate daily.

Your body can tell the difference between natural and synthetic vitamin E, so you should try to take it in the natural form. Because natural vitamin E is identical to what your body makes and what is found in food, your body absorbs it better, and it stays in your system longer than synthetic E.

Natural vitamin E is made from vegetable oils, while synthetic vitamin E is made chemically. Synthetic vitamin E also often contains fillers that oxidize quickly and produce free radicals that cancel out the vitamin’s antioxidant powers.

You can differentiate between natural and synthetic vitamin E in supplements by looking for d-alpha-tocopherol. Dl-alpha-tocopherol (note the “l”) indicates a synthetic version. Look for supplements that have only the “d.” Natural vitamin E is expensive, but it is the best, most effective form of vitamin E.

I hope I’ve convinced you that simply buying and taking any one-a-day supplement will not ensure optimal health. Today’s high-potency multivitamins are superior to the traditional one-a-day vitamins many of your are familiar with. You need to read labels carefully to ensure that you get all the nutrients you need.

Here are a few other helpful facts you should know about multivitamins.

Remember, while taking a multivitamin is the first step in the journey to optimal wellness, all the supplements in the world cannot make up for an unhealthy lifestyle. You also need to develop health habits in what you eat, what you drink and how you exercise and how you relax and sleep.

Supplementation, combined with lifestyle choices, will jump-start your body functions and help prevent and in some cases, reverse common health problems.