Many of today's doctors go the extra mile to learn more about this important area and some practices now include nutrition professionals. Such an enhancement, though, has not been facilitated by the movement toward managed health care. Good nutrition has got to be one of the best health investments going. You ask about supplements in an otherwise healthy adult. This is a difficult question to answer with any degree of certainty.
Many people are able to live long, healthful lives without supplements.
We continue to learn more, however, about how the body works, and the conditions under which chronic ailments take root and fester. My thinking is that as long as we have an option, we might as well have as many things going for us as possible. The nutritional adequacy of the typical American diet has been debated since the first measurements of food consumption. Most Americans, however, do not meet all the RDAs for vitamins and minerals on a regular basis. These individuals may never suffer from a stark deficiency disease, but a chronically deficient diet can have long-term health implications.