Our cells need a balance of nutrients. They are intricate structures and only work well when they have the right components in the proper amounts. When the cells repeatedly do not receive these co-factors in the right balance, shortages and deficiencies occur and they are not able to function at their optimal level. Creating balance and synergy between all these substances is obviously a difficult task. Eating a varied diet of fresh whole foods makes it easier.
Foods are much greater than the sum of their parts.
Each food has just right balance of vitamins, minerals and other co-factors for our bodies, as well as the right enzymes to help us break the food down when we ingest it. When we take these vitamins and minerals separately, our bodies are not able to recognize them as food and they are not well used. Consequently we have to take huge amounts of them, to get the small amount our cells need. Vitamin A, taken in high doses over time, can produce calcium deposits in soft tissues, insomnia, liver damage, cancer and birth defects. And yet, when we ingest much carotenoid rich food, the body is able to take what it needs of the carotenoids and the co-factors to metabolize them.