Article: Eat a balanced diet and you won't need extra vitamins

A journalist once told me that his paper only knew two drugs; miracle cures and killer drugs. Vitamins seem to have gone from miracles to killers in the last week. Both extremes are wrong.

Some people see vitamins as Popeye saw spinach; pour them in the mouth and see the muscle grow as energy levels rise. Sadly, this only works in cartoons.

It may seem unromantic but life consists of a series of complicated chemical pathways, and there are essential chemicals needed for each step.

The body can make most of the chemicals but there are a few we need to 'import' by eating other animals or plants.

When it was first realised there are some essential ingredients it was thought they were all amines ...

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