Have you wondered why you should take nutritional supplements or if you should take them at all? The answer to this question is that almost everyone needs to take supplements for one or several different reasons. Very few people in the world eat exactly the right diet to get all the nutrition they need to be in prime health and live the longest, most productive life possible.

It's not that the diets we consume will not allow us to survive but the reasons why you should take nutritional supplements are myriad. The first and most important, however, is that most of us fail to exercise enough, eat too much sugar, salt and fat and don't get enough vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals in our foods to have the best health possible. Actual Causes of Death in the United States, 2000, complied by the Centers for Disease Control states, "In 2000, the most common actual causes of death in the United States were tobacco (435,000), poor diet and physical inactivity (400,000)…" As you can see, in the top three causes of death, a poor diet can really kill you!

Other reasons why you should take nutritional supplements to ensure your body gets what it really needs include the fact that we often eat too quickly, chewing poorly can cause poor digestion which causes the body to have difficulty absorbing all the nutrients in our food. Hot drinks can cause inflammation of the digestive linings to go unnoticed.

It seems everyone is on a fad diet or low calorie diet which is another reason why you should take herbal or nutritional supplements. Low fat diets can impact the absorption of fat soluble vitamins like A, D and E. Overcooking destroys or reduces the quantities of B, C and E vitamins in foods we eat. Food processing such as freezing reduces E, B1 and C vitamins. The diets most Americans eat is more convenient that balanced and too much glucose in refined carbohydrates means that more vitamins, including B, are required to process the glucose. This is one reason many herbal supplements can aid in nutrition in addition to the many vitamins and mineral supplements.

The use of alcohol and/or tobacco is an additional reason why you should take nutritional supplements. Drinking alcohol means your body needs more B, A, and C vitamins and increases in several minerals including zinc, magnesium and calcium. Smoking, even second-hand smoke increases the requirement for vitamin C. However, if you are a heavy consumer of alcohol, herbal supplements should be taken with care and never within eight hours of drinking alcohol.

Stress impacts the body and is why you need nutritional supplements that contain B-complex and E vitamins. Accidents, surgery, medical conditions and illness cause the body to need more nutrients as well. Antibiotics impact the body's ability to absorb B vitamins. Some medications impact the way the body uses vitamins and minerals. Food allergies can cause food choices to be limited. Pregnancy, oral contraceptives, aging, childhood and teenage development, athletics, lack of sunlight and crop nutrient losses due to poor soil management all impact the requirement for, availability of, or absorption of vitamins and minerals. This is also one more reason to take herbal supplements to enhance health right along with some vitamin B and vitamin C.