WHY DO I NEED TO TAKE A MULTIVITAMIN IF I AM EATING A BALANCED DIET ?

A: We strongly recommend a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement — Premium Insurance Caps is an excellent option — because, in practice, diet alone rarely provides everything your body needs. Here’s why:

• “Balanced diet” is more theory than reality. There isn’t a single clinical study that clearly defines what an ideal balanced diet looks like for everyone, nor one that shows people can reliably meet all basic micronutrient needs from whole foods alone.

• Modern diets don’t deliver enough micronutrients. Research consistently shows that food alone often fails to provide even minimum levels of vitamins and minerals to prevent deficiency — never mind the higher levels linked to optimal health. Nutritional scientist Bruce Ames puts it bluntly: inadequate vitamin and mineral intake is widespread, largely because modern diets are heavy in energy-rich but nutrient-poor refined foods. Another large study reached a similar conclusion, finding that almost the entire population eats below recommended nutritional standards.

• Food quality isn’t what it used to be. Most people don’t have steady access to fresh, locally grown produce. A lot of what we eat is grown far away, harvested before it’s ripe, stored for long periods, and transported across countries. That means nutrient levels are typically lower and less reliable than we assume.

• Even good intentions don’t equal perfect consistency. Even if a “perfect diet” could supply everything you need, very few people eat that way day after day. Official guidelines say to eat a variety of fruit and veg daily, but let’s be honest — most people don’t hit those targets consistently. And some research suggests even higher intakes may be better.

Supplements don’t replace food

To be crystal clear: we’re not saying you can eat rubbish, take a pile of capsules, and call it job done. Supplements are meant to support a healthy diet, not replace it. At Hammer Nutrition, we prioritise both quality eating and smart supplementation.

Your base should always be a nutrient-dense diet, meaning:

• Eating whole grains and as much locally grown organic fruit and veg as possible

• Avoiding heavily processed foods, junk food, and products packed with artificial sweeteners, colours, flavours, and preservatives

• Keeping sodium low and limiting simple sugars

Why fruit and veg still matter (even beyond vitamins)

The real superpower of fruits and vegetables isn’t just their vitamin/mineral content — it’s the huge range of phytochemicals they contain, which you can’t get from pills. These compounds support health in ways vitamins alone don’t. For example, fisetin — a natural flavonoid found in fruits such as strawberries — has been shown to have strong antioxidant, brain-protective, and heart-protective properties. Eating plenty of colourful produce helps you get these benefits naturally.

Bottom line

If you want to look, feel, and perform your best, start with a high-quality whole-food diet. But in the modern world, that alone usually isn’t enough. A multivitamin/mineral supplement helps fill inevitable gaps and ensures you reach optimal — not merely “bare minimum” — nutrient levels.

So think of it like this: eat well first, then supplement to cover what diet can’t reliably deliver anymore. Daily supplementation isn’t a luxury; for most people, it’s a practical necessity.