A balanced diet no longer provides sufficient minerals and vitamins required for a healthy lifestyle due to 'forced' farming (where crops are forced to grow faster than nature intended). This leads to a depletion of th enecessary minearls from the soil. In short your 5 recommended servings of 'fresh' fruit & veg a day reads more like 10 due to forced farming in order to acquire the necessary nutrition. A prime example is in the beef industry, particularly the US where cattle are for the most part grain fed. Consequently the beef is deficient in Selenium......a primary anti-oxidant shown to reduce the incidence of prostate cancer. If you can get your hands on fresh organic food all the better (fresh been key of course!). The days of crop rotation to maintain soil health and quality have been replaced by intensive farming driven by the world's need for more and more food. I take supplements but not always on a daily basis aiming to get as much from my diet as is necessary. Of course when I do supplement I purchase those that are non-synthetic (synthetic forms are not as bio-available)