In other words, 87% of men and 85% of women are not obtaining the essential micronutrients that the government recommends. In fact, the average daily intake of fruit and vegetables among adults is fewer than three portions (2.7 for men, 2.9 for women). And that’s before we’ve even mentioned the lack of oily fish in the typical British diet.

Dr Paul Clayton, President Elect of the Forum for Food & Health at the Royal Society of Medicine, declared at a recent conference that dietary nutritional deficiency is a problem, explaining that we simply cannot obtain all the micronutrients we need with a standard modernday diet of up to 2,000 calories per day, no matter what we eat. He suggests that most modern food pyramids should contain supplements as an integral part of the support of a typical diet.

There are certain groups of people for whom a daily multivitamin has always been highly recommended (vegetarians, vegans, those on a diet, those who omit food groups or who are intolerant/allergic to certain foods, those who miss meals or who have erratic eating habits). But should that extend to the 85-86% of adults who aren’t getting five or more portions of fresh fruit and vegetables per day? It seems so. Increasingly, we are facing a dietary nutritional deficiency ‘epidemic’ as our society has turned to convenience and processed foods, snacking and TV dinners to fit in with our busy modern lifestyles. Hence the rise in heart disease and stroke rates, the incidence of cancer rise, the obesity and diabetes rates that we see soaring.

A multivitamin will never be a panacea, but as a ‘nutritional insurance policy’ to accompany our diets (however good we think our diet is), it is highly recommended. The USA Food and Drug Administration now recommends a multivitamin for all adults and Britain may not be far behind.

¹ National Diet & Nutrition Survey; Department of Health; 2004.

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