Vitamins have had a really good rap over the last few years, but they are not magic pills. However, it is really tempting to think of them that way. Anything that can help you live longer, look younger, stave off cancer and heart disease, enhance your immune system, fight off illness, help you conquer anxiety attacks and boost your energy certainly sounds pretty miraculous or magical.

A few decades ago, when word started to spread about the healing potential of vitamins and minerals, the general public went wild for bottled nutrients and wanted to know if they could be used as part of a healthy detox plan. So did health writers and even some doctors. For a while, it was starting to sound like megadoses of vitamins could cure anything. Just take enough vitamins or the right combination of vitamins, and bingo! You were on your way to total health.

Well, that bubble burst soon enough. Of course, vitamins and minerals can’t cure everything. But they can do a lot. Research breakthroughs over just the past few years are making interest in the topic heat up all over again. Some of the things that scientists have discovered about the healing power of these vital nutrients all but boggle the mind.

Let’s take a brief look at just one study that didn’t get all that much publicity. Researchers in London looked at 180 middle managers employed in the manufacturing industry in Britain. In a rigorous study, they gave one group a typical multivitamin/mineral supplement and another group a look-alike pill that did not contain nutrients. At the end of eight weeks, those receiving supplements revealed in tests that they perceived an improvement in their quality of life.

The group not receiving supplements did not perceive a change. Researchers concluded that the supplements seemed to play a role in improving the managers’ moods and reducing their stress levels. All of this from Just a daily multivitamin pill… with hard scientific data confirming that it works.

As more and more rigorous scientific studies accumulate showing spectacular health benefits from vitamins and minerals, especially when they are inlcuded as part of a healthy detox diet, we’re all back where we were a few decades ago: eager to take advantage of all of this healing potential – and thoroughly confused. While the reasons for taking vitamins and minerals are now based on solid science, shopping for nutrients is still nothing less than overwhelming.

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