Re: should i be taking vitamins? (EDIT - references added)

Dr Lederman is not in a majority, but I agree with his views. I can't really quote the entire lecture, but here is a relevant paragraph:

"People may think they are sick because they are missing a particular nutrient, which can be effortlessly replaced with a supplement. But the truth is most people are unhealthy because they are poisoning themselves with fat, cholesterol, protein, environmental contaminants, etc., from the American diet. These foods in the American diet happen to be deficient in many nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that nature intended us to get through the consumption of whole foods. Nature didn’t plan on fast food becoming our base diet, and our bodies have sustained significant damage from eating these disease-promoting foods. Another common reason cited for recommending supplements is depleted soils. Although what we have done to the soil in many parts of the world is tragic, according to the best scientific evidence we have available today, it does not justify artificial supplementation."

Nina Jablonski in this Ted video http://www.ted.com/talks/nina_jablonski_breaks_the_illusion_of_skin_color.html
explains more about Vitamin D. Much depends on skin colour and latitude. Regarding B12, I think I have adequately taken care of my own supply by ensuring I get enough sun in the summer. Obesity also promotes deficiency.

Dr Ledernam does a nutritional analysis on his website for $95, see http://www.exsalus.com
and particularly http://www.exsalus.com/Site/Daily_Nutritional_Analysis.html
where he links to 3 typical patient reports, and they list the symptoms of various deiciencies. You can see from http://www.exsalus.com/Site/H_I_4_Vitamin_D.html
that he acknowledges that a supplementy is useful in the case of a deficiency, but he believes this is a last resort.

Regarding cancer, I would only really look into this if I had a problem, then I would spend a lot of time looking into it. But the position with cancer, in my mind, is not so cut and dried. A friend who is a nurse on a cancer ward maintains that people with cancer are usually of a certain type of disposition, that she has learned to recognise. I have heard this from others too. In another Ted lecture, Dean Ornish talks about the healing power of positive energy. This Gregg Braden video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXvPjU0rV74
shows a woman's bladder cancer being healed in minutes at this Bejing hospital. Is it to be believed? Yes, quite probably I think. So I don't think the best healing process for any particular illness is the same for all. I think much depends upon people's beliefs and inner strengths.