I think you are both right. If not for all the crap in our food, air and water and all the things that have been taken out of our soils and our processed foods, man would need very little - a healthy Diet and lifestyle basically. But a healthy Diet would provide scores and scores of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that are not available today.
As our food, water and air become more corrupted and less healthy we conversely need more good nutrition than ever while we are being supplied with less and less.