Not all supplements are vitamins.

Some are minerals. Like magnesium which is low in 70% of people in US. Vit D is not a vitamin either...it is a hormone. You can eat nuts and beans for magnesium, go outside for your vit D, each green veggies for your calcium and folate, have salmon twice a week...and have curry in your chicken now and then. But many people choose not to do this.

You can get tested for B12 and D. Neither test is expensive.

The way research is going today, involving mitochondrial damage and failures ...the supplements most common are those that support the mito energy production.

Some supplements like Omega-3s you can eat. So you can get them that way. But most people don't. Without essential fatty acids, you cannot live long or well.

Much of the research today is looking at antioxidants. Things that protect your body from free radical damage from oxidation and energy production. Curcumin from tumeric is very big right now as studies show it protects the blood vessels from inflammatory damage. This lowers risk of stroke and heart attack.

Certainly no one is forcing you Sal, to take anything. It is always your choice. Doing the homework is complex and time consuming and that is why I do it for people here. Since I retired I have more time.

Supplements changed my quality of life. So maybe I have poor genes or something, maybe my stress levels in my high stress job did it...but I no longer have asthma, or GERD and my PN is much much better! My arthritis is still there, but I don't need drugs to control it. I might take an Aleve here or there. People today consume so many drugs that are toxic over the long haul...those people really suffer the most.